And the image above is not mine, it was drawn by Firehedgehog for this chapter. Enjoy, and feel free to scream at me in the comments...

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Goth spat out some of the sand that had found it's way into his mouth. He hated it when that happened....

He adjusted the protective googles that he was using to keep the sand out of his eyelights and he buried the lower half of his face behind his scarfs before he started to make his way through the desert again.

He hated Underdesert, there was too much sand everywhere and it was starting to get into uncomfortable places.

Goth struggled through the winds, at this rate, he was better off taking shelter somewhere or portaling out and coming back when it was dark. It would be colder but he wouldn't have to worry about the sand too much.

But even after two weeks, he still wasn't used to this.

His feet sunk into the sand as he walked, slowly making his way through the desert.. If the wind died down and stopped throwing the sand everywhere, then he could possibly use a Shortcut to cross the desert faster, if he could just see where he was going....

He continued to walk for what felt like another hour, stumbling through the sand...

But when he passed a pair of ruined pillars, he felt something crawling down his back...

The sand had stopped moving, in fact, everything had stopped moving.

Goth pulled down his scarfs and he pushed his protective goggles up, setting his face free as he looked around.

What was so special about this place that the sands here were so calm? He could see a cave in the distance, but apart from that, nothing was here apart from the pillars.

He turned around to look at the pillars and he froze.

The cravings on the pillars looked just like the cravings that he saw when he watched Shades's fight in his temple.

He wanted to cry and scream, because after over two whole years of searching, he had finally found what he was looking for. A clue to Ink's Soul.

A few tears started to fall from one of his eyesockets.

He wiped them away and he smiled, before he started to run towards the cave.

His feet still sunk into the sand as he ran, nearly causing him to trip a few times but he didn't care, he was one step closer to home!

One step closer to being with Palette again.

He stopped when he realised that due to his overdue growth spurt, Palette was now the huggable one out of the two of them. He giggled, before he started to run again.

He really wanted to tell Shades about this but he hadn't heard from him since the message that he sent to him.

And to be honest, he was very worried about Shades, he didn't know if his counterpart had healed from his wounds and if he was back to searching for the next clue that he needed to find Ink's Soul.

He had been having a bad feeling ever since Shades defeated that Guardian, something like that would not go unnoticed, someone would know that the Guardian would have been defeated and they would have time to prepare any other Guardians that they had.

Maybe he should pay Shades a visit or camp out in that library until Shades visited that library again. They needed to talk about this. They had to work out a plan to deal with that if it did happen, after he dealt with his first Guardian.

He took off Palette's scarf and he put it in his subspace, along with his desert gear. He didn't want the scarf to get damaged and he might need his desert gear later. This place wasn't the only AU with a desert in it.

He reached the entrance to the cave, which was also covered in carvings. Goth traced his fingers over them, thinking, why did Fear want Ink's Soul?

-----

Geno looked down when he felt the end of his scarf being tugged.

Sorell giggled, clapping her hands. "Goth! Goth!" She chanted.

"I know sweetie." Geno picked up his youngest child. "I miss him too." He kissed Sorell on her forehead. "I just hope that he's not getting himself into trouble, again.."

Sorell giggled, snuggling into her scarf. "Goth gonna be fine Momma!"

Geno didn't smile. He just wanted his eldest baby back in his arms, where he could protect him from being hurt and to wash his mouth out with soap, for all the swearing that he had been doing.

--------

The clearing inside the cave was covered in sand, sand that his feet sunk into with every step that he took.

If this was a temple, then he wasn't seeing anything that looked like a temple, or the creature that Shades fought.

The sand behind him started to shift as he walked across the clearing, spikes slowly started to appear through the sand as whatever it was grew closer to it's prey.

The creature slowly rose out of the sand, it was an ugly thing, covered from it's head to it's tail in shell like scales, mandibles slowly split themselves apart as the mouth opened...

Searcher didn't even see the creature until it's mouth closed around him. He screamed as he felt one of the fangs impale his left leg before he managed to take a shortcut out of there, reappearing on top of a cracked pillar that was still standing, on the other side of the clearing.

He hissed as he inspected the damage, seeing the clear hole that the fang had left behind. He attempted to change into his Error form but the sudden pain that came from his bite wound stopped him.

