Cross unzipped the white corpse bag on the ground along with Blue and Core!Frisk carried the lifeless human inside of it. It wasn't the first time this incident happened in this universe. The whole Multiverse has the same problem as them.
Few corpses were hidden in the forest that was covered in most. The corpses were hang on the dead tree, along the mouth was somehow slit and still smiling, even the eyes are still open wide staring into the soul of the innocent and naive person who found it.
Ever since Dream died because of Nightmare, the Multiverse was close to be destroyed and corrupted, however Cross managed to save the apple before Nightmare could eat it. Although the golden apple may be corrupted, when there is positive within Cross, the black substance will faded away into its original colour.
Before Nightmare could end them all, he was defeated with versions of Dream, Swad and Dreamswap ended his life. Only left with nothing but the black apple collapsing on the ground.
It was pretty sad that the two brothers had died, but someone told him there was a solution. It was Shattered, a trust friend to Dream.
Shattered explained to Cross about those two apples he collected: Cross need to fused those to apple to make a seed and plant it somewhere that has sunlight, good weather and temperature, especially the right condition of a soil.
Once his mission was completely, Cross watering the plant and waited to be grown to see the two brothers once more.
However, there was something interestingly odd is going on, after few years, all he could see was Nightmare as the Guardian of balance aura. There was no Dream, yet his version of himself are still alive. It was sound impossible, yet here it is.
Cross snapped his thoughts out when Core!Frisk snapping their fingers, trying to wake him up from his deepest thoughts, they called, "Cross? Earth to Cross! Are you there?"
"Are you alright, Cross?" Blue was concerned about him. Ever since Dream's demise, Cross mourned over him for many years, but slowly learned to move on which was healthy, but that doesn't mean Cross can be happy all the time.
His head looked down at the two, he apologize to them, avoiding eye contact, "Sorry, I was thinking of something else."
"It's about Dream, isn't it?" Blue asked him in concerned way. His hand was placed on his friend's shoulder, trying to comforted him. "I know it's been years since his death, but you know it's healthy to move on and it's alright if you mourn for your dearest friend."
Cross sighed deeply, before his eyes looked back at Blue. His head shook as he started to explain about his problem, "It's not because of that, it this..."
His pointing finger pointed at the corpse that was inside the corpse bag. He stared at the human's horrific slit mouth and its widen eyes. It shivered Cross's fragile soul by taking a single glance, and body trembling like he was going to collapse, he finally spoke up, "I was worried about this, it was normal to see people died by stabbing or so, but with slit mouth and the corpse was hang on the trees, and I never seen any monsters doesn't turned into ashes like normal monster used to."
Blue was about to say something, but he was interrupted when someone opened the portal in front of them. It was Error, the former destroyer of AUs. He was going to greeting Error with wide open arm, but noticed his worried face. There was something wrong with him. Blue doesn't hesitate to walked up to him, as he started to question him, "Error, what happened? Your face started to made me worried."
"... It's about Ink." His replied shocked everyone, "When he and I were looking for the missing girl that forest, we heard someone was watching us. We were about to prepare for the fight, but the skill unpredictable that slit Ink's mouth. I managed to caught him before he collapse to the ground—."
"Don't you have the fear of touch—?" Cross interrupted Error's conversation, making the former destroyer yelled at him.
"Shut up, Cross! I'm trying to tell you my problem and you have the audacity to interrupted me!!" Error angrily screamed at him, before he started to calm down his temper and continue, "Anyways... As Ink collapse on my hands, I saw a familiar face from a far distance, I don't want to believe myself but I think I saw Dream... OUR Dream."
"Impossible, are you sure you were imagine, Error?" Core!Frisk seems to get surprised by him, "Because that place you two were looking for that girl is a place of some kind of illusion, I heard that from rumor from the Omega Timeline."
"I wasn't sure, but his appearance, his voice... Like he was there, in that forest. The place where he died because of Nightmare." Error remembered that day, the downfall of Dream, the day that he died of sacrifice for Error's life. He will not forget that day... He continued to speak, "I saw it with my own eyes... Although my vision can be blurry, but I swear to Asgore, he was there!"
"Where's Ink now, Error?" Blue asked him, "Is he alive, is he alright? We cannot lose another friend of ours. It's hurting my soul a lot by watching many death surrounded us. Even it happened before Dream's demise, but this concerned me too much."
"He's fine... He's in the hospital in ScienceTale, Sci will take care of him." After hearing his words, it made Blue sighed in relief, "For now, we should force on the killer, we'll visit him tomorrow."
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
The next morning, Ink finally woke up from a white bed after the sunlight hit his eyes through the slightly open curtain. It seems he's in the hospital after he was unconscious. His head started to feel headache, but it eventually disappeared.
The door opened from his right side, revealing Sci who stayed up late for his research, and he was holding coffee in his hand, he yawned, "Morning Ink, how are you day? Are you feeling well?"
Before Ink could speak something, his mouth hurt a lot, he looked down and his eyes widened to see his mouth that was slit was bandage up.
"I clearly forgot about that. Don't worry, your mouth will be heal within weeks or a month." Sci explained, heading toward the empty chair that was next to him. He sit down and place his coffee on top of his near desk, "Oh, and your friends came here to visit you, are you okay with that?"
Ink nodded without any hesitation. When Sci was about to open the door, someone burst in, accidentally slammed him to the wall without noticing. "Ink!!"
A huge hug was gifted by Blue, as he cried that he was relief Ink is still alive after he was close to kill. He couldn't help himself but continue to hug his injuries friend tightly, he cried, "Ink! Thank goodness you're alright!!"
"Ahem..." Error faked cough, interrupted the wholesome moment. "Sorry to interrupted this moment but Blue, I like how you slammed Sci to the wall."
By the time Error pointed at the dizzy Sci with smug, Blue came to realize his mistake as he screamed, "Oh my star!! Sci I'm sorry!!"
Sci could feel his head dizzy, however he raised his thumb telling Blue that he is alright, although Blue's slam was extremely aggressive. At least he survived than being unconscious on the ground.
