Hibana yawned, as he woke up. The tiny Outcode stretched his arms above his head, and he climbed out of his bed, grabbing his bandages, and his eye patch, as he changed into his undershirt and undershorts.

He hummed, tieing the items around the right side of his face, as he walked into the training room. The adults were trying to give the kids a normal life, but they knew that one day, they wouldn't be kids anymore, or the adults could be captured by Fear, leaving the Kids alone, and to be the resistance... Without them...

Which was why the Adults trained the Kids... They taught them how to run, how to hide, and how to fall without hurting themselves. The older Kids were taught the basic Magic attacks, basic hand to hand, and how to bandage their wounds. Those that could Heal, practised their healing on simple bone bruises...

But that wasn't the only purpose of the training room, some of the Kids used it when they needed to destress, without the other Kids bothering them, and the hobby that Hibana used to destress was dancing... He liked being alone when he did this, and he often did it right after he got up.

The Adults had put years of planning into this plan, to the point where their hideout had clean running water, electricity, heating, warm food, the materials that everyone needed to make, and repair, clothes, several TVs, and even a supply of video games, movies, and the consoles needed to use them...

And despite what Fear thought, he hadn't destroyed all of the Copies in this Multiverse, he did leave some of them alone, so that he had supplies for his fortress, but he didn't find all of them... Ink had made sure of that, to give those that didn't reach the Omega Timeline, before it was sealed away, a chance to live...

Hibana was glad that these Adults had this plan... Because if they didn't, they wouldn't have been here to save him, from Fear, when he escaped from him... They had been betrayed before they could get the kids into the Omega Timeline, to keep them save from Fear...

He shook his head, and he placed a music player on a shelf, hooking it up to some small speakers, before he turned it on... He smiled, when he heard the first song, and he quickly walked to the middle of the training room, stretching, before he started to dance, to the music, with a smile on his face.

He didn't see his silent shadow, as they followed him into the training room, and they watched as Hibana threw himself into the music, but the tiny Outcode didn't see the sparks of silver coloured Magic that appeared, around his bandaged eyesocket.

Searcher was healing... Without Fear constantly draining his Magic, he was starting to recover from what had been done to him... Even if there was a crystal draining his Magic... But something was off...

Why did Fear just go after Searcher, when he took him? Shades was there too... Why didn't Fear take him too?

Shades frowned... And he thought about what he had learned about this Multiverse... About what Fear was doing to the originals... He had most of them locked up, in his castle... The only ones that he didn't have where the ones here, and the ones in the Omega Timeline, which had been Sealed by this Ink, with his Soul....

No.... It couldn't be that simple... Right? If Fear couldn't use this Ink's Soul to undo that Seal... What would stop him from using another Ink's Soul to undo that Seal....

He couldn't use the Soul of the Ink of Shades's Multiverse... Umbra had taken the essence when Fear ripped it apart... And even if Fear had the Soul Shards... The Shards would be useless, without the essence...

So... Where could he find an intact Soul that belonged to an Ink?

Searcher's Multiverse...

Shades couldn't breathe... Fear conquered this Multiverse after what he had done to the Inks in his, and Searcher's, Multiverses... He had plenty of time to make a plan to claim the Soul of Searcher's Ink... He had plenty of time to find a way to get around the shields on the third temple... The shields that were created by the insane, darker Fate of Searcher's Multiverse...

And if Fear had gotten his hands on the Soul of Searcher's Ink... He would have won... Shades would have been unable to return his Ink's Soul, if his Counterpart didn't have his Soul returned at the same time... And Fear would have used the Soul of Searcher's Ink to undo the Seal on this Multiverse's Omega Timeline, and capture the Originals that were hiding in the Omega Timeline... Fear had been close to getting that Soul... Searcher's Original Reapertale Asgore had worked for him! It was like Fear thought that no one could stand up to the darker Fate, and find that Ink's Soul before him...

It was Searcher himself that had been the monkey wrench in Fear's plans... Fear didn't plan for Searcher! Searcher had forced his plans to take a sharp right, instead of a sharp left!

Without Searcher, Solas, and Searcher's Error, wouldn't have existed... That half of their Shared Multiverse would destroyed itself, without an Error to keep the balance, even if that Fate had found someone else to be the Destroyer... The collapse of Ser's Multiverse would have destroyed Shades's Multiverse...

