When a random Sans jumps into the battle and practically tackles Ink, Error immediately realizes what has happened. Soul has somehow wound up joining the battle. Error doesn't know if he's been here the whole time or has just recently come here. Either way, an unconscious Ink with Soul inside is plummeting down to the ground. Error throws himself into the air and reaches out with his strings to grab Ink. Error's strings usually tangle themselves up in Ink's ribs or shoulders without their usual target to grab on to. This time, Error grabs onto a soul.

Ink doesn't have enough of a soul to grab at or be brought into combat. He can't even be CHECKed. Error pauses for a moment and stares at the soul, falling through the air. Is this Soul's doing? Error doesn't have much time to think about it as the ground approaches. He yanks on his strings, pulling Ink up towards him. Error barley manages to snag Ink by the collar of his jacket. They're both still falling through the air. This is going to hurt. Error shoots out more strings with his free hand and grabs onto the web of strings that he had been fighting atop moments before. The strings go taunt, stretching with the force. Their fall slows, but there isn't enough room.

Error hits the ground hard enough to knock the air out of him. His strings snap and disperse as he loses focus. Ink lands partially on top of Error. Ink's paint brush had fallen to the ground as well and lays a few feet from them. Error shoves Ink off and stands up as he tries to recover his breath. Error aches all over. He's tried and hurts everywhere, not in the right mindset to think rationally.

The drastic shift in the two God's battle has not gone unnoticed. Error is tense as he finds many monsters entering the destruction zone. Ink is still unconscious. Vulnerable. It makes sense that the others might want to help him, but that is also Soul lying on the ground. Error won't let anyone take him. Pulling on his magic, Error creates a great wall of angled bones that forms a cone-like barrier around himself and Ink. Error adds more layers inside the first until he's crouched over Ink. Attacks hit the outside of the barrier and breaks down the bone. It is difficult to fix since Error can't see it.

The defense is only temporary, but it has given Error some time to think. It's worrisome that Soul fainted when jumping into Ink. Did Soul hit his limit for hosts? Error thinks that Soul should be smart enough keep himself in the fight. Error forces his thoughts to clam for a moment. He focuses on his magic and aura. He hasn't felt any bursts of Nightmare's magic for a while, and it's starting to worry him. Did they give in and leave the battle, or has something worse happened? Movement snaps Error out of his thoughts.

Ink abruptly groans and clutches at his head as he comes back to consciousness. He looks around in bleary confusion at the red barrier around them before slowly looking at Error. Ink's eyes are strangely fixed on a green diamond blue teardrop.

"SoUl? ArE yoU alRigHt?" Error asks. He's a little unsettled by Soul's silence and slow reactions. It should be a good sign that Error hasn't been attacked yet.

Ink looks around at the barrier again. Attacks slamming into the barrier can be heard from outside. "Take it down," Ink says quietly.

"WHat?"

"Take it down!"

Error finds himself doing exactly as Soul says. The barrier drops. Ink quickly scrambles to his feet and faces the crowd of monsters. He meets their stares with a steady presence. Ink stands between the crowd and Error. The other monsters are confused on what to do now that Ink is on his feet and not continuing to attack Error.

Ink's attention shifts away when the crowd is still. He looks over at his paintbrush lying a few feet away. Ink takes a step closer and picks it up. He runs one hand along the chipped surface. Ink turns, gripping the brush tightly in both hands, before he slams it into the ground with all of his strength. Monsters in the crowd gasp in shock. The brush only splinters with the first strike. Ink lifts it up and brings it back down again, this time snapping it completely in half. Ink is panting from the effort. He claws at the sash around his chest next. Ink tears it off and smashes it into the ground, breaking most of the vials of paint on the sash. The colors run together into an ugly shade in the dirt.

Through the confusion, one of the bolder monsters notices that Ink is now clear of Error. The Destroyer is distracted with watching the Creator's meltdown, but Ink notices. He whips around and throws his hand out towards the attack heading for Error. Black paint erupts right from Ink's fingers. The paint turns acidic red in mid air and disintegrates the attack. It's wildly know what Ink can't use magic without his brush, but he clearly just refuted that rule.

