Umbra had long ago lost interest in what was going on around himself, the Reaper-Geno chase had ended awhile ago. The Reaper was clutching his mate like a lifeline, and said mate had Ser in their grasp.

He flipped to the next page.

Sooner or later, Searcher and Shades would get their chance to talk on how to return the Ink's souls properly.

A bone brow was raised and he snickered, when Seeker blushed at something that Ser had said.

--------

Goth couldn't help but to snicker at the blush on Palette's face.

"I'm so confused." Ink said.

Umbra flipped to another page and he yawned.

"About what Dad?" Palette asked.

"EVERYTHING!" Ink yelled.

"Paperwork." Umbra coughed out.

Ink whimpered while Goth laughed.

"Paperwork?" Dream asked, he was confused, while Nightmare and Reaper just chuckled.

"Well, when Umbra grounds Ink, he makes him do the backlog of Paperwork that he didn't fill in when he created a new AU." Goth laughed.

"Ask me no questions, and I shall tell no lies." Umbra said wickedly.

"So, has anyone seen Error?" Dream asked. "Palette said that he took a bullet for him and he fell..."

Goth had to suppress the urge to tell Dream the truth, but as much as he wanted to, it was possibly for the best that nearly everyone believed that the Destroyer was dead.

Ink's eyelights changed into panic symbols and he sprinted towards where the bridge had been. "ERROR!"

Reaper and Geno tightened their grip on their son, he may have been the Error at the time, but Goth had been shot!

Sighing, Umbra stood up, shoving his book into his jacket.

Slowly, he walked over and be stopped beside Ink, and down below them, was an an endless void.

"You will have to say goodbye." Umbra told the Creator. "Error is gone now."

"He can't be gone!" Ink yelled. "He just can't.... He was the only constant thing that I had, apart from my vials and Broomie!

I mean, sure, I hurt him, but he was trying to destroy my creations and cause trouble, but he was reliable, I knew that he could always be there and I could trust him to be the one thing that could never change, to be something that I could hold onto when my memory failed me...."

"Do you really hate him that much?" Umbra asked sharply, with his eyelights briefly flaring red.

"I don't know..." Ink whispered. "I knew that he could be a good person, deep down inside, but every time that I tried, he wouldn't open up to me.... But he was there, he was always there...

What am I going to do now?"

"Error is gone, he was tired, so tired. His essence and Soul didn't even make it to the Void, he finally passed on to his final rest." Umbra said quietly.

He stood there, quietly, for a moment.

"What you can do now, is live. Live for today, and tomorrow, and do your duty. That is all anyone can do." Umbra replied.

"But, he's not gone." Goth walked over to Ink, having escaped his parents. "He's here." He pointed to Ink's head. "And here too." He then pointed at Ink's scarf. "Don't forget him Ink, besides, I never got to say 'Thank you' to him..."

"Why?" Ink asked.

Goth winked at Umbra. "Well, the guy who kidnapped Palette, was the Boss of those Minions that you guys fought."

"How do you know this Goth?" Dream asked.

"Because that guy kidnapped me too, but it was Error who saved me, but when he did, those minions had almost Dusted me...

I don't know what he did, but he saved my life, but it came with a price." Goth sighed as he summoned his strings, before he dismissed them. "He then told me something interesting. You see, he could hear voices in the Anti-Void, and they told him something interesting..."

"Those guys never stop talking." Umbra snorted.

"They told him that he was never meant to exist, until something happened in another Multiverse, which affected you."

"And Error never wanted to exist." Umbra said quietly.

"And Fate had to Reset everything, in both Multiverses." Ink would understand what he was talking about when he got his Soul back. "You see, the Ink in the other Multiverse, his Soul was stolen by the Counterpart of the guy who kidnapped me and Palette."

"That other Multiverse... you could say is this Multiverse's other half, what happens in one can effect the other." Umbra said.

"And if one of them is destroyed, the other one is destroyed too, now, Fate is actually your Mom, and something happened to spilt her into two, and we got the Yandere side, who wanted to protect you at all costs, because a part of her remembered the other Ink losing his Soul.

So, she stole your Soul and she hid it somewhere." Goth explained.

"What?" Ink whispered.

"You have a Soul kiddo." Umbra sighed.

"A Soul?" Ink asked, in shock, mainly because, all this time, he had believed that he was Soulless, but to find out that he originally had a Soul...