"Yami?" He was suddenly picked up by a pair of gentle hands.

Shades blinked, and he looked at Hibana, who had turned his music player off. The tiny Outcode had tilted his head, and he had a worried look, on his face. "Are you okay?"

Yami meowed, and he nuzzled Hibana... And the tiny Outcode giggled. "Let's get some breakfast."

---

The crackles of burning dry wood filled the air, and the scent from it made him want to sneeze.

It had been three days, three days of walking....

They'd yet to come to where his Little Light was, oh, they were getting closer, but it wasn't close enough for him...

At this moment in time, Seeker and himself were camping in a hidden nich by a cliff side, which meant that they could have a fire, and not worry about the smoke giving them away. Once, this nich had animals living here, but from the looks of it, they had left, a long time ago.

Probably from the lack of food or water, Fear had caused a lot of environmental damage to this Multiverse.

He didn't tell the younger skeleton this, the son of Ink and Dream would quickly realize that the animals had likely died from starvation.

"Go... to sleep." Seeker yawned, from the sleeping bag, his face was unburdened by his new goggles.

"Am I keeping you awake?" Umbra asked.

"A bit." Seeker said, pulling him deeper into the sleeping bag.

"I will rest elsewhere, I don't sleep unless I want to, and I need to think." Umbra replied.

"Mmm... you do that." Seeker said, he was clearly more asleep than awake.

A few moments later, he'd easily climbed the cliff side, taking in the starless night sky and miles of nothing but darkness....

The moon was a pale echo of itself, it's Codes was unravelling and it would probably cease to be in a few years.

"What a mess..." Umbra sighed.

Softly, he began to sing, a song without words. He made sure not to place power in it, as he'd rather not sing things into existence, or change things, at the moment...

He used to sing this wordless song to Solas when he had trouble sleeping, this was just after Fate, and himself, had created his light's new body.

'Solas...' The Dark Guardian thought, continuing to sing to himself, wishing that his other could hear him.

In the distance, a single wolf howled, soulful and sad...

There was no answering howl.

The howl fell silent, there would never be a response ever again.

-----

Hibana couldn't sleep, and so, he was wandering the halls of the hideout, with Yami following him.

He stopped walking, when he reached a ladder, and he looked up... If the hatch was open, it would lead to a series of passages that lead to a small look out post... And when things were really quiet, the Adults would take the kids up there, at night, so that they could see the moon, a moon that Error said was disappearing...

He closed his eye.... And deep down, sleeping within the child, Searcher dreamed....

-------

He looked up, through the bars of his cell, to see the moon. It was a pale echo of itself... But there was enough light left for it to softly shine... It reminded him of someone... Himself...

His Magic was running out... He was running out of time... But, even in the deepest darkness, there was a light that refused to go out... He started to hum, and he softly sang a wordless song... To soothe Solas... Who was peacefully sleeping in the core of his Soul... 'I'll find a way to get you out of here Solas.... I promise.'

------

Time passed, and everyone got used to Yami... The little puffball of doom stayed close to Hibana.

But a few days later, things changed... Sketch was on a solo patrol, when he saw something strange.... Something that shocked him... He saw two teenage Skeletons!

"Who are you?!" He yelled. "And what are you going here?!" He was glad that most of the children were safe in their hideout, and the rest of them were in a different AU.

But he wasn't going to let these strangers hurt the children!

----

Seeker almost jumped, when he heard a voice that didn't belong to him, or Umbra.

"Who are you?!" It was an Underswap Papyrus. "And what are you going here?!"

Seeker growled, and he summoned his Roller.

"Must we..." Umbra sighed.

The Papyrus froze, when Seeker summoned his Roller.... Palette was with the other Kids... Why did this stranger have his Roller?!

"Who are you stranger, and why do you have a weapon that I know belongs to someone else..."

"Damnit Seeker..." Umbra said, he swore that he could feel a migraine building up, in his head...

Seeker's weapon gave them away... The Palette was growling... He wanted his Gothy back....

The Papyrus looked at the second stranger. "You seem to be the sensible one... Who are you, and why are you here?"