"Okay, so I can't be Error for this one..." He muttered. "This Guardian seems to have some sort of status effect that stops anyone from switching their forms..."

He quickly ripped a bit of his jacket off, before he tore that piece in two, stuffing one half of it into the hole in his left leg, before he tied the other half around it.

Searcher tested his left leg to see if could stand on it, he winced and his left leg was shaking, but he could still stand on it.

He shivered, before he quickly looked behind himself.

He could see nothing but that creature was still down there. It had buried itself back underneath the sands.

His breathing was heavy and his hands were shaking, how long would it take for this creature to come back up again?

He could feel his eyes closing. Why was he suddenly so tired, his leg wound shouldn't have taken this much out of him, so why? Unless, the guardian had a Sleep status effect...

He could see a window pop up in front of him.

"Be careful, they are probably aware of our search now..."

He swore. This was a bad time to learn that he had been right about that and he had no idea of when Shades sent that to him.

He winced again when a fresh wave of pain came from his left leg, he could worry about that later, because right now, he had a giant worm to take down.

But he could really use a friend right now...

He looked down again, the worm was gone but the pillar underneath him was shaking...

He jumped off of it just in time as it began to collapse, and he floated in the air, watching as the pillar cracked and crumbled into pieces.

The worm then burst out of the ground, heading straight for his general area, the scales around it's head was a bit dented but it's mouth was wide open, ready to eat it's floating meal.

Searcher yelped and he quickly dropped like a stone to the ground, stopping just before he hit the ground, as the worm went over him.

It was huge, the protective scales nearly covered it's entire body, apart from it's tail which had a nasty spike on the end of it. The worm buried itself back into the ground and Searcher shivered, feeling scared.

He was fighting this thing alone...

He didn't like being alone...

He started to breathe faster, even as he felt his chest growing tighter, he was alone, he didn't want to be alone...

He didn't even see the spike until it went through his left shoulder, he screamed in pain as the worm flung him at another pillar, causing him to crash straight into it, leaving a trail of his marrow and his Magic behind him.

"Damn it!" He hissed as he dragged himself out of his crater, feeling all of the bruises, cut marks and scrapes that he had gained from his crash into the pillar.

He needed a plan. This Guardian seemed to hunt down it's prey by sound and vibrations, which meant that some of it's other senses couldn't be that good.

And it couldn't be that easy to take down, if only there was a weakness that he could use against it!

He winced as he summoned his scythe, breathing heavily, as he looked at the Guardian. He needed a plan!

He looked at the cracked scales again. This was insane but maybe, it could work.

"Hey!" He yelled. "I'm over here, come and get me!"

He watched as the worm charged straight at him, as it's mouth opened. He could see it's teeth as it got closer to him.

He tightened his grip on his scythe, waiting for the right moment, waiting until he could feel the heat from it's mouth before he took a Shortcut out of there, watching as it crashed into the wall.

The worm shrieked as it's head hit the wall, leaving cracks behind, before it turned around, following the small sounds that it's prey left behind. The protective scales on it's head had cracked a bit more due to the impact with the wall.

Searcher winced as he felt the pain from his two impalement wounds flare up again.

He gasped when he heard a familiar voice yelling.

"Move your Freaking Starry Ass Searcher!"

"Shades..." He muttered, smiling as tears started to fall from his eyesocket again. He wasn't alone!

He gasped as he felt something warm coming from his left leg. He looked down and he untied the bandage, removing the stuffing to see the wound partially healing itself.

He smiled, before his blue tearmarkings appeared on his cheeks and he grinned.

"Okay Wormie. It's time for Snake Pancakes, Round 2." He crackled. "Come and get me!"

The Guardian shrieked before it charged at Searcher again. The young skeleton just stood there, until the last moment, in which he floated upwards to dodge, watching as the worm crashed into another wall, head first with a large crack.

It pulled it's head out to reveal that one of the protective scales had been scattered.

Searcher smirked before he took a Shortcut, reappearing above the cracked scale as he pulled his scythe back.

"Nighty night~" He cooed before he swung his scythe, burying the blade of it into the exposed flesh. The worm shrieked and it started to trash and move around, leaving Searcher to hold onto his scythe for dear life as he was brought along for the ride.

