ClockTale: Rewrite

Rewrite: 1

"And that's not even covering half!" Blue helpfully adds.

"Basically." Ink nods.

***

From then on, once a week Timer is brought from his duties to sit in a room with copies of himself as they snack on Cheetos, straight up condiments????? and discuss anything but what he assumes they are meant to.

Time and time again, Timer has questioned why they ever decided to bring him in, he doesn't even do anything, after all, but every time Ink responds with "Every Sans counts!" pupil a yellow star, which seems to be its default, before returning to whatever he is doing, Timer once again the last thing on his mind.

It takes three years for something to happen. Three years of repetition. He likes calm repetition. No Resets have been issued, and what seems to be a Pacifist or Neutral route destined to finish. The Human seemed very pleased by that realization, and he can't argue with it.

So obviously, when things are just starting to go right, they go very, very wrong.

It all started with a simple vibration of his watch. The watch on Timer's right arm. The one he never takes off, no matter what.

Looking down, Timer looks at the eight different hands on the watch, and he feels his soul clench at the sight. Each hand is a different shade of green, regular, emerald, lime, olive, pear, pickle, Fern, and seaweed, all of which are pointed to different numbers, which is normal for it, but there is one that is off. The Emerald green set of arms are both darker than the usual color they are, closer to a red, both pointing to the same tome. Just after 12 o'clock. That's not good.

That means.. "Papyrus..."

It was a whisper, not even meant to be said out loud, yet the others around Timer heard him anyways

"What's up, Timer?" Dream asks, head tilted "Ican feel your panic from here."

"I need to get back to my au!" Jumping to his feet, causing Horror, who is to his left, jump, a growl on the tip of his tongue.

"No you don't," Ink waves a dismissive hand, focus on a blueprint in front of him

"Yes I do!"

"No you don't. You can wait, no?"

"No!" Feeling his magic begin to fluctuate, an ache settling on the left side of his skull, but Timer pushes it down with the distant thought of Not right now.

"Sit down." Dust growls "You listen to Ink. Ya hear?"

"..fine."

Sitting down, yet unable to be relaxed, Timer tries to ignore the vibrating of his watch, but can't help checking it every so often, which only worsens his anxiety.

Something is wrong.

Something is happening.

He's supposed to be there!

"..ideas from Fresh, Geno.. Reaper.." Inks words pass over him like an unhelpful breeze that doesn't do more then give one an uncomfortable chill, the conversations flying over his head. All he could think about is Papyrus.

Papyrus, Papyrus, PapyrusPapyrus Papyrus

There's the telltale sound of Ink's portal opening, the sploosh taking Timer momentarily out of his mind, half-heartedly hoping to be able to get back to his au, only to see Ink lead three new skeletons out of the portal.

"Yo, yo, yo, wassup everyone?" The skeleton dressed in a clash of colors exclaims, one in a floor length black hood that seems to be floating, and another in all white but with a red scarf and blood dripping from his mouth not far behind.

"Ugh. Wh-y-y this pa-arasit3?" Comes the irritated glitch of Error voicing his opinion from where he's hanging above by the blue strings that protrude from his fingertips and cheek bones, but is ignored by the others.

"Fresh!!" Blue jumps up to the colorful skeleton while Dream greets the other two

"Oh! Guys, guys! Meet Timer!"

Blue's exclamation brings the attention to the one who would rather die than have it, three sets of scrutinizing, glowing eyes lock on him, though only three actual eyes can be seen due to Fresh wearing shades that display the words Yoyoyo in blue and green light, and one or Geno's eyes covered by a white glitch.

"Hiya," The one clad in black floats over to Timer, but doesn't put out a hand "the names Reaper. I come from ReaperTale!"

The other two introduce themselves as Geno and Fresh, though don't say which universe they are from.

"Okay!" With a clap of his hands, Ink has their attention "Now that the introductions are over, you three, over here. I need your input."

The gazes stray from Timer, who is relieved for less then a second before he is reminded of why he was so uptight in the first place. Papyrus.

One would think that after the sheer amount of routes and resets his world has gone through, Timer wouldn't be affected every time it happens again, but they would be wrong.

Sure, he may be desensitized to the concept, but the prospect of everyone dying and him not being able to intervene hurts.

Another sharp buzz to his wrist has Timer noting that Papyrus' hands have gone black. Fuck. The energy seeps out of the skeleton like squeezing water from a sponge, bones rattling as they settle against the wall he is up against, ignoring the screws and gears to his left from the watch he had been dismantling.

"Hey Ink? Your Timer friend isn't looking too good."

The scratchy voice of Geno cuts through the soft chatter and bored groans

"Hm? Oh my," Ink murmurs, like he is just now noticing the state of the other "you are right,"

"Timer, dear, are you alright?" Dream's voice is soft as he questions him

"What's going on with his watch?"

At Cross' words, eyes focus on the watch with the many hands, all of which have begun to spin much faster than they should be able to, looking as if they were going to fall off any moment now.

When he gets no response, Dream frowns "Something is not right. I am feeling a lot of negativity from him.. What do you say, brother?"

"Yeah. Much more than usual," Comes Nightmare's tone of indifference

"Maybe we should send him back to his au?" Blue asks quietly "He has been saying he wants to return for a while now, no?"

Before any more can be said, there is a sudden, loud ticking that fills the air, irritating the skeletons in the room, the sound of bones rattling as Timer seems to seize for a moment before going still, the ticking disappearing as soon as it comes.

"..Fuck" 

Aight y'all. This is the first chapter of the rewrite. There will be differences from this and the original, so I hope you can all still enjoy it! I have also decided to cross post this on archive of our own, so you can find it there as well under this tag, so yeah :) Comments and constructive criticism are appreciated!! 

~Fublle