"Now, Error had an idea, now that he knew that the Counterpart of the one responsible for this mess was active again, he didn't know how strong Fate's defences were." Goth continued to explain, making up a few lies on the spot, to add to the truth that he was telling. "And he couldn't leave the Anti-Void, or Destruction, long enough to check them out for himself, however, both of us knew that it wasn't safe enough for me to go home, we had no idea why he took me, and if I went home, if it would happen again.

And I couldn't stay in the Anti-Void for too long, so Error asked me to do some research and to find out what Fate did to protect your Soul."

"You scared the pants off your counterpart, by the way, when you popped up." Umbra giggled.

"Really?" Goth asked, while Dream stared at him. "You're the Source that my Brother was talking about!" The Golden Twin yelled.

"Source?" Umbra asked, curiously.

"I noticed that something was wrong when Skeletons kept on going missing." Dream said. "And because of how Pally was born, because Palette was born with a Full Soul, instead of a Half Soul, and I felt like there was something wrong with Reapertale's Asgore when he spoke to Ink.... So, I was always wondering if something else was going on, and I was right."

"Thankfully, Reapertale Asgore is no more... for this Soul, but to restore Ink's soul, both Ink's must receive their souls at the same time." Umbra explained.

"Yeah, he was working for the guy." Goth rubbed the back of his head. "He was actually how Dad was captured by him, he provided his Boss with a Gem, and he was the one behind the attack when I was just a baby."

"WHAT?!" Geno yelled, with his white eyelight turning into a mixed red-blue one.

"Relax, Fate agreed to an absolution. That Asgore no longer exists in any sense, and hopefully, when the new Reapertale Asgore is born, he is more like Shades's friendly Asgore." Umbra said, but just thinking of Fate agreeing with anyone just made his head hurt even more.

"Shades?" Ink asked.

"Goth's counterpart from the other Multiverse." Nightmare explained. "Error dragged Goth to a meeting a year after he was kidnapped, explaining that the Kid was going something for him and because of that, we couldn't touch him, but we really didn't get involved until Reaper was taken, and Error remembered which AU that he came from. We posted guards on Reaper's family and we made sure that Goth remembered to eat and he kept us up to date with what was going on, and that he had met his Counterpart, Shades, who was doing the same thing. The two of them worked together to solve the problem and they did visit each other's Multiverse as well."

"Error remembered his past?" Ink asked.

"Yes." Umbra said simply. "It's long gone... There's nothing to return to."

"But he did check to see if anything survived, and I don't know if he found anything, but if he did, he took it with him..."

"Unfortunately. he never told me, and The Error on the other side also found out about his past too. They would have felt their counterpart's passing, and it's doubtful that Error will stay for much longer, since their time is about to end." Umbra replied.

'It's called Retirement.' Shades giggled.

"And well, while I was doing my job, I found out why he took Palette..." Goth looked to the side. "Fate wanted to make sure that no one could ever find your Soul..."

"And how did Fate do that?" Dream asked.

"Well, it's kinda difficult for me to explain, but to stop Ink from going near the Temples, Fate made sure that he would always get sick if he got too close to one." Goth rubbed the back of his head, nervously.

Umbra rolled his eyes, the temples had been a paaaaaain to build that way. And now, his temples were in ruins, apart from the one that was build for Solas.

'There, there, Umbra, I'm sure that you can always build other cool and awesome things in the future.' Shades said.

'It's not the same.' He responded.

'You could always turn your place into an official temple of shadows!' Shades giggled.

"But the thing is, I think that Fate didn't plan for Pally, because while she set up a shield around one of the temples, only those who shared her DNA, or coding, could take it down.

And since Ink couldn't go near the Temples, and Fate was just too smart to go near them, that just left Pally, so he was kidnapped so the shield could be taken down."

"Then why didn't you stop the kidnapping?" Ink asked. "If you knew about this."

"I found this out after Pally was taken, Fate was really thorough when she, and Umbra, hid the information, and I didn't learn about this until it was too late."

"Take it up with Fate, I could only follow her orders." Umbra said with a smile, and it wasn't a friendly one.. but one that put fear into one's soul. They better not blame Fate's whipping boy, because if they did, it would not be pretty.

Balance or no balance.

"Yeah, Umbra could only follow Fate's orders, and the other being that had an idea about this was a child..." He had to explain Solas to them, this was going to be fun! "Fate may have tried to stop that guy from taking me, because I was part of her plan to with deal with Asgore, and well, she accidentally took part of my Soul..."

"And you've all come across Solas, Fate had that part of his Soul given a form." Umbra said happily, with a smile that was the total opposite of his usual cold smile.

