Chapter Text
Ink danced back as a barrage of bloody red bone attacks shredded the air as they whizzed through his afterimage. Despite the AU they were in being beyond the hope of repair, a grin split his face.
It was always just too much fun messing with Error.
“Ooh, close! Your aim’s improving! Still about a mile off, but improving!”
Error snarled like the big ol' man baby he was, shooting out even more magic constructs and blaster fire in his frustration, "mY ai- aIm iSSs pEr- pERfeCt yoU-! yOU sOUllEsS f- F- FReAk!" The next wave of attacks sported sneaky swipes of strings, and in order to avoid getting snagged, Ink had to teleport around the battlefield.
This was their play. A violent, universe-rending game that Ink could never tire of.
The Creator flipped, twisted, and contorted around the attacks, his brush leaving trails of black, inky magic that would spear through the rapid fire of ill-intent battering across the sky. He wasn’t counter-attacking to win, really, but moreso to annoy.
It was just so fun! Yeah, pissing Error off usually resulted in a few worlds accidentally getting trashed up, but hey! You can't make an omelet without cracking eggs! (That was how the saying went, right?). Besides, it wasn't like most of them aren't fixed up by the end of it.
Ink landed lightly on a floating chunk of what might have been New Home once the barrage finally cooled down. Sitting languidly on his haunches - as the Destroyer charged up yet another giant blaster of "Ultimate Destruction" - a brilliantly, stupidly funny idea popped into his head.
The moment Error released fire upon him, instead of dodging, Ink leaned back and flung Broomie right at Error's head.
Of course, he didn't get to see the entirety of his plan as he was consumed by blaster fire, but once he managed to melt down into a blob of pure magic and break free from the sizzling pain, it was to a downright hysterical sight.
Now, for those of you who just got here mid-fight, to truly understand the brilliance of how funny this is, you need the context: during their fight, at some point, Ink had thrown an onslaught of paint-balls full of glitter. Of course Error kept far, far away from them and shredded every one to bits... Except for one that ended up wedged in his ever expanding web of bitchiness.
One that was right above Error's head when he took the shot.
There, Error sat in his makeshift string swing. Absolutely dripping with iridescent pink glitter.
Ink laughed so hard he puked.
"Hahahahahaha-! Er- Error! You-! Hahaha! Th- That looks s- so good on you! Hahahaha!"
The Destroyer's glitches went silent. Error looked down at himself. He saw the horrid, eye-burning pink. He saw the malicious sparkles that followed you like the plague. He saw the sheer, unadulterated filth of it defiling his person.
His scarf. His clothes. His bones...!
Error's eyelights shrank to furious, vibrating pinpricks. Broken scripts flashing all over his person too fast to read.
The air began to vibrate with the hum of an overheating early 2000's computer.
“...no.”
Ink felt hesitation bid him to take a step back, his grin finally faltering. “Uh... Error?”
“nO. NO. No. NO. NOnOnoNoNOnO!”
All at once, the sky began to break down and shred into black and green bits of static. The entire AU screamed like a broken phone dial, so loud it felt as if Ink was suddenly dragged down eighty feet underwater without letting his magic regulate the pressure.
“YOU. STAINED. GLITTER. ON. MEEEEEEEE!!!”
Oh shit.
As if in answer to Error's frothing killing intent, the world gave one final heave before scattering into the black. Everything was dark, heat drained away from their surroundings fast enough to choke.
And then there was Error. Grinning madly. Etchings spilling with streams of razor-edged wires.
Ink knew in that moment he pushed too far.
The next, he was dodging bone attacks the size of logs, raining down upon him as a felled forest.
Ink yelped, his zig-zag movements now a frantic, desperate scramble for survival. He painted a shield in an attempt for cover, only to hear Error’s strings shredding through it like tissue paper.
“IT’S NOT COMING OFF!” Error shrieked, his voice layered with a thousand wailing cries. He was lunging for him now, no longer afraid of physical contact. Not even the threat of Ink’s vibrant paints could deter the absolute, glitter-induced meltdown.
Error's claws slashed across the air, just barely missing Ink's face as he stumbled back. Falling onto his ass, the Creator hastily tried to do damage control.
“Okay! Okay! I’m sorry!” Ink squeaked, scuttling backwards like a turtle. “It's-! It's biodegradable! Probably!”
That had probably been the wrong thing to say, as Error proceeded to chase him across four more AUs before losing enough steam to crash.