Of Soulmates and Bonds - Errorink

11. Weed is great, man...

Ink was so excited!

Error's portal to AU #21U10S15 was open in front of him, and he just had to cross it! He tightened his grip on the satchel that contained the Book (Blue suggested making it, so he'd have both hands free and could have the Book always with him. His friends were so smart!), but couldn't take a step.

Stupid feet! They were stuck and weren't moving like they should! Ink didn't know why, he wanted to go out, see the Multiverse, meet new friends, make enemies, face dangers, risk his life-

He felt a hand on his shoulder: Blue was at his side, smiling.
"Scared?"
"A bit. It's my first time ever outside! I wanna go but..."
"t𝓱ＥŇ ştσｐ ᵇＥ𝐢ŇＧ Ａ ｐ𝕌şş𝕪!(Then stop being a pussy!)" Error was on the other side with his arms crossed. "t𝓱ＥяＥ'ş Ňσ σŇＥ 𝓱ＥяＥ ᵇ𝕌t 爪Ｅ! t𝓱ＥяＥ'ş Ňσt𝓱𝐢ŇＧ tσ ᵇＥ ＡⓕяＡ𝐢𝓭 σⓕ, 爪σяσŇ!(There's no one here but me! There's nothing to be afraid of, moron!)"

Blue grimaced at Error's words, but nodded.
"Don't worry Ink, you've just rebuilt this AU, you know there's nothing scary inside. Just us three. Even so, your fear isn't stupid." he sent a glare to Error "It's normal to be afraid of new things. Would you feel better holding my hand?"

His friends were really the best! He held Blue's hand, took a deep (useless) breath and entered.

The magic of the portal made his bones tingle, but that was nothing compared to the onslaught of everything that invaded his senses.

He could hear the wind coming from the entrance of the Underground up above (the noise was different from when he heard it from the page!), and he could see the dark walls of the room (they were made of rock, every inch of space was different and unique, Ink could examine it for hours), and the hallway that lead to Temmie's place (it was so dark and long!), and Error and Blue!

"Ink?" Blue squeezed his hand, and that made him aware of the tickling feeling between his feet.
He looked down and saw the flowers, and the grass; he wiggled his toes, delighted.
"Woah, is this what grass feels like?" he was sure his pupils had become stars, he felt so happy!

When they had come out of the portal, Sans was worried that Ink couldn't handle the new environment: the Creator had stepped in and promptly froze on the spot, staring with wide eyes at everything; his pupils were just white pinpricks, and since they reflected Ink's feelings, that probably meant he was overwhelmed.

Even Error seemed worried, as he didn't try to snap Ink out of his funk and just waited, though it was clear he was irritated.
Sans squeezed his hand to ground him, and tried calling him. Ink just looked at the ground and wiggled his toes.
"Woah, is this what grass feels like?"

Such a small thing made him so happy. Sans felt a pang in his soul at the sentence, but he couldn't concentrate on that for long, because Ink let go of his hand, hugged his satchel to his chest and faceplanted on the ground.

"Ink!" he yelled, scared he had hurt himself. Ink didn't move.
"ιş 𝓱Ｅ 𝓭ＥＡ𝓭?(Is he dead?)" wondered Error, leaning down to look at him.
The artist quickly raised his skull and almost bumped into Error, who quickly backed away and nearly tripped.

"I LOVE GRASS!" He had a wide smile and starry pupils. "I'M NEVER GETTING UP!"
He then started rolling around laughing.
While Sans was relieved and would have let Ink enjoy himself in normal circumstances, they were on a time limit: Nightmare was far from stupid, hanging out with Dream told him that much, and he'd find out about their plan soon, if he hadn't guessed already. Also, Error looked like he was about to explode.

Sans put his arms under Ink's armpits and pulled him up and away from the grass; the fact that the Creator was shorter than him made it easier.
"Ink please" he put him back on his feet on stony grounds "I know you're excited but-"
"𝕎乇 𝓓ᗝภ't 𝓱ａ𝐯乇 tι𝓂乇 千ᗝ尺 үᗝ𝓾尺 千𝓾ᶜķιภ𝑔 ａภtιᶜร!(WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR FUCKING ANTICS!)" And there was the tantrum; Sans was honestly surprised Error lasted this long. His friend was covered in glitches, but didn't seem in danger of "crashing".

"ι ⓌＡŇt t𝓱𝐢ş ⓕ𝕌𝓬𝕂𝐢ŇＧ t𝓱𝐢ŇＧ tσ ⓕ𝐢ŇＡ𝔩𝔩𝕪 ᵇＥ σѶＥя, şσ 𝕪σ𝕌 ᵇＥttＥя ＧＥt 𝕪σ𝕌я Ａşş 𝐢Ň ＧＥＡя ＡŇ𝓭 ştＡяt ⓌＡ𝔩𝕂𝐢ŇＧ! ι'爪 Ňσt ⓌＡ𝐢t𝐢ŇＧ ⓕσя 𝕪σ𝕌 tσ 𝔩σσ𝕂 Ａt ＥѶＥя𝕪 ş𝓱𝐢tt𝕪 яσ𝓬𝕂 σŇ t𝓱Ｅ Ｇяσ𝕌Ň𝓭 σя ş爪Ｅ𝔩𝔩 Ａt t𝓱Ｅ ⓕ𝔩σⓌＥяş σя σt𝓱Ｅя ᵇ𝕌𝔩𝔩ş𝓱𝐢t!(I want this fucking thing to finally be over, so you better get your ass in gear and start walking! I'mm not waiting for you to look at every shitty rock on the ground or smell the flowers or other bullshit!)" He then stomped away, angry.
The swear words left Sans feeling displeased, but since it was hardly the time to lecture the Destroyer on his language and knew Error wouldn't actually abandon them, he didn't reprimand or follow his friend and focused on the Creator instead.

Ink was still laughing, but also calming down; his pupils were a star and a green oval now, but Sans didn't know their meaning (he could only guess the star meant happy). His clothes were covered in grass blades.

"Ink, Error is right." He used his stern tone. "We don't have time to lose, so we can't get distracted. When everything is over, I promise you we can hang out and have fun, but now it's not the time. Do you think you can focus?"

Still smiling, Ink answered: "I'm sorry Blue, it's just... everything is so nice and new! I never knew stone was so hard!" He jumped a couple time. "See?! My feet are tingling!" He then turned serious. "I'll try to be better."
Sans sighed. "I suppose that's the only thing I can ask of you. For now, take my hand. I'll make sure you don't get distracted."
"Okay!" He quickly smiled again, and Sans couldn't help but smile back.

The Royal Guard trainee grasped the Creator's hand and started leading the way, forming a single file.

Due to their positions, neither of them noticed that the bed of golden flowers looked slightly faded.
They didn't notice that Ink was leaving barely visible footprints on the stony grounds, as if his soles were painted a lighter shade of the floor colouring.
And they certainly didn't notice when Ink's round pupil became greener, while the grass blades still stuck on Ink's clothes started to lose their color, becoming more and more pale, till they also lost depth and disappeared

As if they had never existed at all.