Bells suddenly rang from nowhere.

Shoot, he'd watched Epic too often, hadn't he?

And the next thing that he knew, he'd be stalking Retconned for cookies!

The Papyrus sighed. "It seems that most of us jumped to a conclusion... Let's try this again... Hello, I'm the Original Underswap Papryus of the Yanberry AUs... But everyone calls me Sketch, it's nice to meet you."

"Umbra." Umbra said, pushing his goggles up, showing his older Gothy look.

Seeker didn't let go of his Roller, but he did push his googles up, to reveal his star eyelights. "Seeker."

Sketch nodded his head. They looked like an older version of Palette, and Goth, which explained the Roller....

"He's not my Palette by the way, Truth is back home anchoring the way back, in case the bridge that we used to get here breaks." Umbra said, golden eyelights gleaming with magic.

"I see... Why are you here?" Sketch asked them, and Seeker growled.

"Fear took my Gothy..." The Palette growled, and Sketch was reminded of Ink, when he had to deal with a Stalker that had an obsession with Dream... It wasn't pretty, when Ink got his hands on that Stalker.

"You could say, our two multiverses are.. rather linked. two sides of what was once one. We need to get Ser home before the yellow stain..." Umbra said, and he paused, to take a deep calming breath.

Fear had already done too much damage...

Sketch's eyesockets softened. "Unless he managed to escape... Your missing Goth should be in Fear's castle..."

"Tell me, do I look like a normal Goth?" Umbra asked Sketch, he was slightly amused from the direction that this conversation was going...

"No... You don't..." Sketch frowned. "Could you give me a description of him... I might be able to point you in the right direction if I knew what he looks like."

"Searcher is my opposite, we have shape shifting abilities. We reflect each other, right now, I'm stuck in my older form.. And that means that he's stuck in his alternate child form." Umbra told him.

"It's something similar to Cross and his Chara." Seeker spoke up. "Gothy and Solas can talk to each other, and they can switch between forms, but the one thing that they have in common is a scar about their right eyesocket."

Sketch froze. "I know a child with a scar that matches that description..."

"I know... I can feel traces of them on you..." Umbra softly replied.

"I can take you to them, but you must promise to keep a secret..." Sketch told them.

"Sketch... thank you." Umbra whispered, he wondered if the Papyrus had realized just how close he had come to death if he had denied him access to his other.

"Thank you." Seeker dismissed his Roller.

Sketch smiled, and he started to walk. "Follow me, it's a long walk, and there are some things that I need to tell you."

"I already know of the amnesia, we are one, but two.." Umbra said, the last part was a whisper.

Seeker nodded his head, pulling his goggles down, to hide his eyelights.

"I was going to tell you about that." Sketch said. "But I thought that you would like some information about this mess... And how it began..."

"Fear.." The shadow guardian said, with something dark, coiling like a promise, towards the broken deity.

"Yes... It all began a long time ago... Back when this Multiverse was at peace... Truces had been made, and everyone had settled down, with children."

"A beautiful dream, peace.." Umbra sighed.

Seeker smiled... He could see that his Multiverse was heading towards a age of peace... He just needed his Gothy to make it better, for him.

"Yes... It was beautiful..." Sketch continued. "Until the Original Blue, went missing.... Stretch tried to blame Dust, but everyone knew that Dust had calmed down, from his murderous days... The peace didn't stop him from murdering others, but he saved it for the AUs, and Copies, that had to go, to keep the balance, but outside of that... Dust was a loving husband, to Blue, and a great Father, to their kids...

And no one believed Stretch... And they started to look for other reasons why Blue had gone missing..."

"They should have, they don't look strong, but a Blue is insanely strong." Umbra said, shaking his head.

"Oh, they believed him, when he said that Blue was missing, but they didn't believe him when he said that Dust had something to do with it." Sketch explained. "And Dust had an alibi, he was at a Check up, at Sci's, for himself, and his kids."

"So Fear started slow here.."

"Yes.. He did, and at the time, we didn't know that it was Fear... But everyone was worried... Blue was missing, and Stretch was trying to blame most of the known Bad Guys for Blue's disappearance... We thought, at the time, it was his way of helping us..."

"A Turncoat then.."