But he was soon flung off of it, landing on the sand and rolling a few times to soften the blow of his landing.

"Owwwwww..." He whimpered, getting back onto his feet. "That hurt..."

He attempted to summon a Gaster Blaster as the worm turned to face him, but he was too low on Magic, at the moment to summon one, he was still bleeding a small bit of Magic from his leg and his shoulder, the flow of marrow had been stopped but he was still losing Magic because of his wounds.

Searcher heard something scatter, he knew that sound, because he had heard it when he broke through to send Shades that Gaster Blaster when he was fighting his Guardian.

He watched as a Fell Goth appeared out of nowhere, using the motions from the strings to leap up, onto the worm's body, before he slammed his own scythe into the head, right by his own.

"Shades..." He whispered, watching as his counterpart ripped out both of the scythes from the worm, before he landed next to him, with his scythe.

"One scythe delivered." He said, before he ate another healing item.

Searcher smiled as he took his scythe back, feeling his wounds heal a bit more, before he heard Shades yell.

"Aww, come on!" His counterpart disappeared, most likely to that not save screen place that he had watched Shades's fight from.

He frowned, before he swung his scythe back, taking another Shortcut so that he reappeared above it's head again.

He didn't notice the glitching on his scythe until he swung it, burying it deep in the worm's head.

The appearance of his scythe had changed, the blade was longer now, and it emerged from the jaws of an open Gaster Blaster that was perched on top of the Scythe's staff. It had tear markings doing down it's face in his Magic colour and wrapped around the staff underneath it was a red ribbon.

Searcher could feel the Guardian crumbling underneath his feet, it was finally over. His scythe glitched again, before it returned to it's usual appearance.

He slowly floated down to the ground as a message popped up in front of him.

"See you about. Library?"

"Yeah, as soon as I can move again." Searcher sent back to him as he landed on the ground. "We need to talk."

He flopped on the ground for a few seconds, sighing in relief, it was over.

He knew that he had to get up and get that Soul Shard, so he got up and he started to search the remains of the Guardian, frowning when there was no sign of the Soul Shard.

He found a piece of masonry with a letter attached, the masonry kinda reminded him of the Boss Keys from the Legend of Zelda when he played the games with Palette, back before all of this began.

He opened the letter, only to stare at what it said.

"Fuck you Fear, his Soul was never here. Have fun solving this puzzle bastard! Fate."

His hands started to shake. He went through all of this crap for nothing?! Just to learn that what he was looking for had never been here in the first place?!

He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, but he didn't do any of that. He just curled up in a ball and he just laid there...

He didn't even hear the footsteps of someone approaching him.

---

Nightmare looked at the skeleton that was clearly his nephew's best friend.

"And I thought that I was having a bad day." He said. "Having to deal with all that paperwork...."

"Shut the fuck up." Goth hissed at Nightmare as he stood up. "You have no idea of the shit that I have been through...

I didn't ask for this! I DIDN'T ASK BLOODY FATE TO KIDNAP ME AND TURN ME INTO THE FUCKING DESTROYER AND LOCK AWAY EVERYTHING THAT MADE ME WHO I AM! I DIDN'T ASK FOR THE RESPONSIBILITY TO CLEAN UP THE MESS THAT INK MAKES BECAUSE HE FORGOT THAT EVERYTHING HAS A LIMIT, EVEN HIM!

AND NOW I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS SHIT! DO YOU KNOW HOW ANNOYING IT IS TO SEARCH THROUGH EVERY AU JUST TO FIND CLUES THAT LEAD ME NOWHERE! DO YOU?!

I AM SICK AND TIRED OF THIS CRAP! I JUST WANNA GO HOME.... I just want to go home..."

"Error..." Nightmare said, looking at the crying skeleton. "You're Goth?!"

Goth continued to cry, he was so tired, he just wanted to go home.... He gasped as a pair of goopy arms wrapped themselves around him.

He choked on his sobs for a few seconds before he wrapped his arms around Nightmare and he began to cry into his shoulder.

Nightmare rubbed the back of his crying friend, how long had it been since Error had been able to cry like this? But finding out that he was Goth, did answer a lot of questions that Nightmare had about Error.

