Book 1: The First Fallen Human

One More Chance

"Please! Scooter!" Ink begged desperately for the human to at least stand so they weren't dragging her like a dead animal. Scooter didn't react and Error muttered under his breath as he pulled her along with his strings. They were in the Save Screen. Reaper had taken Geno somewhere else for the moment. He dropped her and deposited her. Ink stared at her in dismay, remembering how upset the Sans from the Candytale AU had seemed when handing Scooter over.

"Scooter. Please at least sit up." Ink said quietly, kneeling next to her as Error pulled back all of his strings. He blinked as he noticed something. One of his eyesockets lit up with an exclamation point and he reached out. His skeletal fingers took one of her hands and gently lifted it. He studied her fingers, blinking in shock at the red strings wrapped around her fingertips. "Error... she learned your string trick...!"

"Wh-w-What??" Error demanded, coming over next to the other. He blinked and lifted his own hand, comparing their two strings. He blushed as Ink gently ran his hand over Error's strings before turning and doing the same with Scooter. His white hand came away stained red and he blinked in shock.

"It's... it's her blood..." Ink realized with a hushed, horrified whisper. Error didn't make a noise, though it was obvious he was also somewhat horrified. "Scooter? Scooter??" The other still wouldn't respond, her eyes full and staring straight ahead.

Error blinked before putting his hand on Ink's shoulder. He leaned down cautiously. "R-R-Ryan? Ry-R-R-Ryan R-R-Rose?" That got her attention. Almost instantaneously, Scooter's eyes moved to fix on him. Ink was frozen. How could he have forgotten Scooter's real name? Error had remembered! He put his hand on Error's, quickly giving it a grateful squeeze and provoking a blush from both of them before Ink gulped.

"Can you sit up please?" He asked, trying to sound as gentle as possible. Scooter slowly blinked before her arms moved first, propping themselves up and heaving the rest of her body up. It was like watching a zombie rise from the grave. She finally managed to sit up, staring at them. There were a few moments of silence before she spoke.

"Is... is that my name?"

Her voice was raspy, yet curious. Monotone, but in a way, desperate. Ink stared at her before nodding. "That's your name... do you want us to call you that?" He asked, wringing his skeletal fingers together nervously. Scooter blinked, almost seeming to be thinking. She shook her head.

"It's... unnecessary..."

Her tone sounded hurt, but decisive. Ink blinked at her in dismay before nodding. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "We... we have one more thing we want you to try..." He paused. How could he get her to do this? It was obvious that she didn't care about hurting people and Ink was only doing this so Scooter could realize what she was doing. How could he get Scooter to do it??? He was wide-eyed as he wracked his brain for an excuse. Anything.

"A-A-Alive." Error's glitching voice made them both look at him. Error seemed nervous, but serious. "I-I-If we could m-m-m-make you f-f-f-fe-feel alive... m-m-m-maybe your SOUL w-w-will function as i-i-if you are alive..." He cleared his throat at the difficulty of speaking. "I-I-If your SOUL li-l-lives, that m-m-m-means w-w-w-we can kill it..." Nailed it.

Ink stared at Error, both completely impressed by his quick thinking and the fact that he was able to speak for so long. He nodded. "That's it..." He said quietly to Scooter. Scooter blinked and seemed mildly interested.

"How do you plan on doing this?"

Ink nodded and lifted his sash of vials above and off of his body, laying them on the ground in front of him. He took a deep breath. "These vials give me emotions... because I'm, kind of like you..." He fumbled awkwardly. "I'm a soulless being. Therefore I can't really FEEL and be alive like everyone else..." Scooter's dull gaze drifted down to the vials. Ink coughed before continuing. "If I can give you the correct mix of the vials, maybe your SOUL will become alive again. Like, even for a little bit..." Ink stared at her, hoping he was explaining it well enough for her to follow.

"You are soulless, Ink?"

Her question surprised him and he coughed awkwardly again before nodding, his face flushing in those rainbow hues. "I... uh... yeah..." Scooter continued to stare and he felt an uncomfortableness in his chest. A squeezing pressure. He jumped as Error stuck his arm in front of Ink.

"L-L-Listen, w-w-weirdo! W-W-We're h-he-here about-t-t-t YOU!" He snapped. For a moment, Ink was shocked before he saw Scooter nod.

"Of course... my apologies..."

Ink felt a rush of relief and as Error put his arm down, Ink gave his hand another appreciative squeeze. Error glitched for a moment before looking away. Scooter sighed shakily. Ink gulped and nodded. "That's the plan... It'll take me a bit to mix up the appropriate thing, but it's the best shot we have." He stared at Scooter, a bit tense at how she would react. Scooter's eyes seemed to lighten and a bit of green crept in.

"Do you really think it will work, Ink?"

Her voice sounded different. Ink felt his chest tighten. Hope. She sounded hopeful. He gulped and nodded. "It... will take me about an hour... so..." He stood up. "Please don't leave." He leaned down and picked up the sash. The vials all clanked together as he slipped them all back on. He turned to Error. "Can you stay with her...?" He was hesitant.

Error did not want to stay with Scooter, but he knew this was important to Ink. With a grumble, he sighed and nodded. Ink lit up. "Thank you, Glitchy!! Thank you! I'll make it up to you, I promise!!" Error blushed a bit before nodding. Ink turned, with his dopey smile and disappeared into an ink splash, leading to the Multiverse. Error sighed.

He blinked and turned back to Scooter. "G-G-G-Guess it's-s-s just y-y-you a-and me-me..." Scooter blinked before getting up.

"It would appear so."

"Wh-Wh-What are y-y-you-" Error was cut off as Scooter spoke, turning away from him.

"If this really is it... I have someone I want to say goodbye to..."