Sans AU One-Shots

Ink || creator.

Pairing: Ink Sans x Female Reader
Prompt: After all these years, the Undertale fandom is basically dead, and on his last leg, someone comes to Ink's rescue with the creation of a new AU.
Type: angst, comfort, a romance doomed from the start
Length: 3.9k words
Background: If Ink doesn't drink his paints for a long period of time, he turns emotionless and goes into a catatonic state - which I continuously refer to in this one-shot as 'dying'. It's not dying by definition, but he might as well be considered dead since "Ink would become a husk, like an empty shell. He will simply stop moving, responding, and will not have any of his senses working. Ink's body can be completely controlled by someone else, but his ink abilities will not be available anymore until he is refilled with paints." (the exact words of the creator Myebi/Comyet). He sees (Y/n) saving him from this as her 'saving his life'.
Notes: Imo, the Undertale fandom isn't as dead as everyone thinks it is. It's not nearly as popular as it used to be after so many years, but seeing as my stories (the ones I just made) as well as this one-shot book are still getting a lot of views, I'd argue it's merely 'not as active'. There will always be someone that loves the characters as well as new ideas and AUs springing up. Or maybe I'm just as hopeful as (Y/n) when there's no reason to be... | Requested by a lovely reader. 

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Ink knew eventually he'd die, he just wished he could've done more before that point. Undertale had been out for 8 years now, and with such a great length of time since its debut, the fandom had steadily been dying out. The fans had moved on to other forms of media, Deltarune, or grew up and stopped thinking about 'fictional' skeletons and the AUs they'd worked so hard to build. Everyone else would live on, but Ink's very fate was tied to the strength of the fandom, and so as the river of paints in the Doodle Sphere ran dry and no new AUs had been made in what felt like years, Ink realized this was the end for him. Without the paints that gave him his very emotions, he became numb and emotionless, becoming stationary in the Doodle Sphere, unable to bring himself to do anything at all. It was just a shame he didn't have the emotions necessary to care in the first place.

Ink found a good spot to sit for the rest of his days - at least until Error found out how easily susceptible he was in his dead state, after which Error would destroy all of the AUs with no more resistance while probably forcing Ink to join in. Those 8 years were the best years of Ink's life, and even if they were the only 8 years of his life, they'd been memorable. He was glad he got to help the fandom thrive - or at least he assumed that's how he was supposed to feel about it - but his usefulness was over. What was the point of protecting the AUs if nobody cared about them in the first place?

The rushing of water soothed him as he sat alone in the Doodle Sphere, content to lose all emotion and- wait, rushing of water? Ink perked up quickly, his sockets widening as he saw the river of paints flow through the Doodle Sphere once more, and he scrambled to his feet to rush over to fill his vials. In his desperation, he drank directly from the river, letting out a joyful laugh as he sat back, the lights back in his sockets as he felt the urge to dance, to create, to go shove it in Error's face that he wasn't dead yet. But before any of that, he needed to figure out what got the river flowing again - and thus, what saved him.

A new script for an AU was floating directly above him, and he checked it over with intrigue. No new AUs had been made in so long the idea felt foreign to him, but he wasn't complaining. He let out a snicker at the realization that this person - (Y/n), their name was - just saved him without realizing it, then swiped Broomie from his back and covered the ground under his feet with ink, falling through to show up at this (Y/n)'s front door. The bond between creator and AU was strong, and since his bond to the AUs was equally strong, he was able to find the creator just based on their name and a little bit of magic, and now more than ever he was grateful for that ability.