But most of all, he was angry at Fate, Error was just a kid, what gave Fate the right to put the responsibilities of being the Destroyer on a kid's shoulders?!

He could hear cracks coming from above them. "Come on, grab what you came here to get, and let's leave this place before it collapses."

Goth nodded his head, before he was let go, and he picked up the note and the puzzle piece. He really needed to talk to Shades about this, because if his Ink's Soul wasn't here, then where was it?

Nightmare opened a portal and he helped Goth through it, right before the cave collapsed, burying the evidence of the temple, the Guardian and that Goth had been here.

The portal lead to Nightmare's private suite in his castle, and he helped his friend to the nearest couch, before he forced Goth to lie down on it.

"You are not going anywhere until you had some rest." Nightmare told the young skeleton.

"But, there is somewhere that I need to be..."

"No Kid, that can wait." He threw a blanket over Goth. "You need to rest, because how long were you in Underdesert?"

"Two weeks..."

"So you spent two weeks camping in a desert, on a camping bed, in the middle of nowhere...."

Goth nodded his head.

Nightmare just sighed, before he brought out some HP replenishing Monster Food from a cupboard and he placed it on the nearest table. "I want most of this gone by the time I come back Goth. I know that it won't heal everything, but now that you have the time to eat, without Ink or Fate interrupting you, I will make sure that you gain an extra pound or two. You're underweight for a skeleton in your age bracket and I will not let you run around the Multiverse half starved! I will force food down your throat again if I have too!"

Goth just whimpered and he hid underneath the blanket.

Nightmare just sighed, before he ripped the blanket off of Goth and he started to force a bun down the skeleton's throat. "Eat the Star damned food Goth or do I have to tell Palette that you are not eating?! And bring him here to make you eat?!"

Goth swallowed his mouthful. "Okay..."

Nightmare handed over another bun to Goth, watching as the young skeleton took a bite out of it, before he shoved the rest of it into his mouth. He then went onto devour the rest of the food on the table.

He didn't even notice Nightmare using his tentacles to treat his impalement wounds with proper bandages and medical supplies. He yawned when he was finished with the food.

"Goth, I want to see you here once a week to make sure that you're eating." Nightmare told the young skeleton. "Or I'll send one of my boys after you and tell Palette that you haven't been eating, do you understand that Goth?"

Goth nodded his head, the Sleep status effect from the Guardian that he fought earlier, was now kicking in.

"Good, now get some sleep."

Goth nodded his head again, bring out Palette's scarf and using it as a teddy bear while he snuggled into the couch. Nightmare shoved a pillow underneath his head and he replaced the blanket over Goth, before he left the room.

He came back a few minutes later, with new clothes for Goth, to see him fast asleep.

He chuckled and he left the clothes on the nearest table. A white hoodie like trenchcoat, a sleeveless black shirt, dark grey jeans and a new pair of dark boots, before he left the room again, turning the light off behind him.

"Goodnight Goth."

------

He felt something change in the air.

'Someone has defeated one of Fate's guardians... I never thought that I would see the day when it happened...'

He bit down on the cigar in his mouth. This changed everything. He had to find out who it was.

It couldn't be Ink, Fate had made sure that he couldn't go near the temples, which meant that he couldn't open that door....

Nightmare was busy, the King of Negativity was following his chosen path and Dream, even though he was capable, was busy with his offspring.

Error couldn't be the one to defeat the guardian, his glitching made it almost impossible for him to stay too long in a AU like Underdesert.

Death was a possibility, if the Guardian was alive, but it wasn't...

But the oldest of Death's offspring had gone missing, the only one to inherit his powers, but that offspring was too small to be a threat.

And speaking of offsprings, Dream's offspring was the offspring of Ink as well, but he didn't have the defense that Ink had.

He smirked.

That door needed the blood of Fate to open it, however, the blood or rather, the narrow didn't have to come from Fate or Ink, right? Not when they had a grandson/child that knew nothing about why he needed to stay away from the temples...

He laughed.

'Enjoy what freedom you have left Palette Roller, because, it is going to end..'

And in another AU, Palette shivered. Something was coming, something terrible and dangerous...