Fairytale - An Undertale AU

Chapter 12 - Don't Forget Me

Teleporting to Ink's workplace, I sigh. Dream had to go check on some worlds. As I make my way over to Ink, he glances up at me. Something in his face, it was off. Something is wrong. He sighs, chuckling. Tilting my head, I wait for him to explain himself.

"You're just as intuitive as she was," he murmurs.

"As who?" I say, pulling myself into a sitting position.

"You remind me of her, actually. A lot," he says, chuckling. He looks up at me, only to look away. "In fact, you look exactly like her," he whispers. Resting my hand on his, I urge him to continue talking. Groaning, he leans back from his work. "Anna was her name. I'm sure you remember Error mentioning him," he says. Going back, I nod. He did, saying something about Ink fighting. It was a random detail, I didn't really think anything of it at the time. "She was my friend. Our friend, actually. In our AU," he continues, closing his eyes. "She lived in the village we did. You see, this was a time when humans and monsters lived in harmony."

"We were born on our own, so some other monsters took us in and raised us. Anna was a nice human who was born the same day we were found. She was, well, kind. Loving. She was our best friend. And then, we started fighting. You see, I discovered my powers at a young age. Error took a bit longer. By the time he got his, I already had words dancing off of papers. Literally. We began fighting. I would create something, he would delete it. Soon, it grew to more than just petty arguments. One day, he thought I was using my power to make our parents like me. So he did the only thing he knew how. He deleted them," Ink says, trailing off. My eyes widen. A kid, killing his own parents. "And then it was whoever 'disobeyed' him. Hundreds of people were deleted, but it didn't stop there. He could control them, causing them to reappear and animate themselves as people. Soon enough, the villagers started hating him. All except Anna. Everyday she would bring him a box of fruit. We all thought she was just afraid of him, wanting to make him happy," he says, trailing off again, this time looking away.

"But she still cared about him," I murmur.

"Yeah. And soon, it came time for the battle. It was bloody. Friends fighting their reanimated friends, mothers fighting fathers, lovers fighting lovers. And worst of all, siblings fighting siblings. And Anna fought. But she fought everyone. It didn't matter who they were, alive or not. She decided that everyone deserved to live or rest. She would go through and stop the fighting. Until it came to Error and I," he says, sighing. Looking up, I start painting what he is describing. Or at least, what I'm imagining.

Error and Ink. They are looking at each other, dark glares. The people below them seemed to have just stopped fighting all together. Error laughs sadistically as Ink gasps, looking down. They just, well, stopped. None of them are dead, they just aren't moving. They refuse.

"Looks like your people weren't strong enough," Error laughs.

"Says the one with the 'unstoppable warriors.'" Ink retorts, preparing himself.

Error growls under his breath and shoots forward, swinging his fist at Ink. In the blink of an eye, it's blocked. But no by Ink. By her, Anna. A determined look on her face, and pushes Error back. His eyes are wide as Ink goes for Error, only to once again, be smacked down by Anna. While they were powerful, Anna was human. Her determination outranked their might.

"You children! That's what you are!" she cries, tears pooling in her eyes. Ink and Error look at each other, shocked. "This fighting needs to stop! Do you know how many people I watched die today? Friends? Neighbors? Family?" she yells over the rushing wind. Her body shakes with passion as she continues. "Today, I watched my sister, a deleted one, murder my mother because she refused to fight," she says, looking down with a newly found darkness covering her face.

"Anna," Error says.

"No! Stop! This all needs to stop! So many are already dead, so many people are lost. So please, stop," she sobs, falling to her knees. Error starts towards her, only to be beaten by Ink. He pulls her into a hug. She sobs into his arms. Anger and jealousy starts to grow in Error as Anna clutches to Ink.

"I-I'll bring them back! I'll fix this, we'll fix this," Ink says, looking up at Error. Something in Error softens as he looks at Ink. He can't be mad at him. He just can't. It's not fair to his brother. No, it's not fair to Anna. Error slowly starts to sink to his knees. Ink reaches his arm out to Error. Eyes wide, he takes it. Suddenly, something takes him over. He uses his wires to use a sword, flinging it towards Ink. What was it? He doesn't know. His eyes are wide as Ink looks down, tears streaming down his face. In front of him was Anna, a sword shoved through her stomach. She coughs, blood pooling in her mouth. She chokes, coughing. "Anna, no!" Ink yells. Error pulls the sword out, his eyes wide as tears stream down his cheeks. Blue tears. They leave a trail on his face.

"I-I didn't mean to," Error says, collapsing. Anna coughs.

"Please, for me," she says, reaching out and grabbing both of their hands. Blood pours from her body as she smiles sadly, tears streaming down her face. Error looks at her, sobbing out of anger and sorrow. Anna looks up at him, smiling. She touches his tear tracks, smiling.

"What a pretty blue," I murmur. Ink looks at me with wide eyes. Looking at him, I notice that I had been crying. Quickly, I compose myself, whipping the tears away. "S-Sorry, I'm not sure why I'm crying, um, sorry," I say, repeating myself. Why am I saying sorry? I never say sorry to Ink. And for good reason. The tears continue to stream down my face as I look away, trying to calm myself.

"Paint," he says, touching my shoulder.

"Wh-What?" I ask, looking at him.

"Come with me," he says, straightening out. Slowly, I nod, doing the same. We glide over to Ink's writing station. He pulls a drawer out from under the typewriter. It had a key. It was golden, and something seeming oddly familiar about it. My eyes widen. It's Sans's key, the one to his lab. Why does Ink have one? "Come here," he says, gliding over to an open area in the whiteness. Again, I follow. This is strange, even for Ink. He reaches his arm out, with the key in his hand. Quickly, he turns it. Suddenly, all the white starts being sucked into the key. It gets pulled away, almost like it's cloth. What remains it darkness. Pure nothingness. My heart starts to race. Tears continue to flow from me, but now I know why. It's this place. The darkness that surrounds us. Ink looks at me, gasping. "Paint! Are you ok?" he says, looking at me. Ground forms beneath my feet, but it's a dark brown stained with blood. I begin to get dizzy, looking around. It's so colorless. So empty.

"Oh, god," I say, my head spinning.

"Paint, what's the matter? Do we need to leave?" he asks.

"I know this place. I was born here," I whisper, looking around at the familiar landscape as it all starts to come into view. I was wrong, this place isn't empty. It's just bare. Like it was left to rot for thousands of years. My breath hitches in my throat as Ink processes what I said.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that you were born here? In this world?!" he says.

"Oh, god. Mom!" I scream, dropping to my knees. Ink runs over, resting his hands on my shoulders. Memories come pouring back into my head. Thoughts that aren't mine, but hers. Anna's. Looking around, I cover my face. The tears now have reason. Why I was crying in the first place.

She remembered.

I remembered.