The Path We Walk

Ch.23 Gathering

  Wine and I worked on Error for several hours. When he was all cleaned up, I had Wine bring me magic food to refill my magic reserves. I fixed breaks, closed cuts, and healed scars. Anything that I could do I took care of. I didn't stop until he was stable and wouldn't be in as much pain. I would probably have to rebreak some of his bones to heal them right later. That was something I could do when he was stronger and hopefully actually sedated.

   Everyone in the gang skeleton, human, or ghost, made their way into the infirmary. At some point, Dust walked in with Blue, and who I believe is Dream. The positive guardian seemed to look around at everyone surprised and nervously. Until his eyelights fell on me that is. He still seemed confused, but also relieved. Then his eyelights fell on Error. By now, Error was wrapped up like a mummy in bandages infused with my healing magic. I did make sure to cover his lower body in a sheet for his modesty. I was now taking care of the larger cracks on his skull and ribs. Just then the door slammed open. A tall skeleton with white eyelights, dressed in a long black robe swiftly floated towards the bed. They radiated death. He seemed to take on a combination of feelings, from panic to relief. They looked to me. "How bad is it?" They asked me and Wine.

  "Pretty bad, Reaper. He'll live but it will take quite some time to recover." Wine answers.

  "Which is why we need your help. He needs to stay in bed and rest. Based on what I've heard, he won't do it willingly." I continue. Reaper looks to me confused.

  "Who are you? I haven't seen you before." They ask. Dream listens in confusion and  curiousity.

  "Call me Aster. She/her pronouns. I'll be Error's healer for the foreseeable future, since I'm the only one who can use healing magic on him. True neutral magic and all that. Nice to meet you Reaper. Though, I wish it could have been under better circumstances. May I know your pronouns?" I say. Everyone who didn't know was surprised at my admission to being true neutral. Reaper whistled.

  "Well, pleasure to meet you Aster. I go by he/him. I really appreciate you healing Error. Not many would do so even if they were forced." Reaper tells me.

  "No problem. He doesn't deserve the hand he was dealt. And, no one deserves being put through this torture. No matter what they've done. I'm more than willing to help him get on his feet, and will do my best to heal him back to optimal condition. It's just going to take a while, even with my magic and training. Skeletons are a bit tricker to heal since we're just bones. The way our magic flows through our bodies make it more painful and dangerous when receive brakes and cracks. Especially as many as he's received." I say to Reaper.

  Everyone winces in sympathy. They all knew how painful an injury could be for a skeleton. It's part of the reason we relied on dodging so much. Skeleton were all boss monster or above, so were powerful. But, we were more vulnerable to physical attacks than others. Skeleton's bodies relied on magic to function more than others. While all monsters were mainly made of magic, most still had some physical matter. Ghosts, elementals, and skeleton were fully made of magic. For skeleton and elementals, any physical matter we consumed was completely broken down and turned to magic. Ghosts could only eat fully magic food and ghost monster food. Having a break could turn deadly quickly for us from magic loss. You would be lucky to heal the limb before it dusted away. Error's magic was likely what made them last long enough to receive healing. He seemed to have been keeping himself together through pure DETERMINATION.

  Nightmare walks in being followed by a small human and four young skeletons. The human appeared to be a Frisk that was completely grey. Where their eyes should be, two pits as dark as the void looked on. Two of the skeletons were black boned. One had yellow eye sockets with red eyelight an x in one. Their teeth were green and they wore blue glasses. Their cloths were primarily black with some blue accents. A red and gold sash was tied around their waist. Around their neck was a beige scarf. Their fingers were orange and red. They had cyan markings on their cheeks. They had white and black glitches and error signs around them. The other had magenta eyesockets with a yellow and blue eyelights. Their skull seemed to be partially melted on the top with the extra flowing over them. They had yellow teeth and magenta and yellow markings on their cheeks. Their fingers were yellow and magenta. They were wearing blue and black jacket and shorts. Their shirt was magenta. They also had a beige scarf with different colored paint stains.

The other two skeletons were the normal white, but no less distinctive. One had a single white eyelights. They were wearing a white cloak and pants. They had a black shirt. A red scarf was wrapped around their neck. A few white glitches could be seen around them and were radiating an aura of death. They were holding hands with the other skeleton. This one was radiating positivity. They had star shaped blue and yellow eyelights. A colorful ink blot stained their cheek. They dressed in a sailor captain shirt and hat. They had brown pants and a yellow scarf.

  "Mom!" "Mom!" "Mother!" "Mr.Error!" They all cried at seeing Error's condition. They make their way by the bed.

  "Palette, Goth, what are you doing here?! And, what do you mean Mom, Goth?!" Dream cried. They skeleton dress in the sailor cloths comes over to Dream.

  "Hey mother, We didn't really mean for you to find out things like this." The now identified Palette tells him.

  "Goth is my child with Error, when he was still a Geno. The original Geno. After I found him as Error, we decided to keep our relationship a secret from the counsel. Having the god of death and the god of destruction together would be seen as a huge threat to the multiverse. Only the gang and a few others here know about it." Reaper explained.

  "Don't be mad at Palette, Mr. Dream. I made him promise to keep it a secret from you." Who I believe is Goth, said.

  "IT'S WASN'T JUST YOU TWO KEEPING IT A SECRET. I ALSO DIDN'T TELL DREAM THE TRUTH TO PROTECT THEM." Blue speaks up. Dream looks lost at all these revelations.

Suddenly a poof of pink smoke appears. "What's up my radical broski's. Fresh meister is in the house!" A 90's themed colorful skeleton cries as the smoke clears. He had on a pair of shades that said, "RAD-ICAL".

  "Now's not the time Fresh. Things are pretty serious." The gray human says. Fresh looks around at everyone until their now blank shades land on Error.

  "Sorry, Core dawg. Didn't realize things were so unrad right now." Fresh says seriously. They take a seat on a bed.

  Nightmare clears his nonexistent throat and walks to the center of the room. Core follows. He begins speaking  "Alright. Now that everyone that can make it is hear, we can begin. I know this was surprising for some of you to be called here, but this was a serious emergency. This not only effects us balance keepers, but the safety of the whole multiverse. May I call to order, The Secret Counsel of Balance."