Look How Far You've Come!

Chapter 4 - Crash

"Error, what the fuck?!"

That's basically a summary of what all the voices are saying to him. Give or take some extra salt or sass, that is. Error growled as he anxiously tapped against the ground while he sits stiffly with his legs crossed. "WilL you  a ll just shut up?!" He spits at them. "I know you don't have ey es but cAn't y ou see tha t he was cle arly man1pula-lati ng me?!"

"But he luvs you! (*^ω^*) He's not tricking you! He just wants you to love him! <3 <3"

"ACCEPT YA FEELINGS, YA DINGUS!!"

"I really don't ship this but I got a free ticket so I'm just kinda along for the ride. But if you sink the ship I might drown too so don't do that."

"Error, stop having a dorky temper tantrum and apologize to Blueberry."

"N o," Error responds sternly and straightforwardly to that.

"You are literally going out of your way to make yourself unhappy. What the fuck, Error."

"C'mon, Error! Believe in Blueberry!"

The voices all start to talk amongst themselves, seemingly all in agreement that they like that. They all start practically chanting "believe in Blueberry" to Error, making his eye twitch in annoyance. "I sWe-ear to f uck if you do n't shUt the hel l up I'll...!" He trails off, unsure of exactly what he'll do. He growls as he grips at the ground, creating a few little marks in the dirt. "I'll... i'lL ki-kiLL him!" He roars, pointing a shaky finger at the sky in rage. "I'll dEstrO-rOy hIm! I dOn 't nEEd hIm A-AnywAy! EvEryTH1-THiNG W0 uLD Be Be TTeR Of f wIthOUt hIm!"

The voices all hush up at the outburst, leaving Error pointing his shaking and glitching finger skyward in silence. Error could almost feel all the voices staring down at him despite not actually being able to see them. He darts his eyes around hastily; it feels a bit odd to be left in complete silence again. Why aren't they talking? Error thinks, not wanting to admit that he's becoming slightly worried. I can always hear them at least talking amongst themselves. What's going on? "S-say s0methiNg!!" He calls out to the darkness, staring at the distant blurry stars. He starts to feel the stars gazing at him as if THEY are the eyes of the voices.

Thankfully, he starts to hear distant whispers again and becomes just a bit less worried. He can't make out what they're saying, but at least he hears them again. Error lowers his hand back to the ground and grimaces. "The re you ar-are..." A couple of the voices happen to speak loud and clear enough for Error to hear. Whether it's on accident or intentionally is hard to tell.

"I think it could..."

"I dunno, Error..."

"Might as well."

The voices all then call out a chorus of "see you later, Error"s, then every one of their voices is suddenly cut off, leaving the glitch in silence once more. Error jumps in surprise at the complete silence, digging his phalanges into the dirt. He waits for a moment, expecting them to start up again at any moment and end this deafeningly loud silence. "...Wha... where'd y0u go?!" No response. He darts his eyes around in panic, staring at the stars that look as if they're staring at him... judging him, perhaps? He scrambles to his feet and looks around hastily, a terrified smirk on his face as he feels the silence screaming at him. "Do-don'T do Th is to me-e!" He calls out desperately to end the quiet himself. "CoMe Ba CK!! You-yOU trA-A-AItOrs!!" He clenches his fists tightly, trying to keep his panic contained but failing as errors start to fill up his eyes, blinding him.

No, no no! He growls to himself in his mind. Don't do this to me! It's too quiet now! And I won't go back to him! He's one of THEM! An abomination that I need to destroy! LOVE is an abomination that I need to destroy! I refuse to love him! He claws at his eyes, as if trying to tear away the glitches and intangible muteness.

"I wOn 't gO bA ck!" He insists to the absence of his familiar whispers. "I d0-oN'T Ca R e aBouT THa T DaM-DaMN BLueBeRRY!!" He then shifts his voice to be a bit higher pitched, as if pretending to be someone else. "But E-Error," he says. "WH-H-Hy haVen't you ki-i-illed him yet?" He blinks the errors out of his eyes, his hands gripping at his face as he takes a couple steps in a random direction. "Be cau-cause," he says in his normal voice. "I do-don't re ally... know..."

"You kno-ow why!" He says to himself as he starts to pace back and forth in distress, clawing at his face and painfully tugging at the blue string-like tears from his eyes as he glitches out in agony. "You LoVe Hi-HiM! No I DoN' T! CaN'T You-OU jUs t lEt yO UrsElf bE hA-A-App y?! nO It cA-aN'T Be TH aT e-eAsY! STo-Op rUn nIng fr0m thI-iNGS THaT Wo-ouLD G1Ve Yo u JoY! I cA-aN'T HaV e Pe aCe of-oF MiN D I DON'T hA-HaVe a Mi ND! File 13 Load Failed <ERROR 404 SANITY NOT FOUND> I 'lL TeaR h iS F uC kinG BO nES A p-ParT NO y0u Don 't Wa-wAn T TO I LiKE t His MiStA-A Ake <ERROR LINE 537 INPUT INVALID> ReSTaR T pRoGra-Ra M!! WHy Wo uL-Uld I l0vE... WHY nOt?? FuCK hE's Cu-cUtE...! I H-a-AtE (ACCESS DENIED) <ERROR UNDEFINED VAR LOVE> KiLL ProG Ram no-O-0-0w!"

Error.exe has crashed.

Whispers start to flare up at the event that just unfolded while Error stands in frozen silence and solitude.

Rebooting...

0%

"Oh shit, what happened?!"

"That didn't work like I wanted..."

"What were we thinking?!"

"OMG WE KILLED HIMMMMM GHNSHFHHDG NOOOOOO"

"No, he's alive! He's fine! He's just gotta reboot!"

20%

"Maybe we should apologize to him..."

"No, it's working! He's starting to accept his feelings and stuff!"

"Yeah he's also crashing..."

40%

"He crashed ONCE. He won't crash again."

"That's not how it works... actually, he probably WILL crash again."

"Nooo T.T"

"Just... no, I'm thinking this will work. He just... needs some time to himself."

"He's had enough of that..."

60%

"Just give it a bit more time! He thinks we're real and not figments of his imagination, so if he thinks he's the one telling him to go back then..."

"Yeah, at this point he thinks we're manipulating him too, huh?"

"We are..."

"...Oh, right."

80%

"He's almost back, guys."

"Okay, hush! Everyone quiet!"

"Shhh!"

Silence.

100% *Windows start up noise*

Error blinks his eyes open and back into focus as he returns to reality. "What the hell..." He almost feels as if something in his coding was fixed while he was rebooting. He curls and uncurls his fingers a couple times, making sure he's still himself, then looks up at the sky, unable to hide the distressed and concerned look on his face.

"...Hey Er ror, do you love him?" He asks himself in a quiet and troubled voice. "Yes... Do you still wan t to k1ll h im? No. WhY? He do-doesn't want t o kill me. He 's too-to0 nice to me. Wh y do you kEep o n.. .? Beca-ause I kn ow I'll hurt h1m anyw-way. So there's no poin t. En joy it whi-hile it last s thEn." He slowly raises his shaking hand out before him and opens a window so he can see into the Anti-Void where Blue is tied up and hanging above the ground slightly. He's just staring down at the ground in silence with a defeated and broken look on his face, tear stains on his skull as his head is smushed into his scarf, hiding his mouth. Error lets out a quiet glitched sigh at the sight.

I guess I could just...