Dust nearly punches his teammate when Killer groans for the fifth time in a single minute. Instead, he just grits his teeth and pulls his hoodie strings tighter. This sucks.

The two of them are walking through the Anti-void, following a string high above their heads, to look for any sign of Error. It doesn't make any sense in Dust's opinion. Why would Error be anywhere bit at his hideout? The Anti-void is big, but not infinite. Following one of these strings with eventually lead back to the center no matter which direction you pick. Error just put up these strings so he would know the fastest way back.

     Getting to the Anti-void was a pain in itself. Even Monsters that can teleport across AUs can't get inside without help. Even Ink is locked out. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, there's a neutral Monster willing to help. Fresh has access to every space except for the Doodle Sphere where Ink resides. Dust hates Fresh's guts, especially the way he talks, but 90's nightmare did come through.

     "This is pointless", Killer groans.

     "Boss's orders. You can go complain to him if you want", Dust growls back.

     "Yeah, and get my head ripped off? Nightmare is still just as scary as ever, even if he's a little more patient-", Killer falls silent and abruptly stops walking.

"What is is?", Dusts looks back at him, confused. Killer only wordlessly points to the side. Dust turns to look and is shocked frozen.

A half hour later, all six Monsters are gathered around in a circle. Dust and Killer had ran back to Nightmare as soon as they found it. Fresh breaks the silence first.

"Oh man, that is so unrad, my dudes", he frowns. Fresh's sunglasses have changed to display the words 'Un-Cool'. Fresh is parasite. Much like Error and Ink, he has no home AU. He invades worlds and takes over the bodies of other Monsters to use as a host. The parasite eventually kills everything he touches.

"Nightmare? Is that really Error?", Cross asks in disbelief.

In front of them, a pile of fine dust sits on the floor of the Anti-void. What's worse is that the pile's been disturbed. It looks like someone was laying in Error's dust. Who would be that sick? The bad guys are the worst that there is, and even they don't roll around in their enemies' remains. Well, there was one time......

     "Ink", Nightmare mumbles coldly.

     "I thought that Ink can't get in here", Horror scratches and the hole in his head, confused.

     "The squid must have followed Error through one of his portals", Nightmare growls, angry this time, "Error's soul should be right here! Ink must have stolen it......". His tentacles are writhing around in agitation. Isn't dusting him enough? Why does Ink have to endanger Error even more when he's defenseless!? Nightmare is outraged that one of his own is being treated so poorly. Even Dream can distantly sense his brother's wrath.

**********

       Dream shivers in his seat at the council table. His brother is angry about something. Dream looks around again at the meeting room. Each seat at the table is filled with the original of each AU. The beacons are only used in an emergency, making everyone drop what they're doing and rush over.

     The meeting hall was built in Dream's own broken world. Almost everything here died after the accident that corrupted his brother. In a perfect circle around the meeting hall, healthy green grass grows in a beautiful field full of wild flowers. Ink even created a stream to run through one end. A few birds and butterflies have also found there way here to safety. Everything beyond the circle is dead.

"So, Ink is really missing?", a sharp toothed skeleton repeats. Wearing nothing but reds and blacks, Red is one of the more aggressive 'good guys'. His world believes that it's kill, or be killed.

"He'd already be here by now if he was able to portal. He's got his own beacon", another Monster, Reaper, replies. Reaper is a lesser god much like Dream and Nightmare. His job is to collect the souls of the dead.

"So what are we gonna do if Dream can't track Ink? Can we do anything?", Outer asks. His AU is one of the prettiest, suspended in the sky among the stars.

The council room descends into disorder from there. All the Monsters are shouting over each other to try and be heard. Dream struggles in vain to try and regain control. Nothing will get done at this rate! The council only begins to quiet when the original of the originals stands up. Sans is the oldest out of all of them, even if frequent true resets have made his past memories foggy. He may be respected just as much as Ink.

"Hey Blue? What'cha looking at?", Sans asks once the room has quieted.