Ink's now harsh glare falls across the gather monsters. "Leave," he hisses. When no one moves, Ink gets angrier. "LEAVE," he shrieks. Ink lashes out and grabs at the others monsters. He's always been connected to his creations. All at once, Ink forces monsters to be sent flying back into their own AUs. The battlefield is empty moments after Ink's outburst. This AU has now been locked down to prevent anyone from coming back.

Error just stares. He's seen Ink used this advanced magic before, but it's been lost to the Creator for a long time. Why didn't he connect the dots sooner? Error hesitates to speak, afraid to hope, but quietly speaks up. "GeNesis?"

Ink turns around to face Error again. Unable to put on a brave face any longer, Ink bursts into tears. He sobs and shakes with the force of his emotions, words almost indistinguishable. "Th-This is all my fault!"

"WhAt?"

"It's all my fault!" Ink repeats. "I hurt you and my friends and ev-everyone and-and I made everything so messed up and you-"

"StOp." Error grabs onto Ink's shaking arms to steady himself. "SlOw doWn anD breaTh." Error meets Ink's eyes and waits for him to get a handle on his breathing. The Destroyer's expression seems so much softer and more patient than he's ever looked in this Multiverse. The panicking monster clinging onto him is Soul and he is Ink. Error's Ink. Genesis. The silence drags on. Error and Ink spend a long time just staring at one another, amazed that this is real. That they're both here. Finally, Error speaks. "I thOught she replaCed you."

"She was going to get rid of you," Ink explains. "She said the last Multiverse would be your deathbed."

The years and passage of time holds little meaning for the two. They count their lives by Multiverses, and even then, it's hard to remember how many it's been. Ink and Error have been together throughout the rise and fall of countless lives. They are the one constant in each other's lives. When everything around them twists, when their bodies and forms are toyed with, Error and Ink have always known the other.

"ThE MultiVerse resEt, and I seAched for you hEre, buT you weren'T you." Error lost his mind when Ink no longer recognized him. The Destroyer of Worlds truly earned his name in that first century. He had lost the one person who had always been at his side.

"She said that..... I was perfect. That I didn't need your help anymore. She was going to throw you away, and I couldn't let it happen. I'll always need you, Encryption." Ink looks away, ashamed of himself. "I had to make myself..... not perfect." In the their last Multiverse, Ink and Error seemed to find the perfect balance of creation for a Multiverse.

"You RiPped up yOur own soUl," Error finishes, suddenly understanding.

"Yes. It can't kill me," Ink confirms, his expression hardening, "But I was selfish. I wanted to keep my magic and power to create worlds. I tore out that other part of myself. I didn't....... I didn't know that it would......" The rest goes unsaid. Ink didn't know he would lose so much of himself or that 'Soul' would be born, wandering the Multiverse with no memory or purpose.

The AU shudders. Ink and Error are knocked off balance and grab tightly onto each other in order to stay standing. Ink knows these quakes, but they aren't anything like Error's very necessary trimming. This is a force that will cleave the Multiverse apart and will only scoop the two Gods out of the ruble once they've watched it all fall.

"Mother is-" Ink stops himself once he hears his own words. There was a time log ago when Ink and Error wanted nothing more than to please her, but after so many memories full of loss, Ink has no more care left to give to her. "Fate is coming," Ink says instead. "She knows that I am whole."

"SHe's comiNg for the MulTiveRse......." Error trails off. This is the end of everything around them. This is the end of the few Error has come to call friends, and this is the end to every story Ink has written. Error and Ink stare at each other with words unspoken. This is meant to be Error's end, too. Fate will not be kind after what happened.

"No," Ink mutters, and then louder, "NO!"

"InK?"

"You asked me what I wanted," Ink says, referencing the time that they met in BirdTale, "And I don't want another Multiverse. I want to stay here, with you, with these worlds." Ink looks around at the shaking AU before laying one hand across his chest. He summons his soul. Ink's soul is covered in hairline fractures where pieces have been fused back together.

"WhAt are yOu doiNg?" Error asks, taking a step back.

"What I should have done in the first place. I won't be selfish this time," Ink says with a determined gleam in his eyes. "You've always been stronger than me, Error. You're so much braver, and you fight harder. You were never fooled to believe that Fate cared about us. Push her out, Error. I know you can do it."