"He was adorable when Fate and I formed his body, he did not want to leave the place that his Soul piece had rested in for so long." Umbra rambled on, and he walked away from everyone, rambling on about the adorableness of Solas.

"And because of that, Solas is now my version of Cross's Chara." Goth smiled. "He's sleeping right now, but technically, he's my kid...."

"Hurt Solas and they'll never find your Soul or dust." Umbra said with a way too friendly smile, after all, Umbra had raised Solas, and he had even carried him in his own Soul once.

"And I'll help him." Goth had a way too friendly smile as well.

Umbra patted Searcher on the head, and.. he somehow passed him a fresh cone of nicecream.

Raising Solas had given him bad habits towards his counterpart, like treating them whenever they threatened others with physical and mental harm.

Goth took the nicecream cone and he quite happily started to eat it.

"So, what happens next?" Palette asked.

"Well... getting both Ink's in one spot.. and making sure that both Goth's give Ink boy their Souls at the exact same time." Umbra said, not even paying attention as he gave Seeker a nicecream cone too.

He gave Ink some broccoli.

Palette started to eat his nicecream cone as well, while Ink had thoughts about tossing the broccoli in the Void, but he paused when he saw the single Golden eyelight glaring at him.

He sweated a bit, before he started to eat the broccoli.

And Goth just smiled at Ink.

"Now... if only I knew where the Fear counterpart was, because that would make this so much easier." Umbra grumped. "At least they won't be able to help each other now."

He took out a chocolate bar, and he took a savage bite out of it.

"Well, at least one of them won't be bothering us again." Reaper said. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm off to reap his ass!"

"Have fuuuun." Umbra said, in between bites of what seemed to be a chocolate bar that renewed itself.

Reaper crackled before he floated off to reap Fear.

"But, how exactly, do you hide a Soul like Ink's?" Dream asked.

"That's simple, you just stick it in an AU that could have a reason to explain why it would have an strange aura." Goth said. "And well, since Ink could be called another Life...."

"The squid's Soul was in Reapertale?!" Nightmare yelled.

"Since it's conception, now that was a fun place to build into Reapertale's coding." Umbra said happily.

"Yep, Solas loves where he hid the Soul after Umbra got it from our Fate, and she must have been laughing at Asgore, because it was hiding right under his nose."

"Hmm... I just realized I should probably lock the door there, after all, I have an entrance there... And I would not rather have some poor idiot... er.. victim falling into the Void." Umbra muttered under his breath. "And with my luck, it would be a Gaster, and the Void has enough Gasters...."

"Yeah.... It does..."

Umbra muttered under his breath, of Gasters, and their stupid line dancing competitions outside his window.

"But what does Broomie have to do with this?" Reaper asked as he rejoined them.

"Soul and Magic support, a type of life support so he could continue on living without his Soul." Umbra replied.

Goth messed with the Soul container, before he pulled it out, revealing Ink's Soul.

"Put that away Kiddo, let's not give Lady Luck any chances to screw with us and have that grabbed." Umbra said, staring at the soul, he was keeping his Ink's soul in his item space till the moment it was needed.

"Oh, right." He put the Soul away.

"I keep on forgetting, that your counterpart Shades is the one with the common sense." Umbra teased.

"Meanie..." He pouted.

"But you are a lot more patient then Shades." Umbra giggled.

Shades pouted, and Solas giggled.

"I have to be..."

"But you're also easier to freak out, do you remember the library, when you thought that Shades would fall? The only one who had the ability to float at the time." Umbra teased, actually poking Searcher a bit.

Goth blushed.

Shades laughed, and both of them heard it.

'You're idiots, both of you.' Shades told them. 'You're going to give the game away if you keep on acting like this.'

'Oh..... And we don't want to do that.'

'Nope, after all, the split Multiverses is hard enough to explain. Do you really want to explain Umbra to them, or the admins or Shell?' Shades responded.

'No.'

'What about Retconned? We might be able to explain him... after all, we all know that he'll probably pop up and scare the parents by offering them cookies?' Umbra suggested.

'Wait until he appears, he mentioned that he's helping someone named Chaos lately.. Who only shares a name with the Admin.' Shades replied.

Before anyone panics, these mental messages took only a few seconds in real time.

"So, what should we do now?" Palette asked.

"I guess... That we should start getting both Inks, and Goths, in one spot, before we end this mess." Umbra said, putting his chocolate bar away.