"No... It was worse than that... We were slowly pushed into smaller, and smaller AUs, the Copies were slaughtered, and the Originals went missing... Just like Blue....

Ink came up with a Plan to keep the Kids safe, to seal them in the Omega Timeline with most of their parents... But me, Reaper, Error, and the Original Fell Papyrus... We created a Plan B, behind Ink's back, that we could use, if something went wrong..."

"That is smart, you should always have more than one plan..." Umbra said, approvingly.

Sketch nodded his head. "Slowly, and surely, we started to create an Underground hideout, in the wasteland that had been created from the ruined AUs that had been fused together..."

"The last place that anyone would have looked for something like that..." Seeker whispered.

Sketch smiled at him. "Yes... We had planned for it so much that we had clean running water, electricity, heating, warm food, the materials that everyone needed to make, and repair, clothes, several TVs, and even a supply of video games, movies, and the consoles needed to use them... to keep the Kids busy... And I suspect that Ink might have caught onto it... He did hide several AUs, and Copies, from Fear.... I don't know if he did that to help us, or to help anyone that didn't get to the Omega Timeline, in time, before Ink created the Seal, or if it was an honest mistake... But I never got a chance to ask Ink about that...

An hour before the Kids were supposed to enter the Omega Timeline, Reaper woke us up... He had a bad feeling... He said that he felt that something was wrong... And when a God says that... You listen to him... We got the Kids out, and we hid them, in the Underground Hideout...."

"Dad and his alternates do have a good sixth sense..." Umbra mused.

"Yeah... And thanks to him... We got the Kids out, just in time...

Stretch betrayed us... He's Fear's right hand man... Fear found them, and he slaughtered what was left of the Copies, and he took the rest of the Originals as his prisoners... Ink used his Soul to Seal the Omega Timeline, and despite me, and Skulduggery, the Original Fell Papyrus, efforts to stop them... Reaper and Error went back to try and save some of the Originals...

Reaper lost a leg, and Error had crystals that drain your Magic shoved into his eyesockets..."

"Stars darn it Fear, you already split one Multiverse into two.. And now, you destroy this one..." Umbra said, rubbing his face tiredly.

Seeker gasped, and he started to shake... The Counterparts of his family, in this Multiverse... They were...

"They escaped, and they came back to the Hideout, and ever since that day, we've been living in the Underground Hideout..." Sketch growled. "And those crystals... If they are implanted in someone, before they die, they don't let you turn into Monster Dust... Unless the Crystal is broken, but most of the time, Fear uses them as prisons for the Originals, or to drain his prisoners's Magic."

Umbra swore under his breath, and some of the nearby plants actually wilted, he had accidentally done it in the language that Fate used.

"The only way that Fear can win is if he can break the Seal on the Omega Timeline, and kidnap the Kids... He still believes that they are hidden in the Omega Timeline... I suspect that's the reason why he's been so busy lately... Our Ink made it impossible to force his Soul to undo the Seal... But if he had a Soul of an Ink from another Multiverse..."

"The Kids are safe as long as Fear believes that they're in the Omega Timeline, and he can't enter it..." Umbra said, with the red in his eyelights becoming more noticeable.. he needed to think of something.

Then, he paused, he actually paused.

"Tell me... can Error sing?" He asked Sketch.

"I don't know if Error can sing." Sketch said. "But the Kids are safe as long as Fear focuses on the Omega Timeline."

"Wait!" Seeker said, as he realised something. "If he needed the Soul of another Ink... Where's the only Multiverse that he knows that he can find the Soul of a Ink?"

"I know that you want to know the answer to your question right now Seeker, but there is a reason why I asked that question." Umbra sighed.

"A reason?" Sketch looked at Umbra.

"I have certain abilities." Umbra said, downplaying his abilities, a bit. "I can sing, and find the frequencies of the crystals, and if Error helps me, I might be able to do something that can neutralize them."

Sketch hummed. "We can ask Error, when we get there... But Kid..." He looked at Seeker. "What are you trying to tell us?"

Seeker nervously chuckled. "Where's the only Multiverse, out of the three that we represent, before the Inks in mine, and Umbra's Multiverses, got them back, had an Ink's Soul that Fear could have used to undo the Seal on your Omega Timeline?"