All eyes turn to the small skeleton with the blue bandana. Dream isn't sure when Blue left his side, but now, he's standing at a window and intently watching something outside. The council members all leave the table and crowd around the windows to see.

Outside, a single Monster didn't immediately enter the netting hall after teleporting in. He's running around outside in the field and chasing a..... butterfly? The skeleton trips and falls onto his face. He sits up with a giggle and bolts right back up to keep chasing the butterfly. The strange thing is that none of the council members recognize him. Ink is always quick to introduce himself to the originals of new AUs, so where did this strange Monster come from? Dream can't help but step back when he does see something familiar. The stranger wears an oversized paintbrush across their back.

     Alloy felt for certain that he was suppose to come here when the beacon went off, but after stepping through the portal, he has no clue to what was so important. His brush stopped beeping as soon as his feet hit the grass. Grass! It's so beautiful and soft. Alloy dropped to his knees right there and spent a good minute just running his hands through the green blades. Then, something flew right past his face. Alloy jerks back a little out of reflex. The small creature continues to flutter by, unconcerned. A butterfly. Alloy's smile widens. He launches himself up to his feet to give chase.

He's way too distracted and happy to notice all the faces lining up in the meeting hall's windows. Alloy even tries to do a cartwheel. He ends up getting halfway through before falling over onto his back. The paintbrush gets shoved to the side so it doesn't hurt his back. Alloy is still laughing when he hears footsteps. Curious but not alarmed, Alloy cranes his head back to look. Another Monster stands over him. They look really funny at this angle. They're face is all scrunched up in confusion.

     "Hello!", Alloy chirps happily. He rolls over and then sits up with his legs crossed. His eyes then widen. "Woah.... I've neVer seen so manY people before!".

Dream stares dumbly at the stranger. Everything about them is strange. From the fading gradient on their limbs to the mismatched eyes, this skeleton looks like a bunch of random pieces thrown together. Still, the more Dream looks, the more he sees familiar features. The Monster's left eye is the most alarming. Very few of them have stars for pupils, and this one feels strangely familiar.

"Hello", He says slowly, "My name is Dream. What's yours?".

"My name? I'm Alloy!". He's almost bubbling with excitement. Alloy keeps looking over all the other Monsters, amazed by all their different appearances. He slowly turns his attention back to Dream. He looks like the doll from the Anti-void! Alloy doesn't have any memories of Dream, but he feels slightly uneasy. That's not right! Alloy instinctually knows that Dream is kind.

"Hey, pal, where did you get that brush?", Red steps forwards with a nasty grin.

"My bRush?", Alloys looks at red a little fearfully, "I-I fOunD it in the-".

"It's not yours! It belongs to Ink. What did you do to him?", Red growls.

Alloy flinches back from the hostility. He scoots away and shakily stands up. "InK? Who'S thAt?", Alloy stumbles. All the council members stare when they finally hear the glitchy voice. The distortion increases with Alloy's discomfort. Small error messages appear and glitch out along his body. Only one Monster in the entire multiverse has a condition like that.

"Is that Error?", Outer mumbles, amazed.

"He didn't.....", Dream trails off. With a feeling of dread, Dream suddenly remembers that Ink, technically, doesn't have a soul. Dream can just about see a soul in an ugly array of colors behind Alloy's collar.

"Error's using Ink as a damn puppet", Red snarls as he realizes the same thing, "Did you think ya could just walk in here and pretend everything's all peachy!?". Red summons a red bone attack.

"Red! Wait-", Blue tries to rush forwards, but Red is already launching his attack.

Alloy is too stunned to defend himself. The most he does is bring up his arms to cover his face. Red's attack flies fast and hard. It scrapes a across Alloy's arm and leaves a long crack. He screeches in pain and clutches his arm tightly to his chest. Alloy has never experienced true pain before.

With a last look at the council, Alloy turns and bolts. The other Monsyers are yelling at him as he rips the paintbrush off his back. Somewhere safe! Safe! Home! He has to get home!

Alloy rips a portal open and disappears before any of the others can follow him.