"He's not getting our Inks Seeker, I locked them down." Umbra suddenly said, with a vicious smile, Fear would regret it if he tried to take their Inks.

"Yes... But you said that the Fate in my Multiverse was insane, and crazy... Would you expect anyone to stand up to her?"

"You do realize that Fear could called be Fate's dog for a reason.... and if I find a third freaking Fate down the hallway, I'm going to scream." Umbra angrily hissed the last part. "This better not lead to a 3rd Fate trying to make me work for them."

"No... I didn't mean that... But what if Fear thought that no one would stand up to the Fate in my Multiverse?" Seeker said. "And that would let him search for the Soul of my Dad, in my Multiverse, without anyone trying to stop him... So, what happens when someone actually stands up to her, and becomes a huge monkey wrench in his plans?"

"Calm down kid." Umbra said, his migraine was upping it's level.

Sketch froze. "That would force Fear's plans to take a hard right, instead of a hard left... That would leave an opening that someone could use to take him down..."

"Palette... I won't allow Fear to get to you again, I'll freaking travel in time again, if I have to."Umbra told him. "Heck, if I have to, I'll shove you into one of the vaults in the void core."

Actually, he should probably hide Solas/Ser there too....

"Okay..." Seeker calmed down, but Sketch was thinking... Fear had made a mistake...

And yeah, it was a good idea to hide Solas/Ser in one of those vaults... It would stop them from getting into trouble!

-----

In a secret tunnel, a small floofy black cat turned and stared, at their counterpart, a vault would be boring, but his counterpart couldn't escape the void core....

"Mew." Yami thoughtfully said.

Hibana silently giggled, and he gently scratched the area behind Yami's left ear.

'Don't even think about it...' A scratchy voice softly spoke, through their Bond. 'I don't want to be treated like a Damsel in Distress...'

'Who me?' Yami/Shades responded, purring.

'Yes... You!'

"I have no clue what you're thinking of, I'm definitely not waiting for my true body to come here.' He replied, with an innocent look on his face.

'Why do I find that hard to believe?'

'How are you truly doing Ser? I'm doing my best to heal you and to keep your Magic at a certain level so the crystal doesn't suck you to dust... but I worry.' Shades asked, using his cat form to cuddle his other.

'I'm okay... I think... I'm not in pain... But I do sleep a lot... Fear took a lot of Magic from me...'

'Umbra and Seeker are coming, and by the way... I've been helping Hibana's mind, in their sleep. Umbra would break if the little one freaked out, or rejected him, due to their bond. Right now, Umbra is the nearest thing to a parent that they have..' Shades told him. Okay, truthly, Umbra could be considered Solas's mother due to the fact that he had carried their Soul for a very long time, and he had created their body. Hibana, who was based on Solas and Ser, was in the same boat.

'No...... Nonononononononono!'

"Mew?" Yami said, started at the mental cry.

'It's a trap! This Multiverse is a trap! Fear wants Solas's, and Umbra's, powers!'

'Geeze, I never would have noticed..' Shades responded dryly. 'It's a good thing that Umbra created the path here with a thread of both Fate's power. There is no locking that path from us..'

Ser softly chuckled.

'Also, we are not staying fricking pregnant for eternity because Fear's having a hissy fit...' Shades snarled, just because they were stuck as Umbra, didn't mean that they didn't have pregnancy issues...

'This might be a really bad time to tell you that I might be afraid of water now...'

'Great... It's a good thing that this form is a cat, I doubt that I'll go swimming anytime soon...' Shades huffed.

'Yeah...' Hibana gently snuggled the puffball.

"Prrrrr..." Yami happily said. 'Try not to get in trouble, I had to slip this form past all the barriers and Fear, so couldn't give this form too much power. So unlike my usual levels, I can't blast things, or sing things into existence. I did put some emergency measures in place, but I don't know if they will work since I don't have my main body to use as a battery.'

'Okay. I'll be careful.'

'Now, I just have to get over the urge to nap all the time, stupid cat instincts.' Shades grumbled.

Searcher giggled.

Yami yawned and he curled up, into a ball and he began to take a nap.

It was a battle that he was losing.

Searcher yawned.