"Child."
Life's warm smile greeted Error at the door.
"Morning, Life."
"Come in, dear," She stepped aside, allowing the skeleton to enter.
Stepping inside, Error noticed that Life had set a small shot glass of a neon green liquid on the table, and also on the table was the tell-tale bottle of half-drank whiskey.
"Four's here?" Error asked, unzipping his hoodie like Life had gestured for him to do.
"Yes, he'll be taking you for training after." She replied.
"Okay." He tugged off his shirt.
"I see that your ribs are healing," She pressed her palms together, and pulled them apart with swirling green magic dancing in each hand. She pushed her palms forth, in front of Error's ribs, not quite touching them. "I shall suppose you'll not need many more healing sessions... perhaps once more tomorrow? The rest will heal with time, and some medicine that I will supply."
"So I don't have to come here for a week like you said?"
Life paused, "Well, it seems that may not be convenient for our superiors." She smiled with undeniably false sweetness, retracting her hands and clutching one over the other. "Now, I shall ask you to please take your medicine." She gestured to the neon green liquid that resembled something rather hazardous.
"Our superiors?" Error almost laughed, "Aren't you sorta up there with them?" He picked up the shot glass and drained it quickly, the tasteless yet warm liquid slipping down his throat.
She glanced at the kitchen doorway before speaking. "The Order has three rankings- The Minor Gods, and then the two segments of the Trinity- Four and Alpha, and on top, King Multiverse. I am not the King, I am not Four, nor Alpha, so where does that leave me?"
"Minor God, I suppose." By now, Error had put on both his shirt and hoodie.
"Indeed. I am the Goddess of Life, child, just as you are the God of Destruction and are a minor God. But I am older, and dare I say wiser, than Four and Alpha. Naturally the King allows me access to most of the Trinity's happenings, but..." She drifted off, her eyes trailing off to the kitchen door again.
Four was leaning there, arms crossed. "Everything alright?"
"Yes, I was just telling him that I figure he shall be fit for regular duties after tomorrow." She cleared her throat, beaming radiantly at Four.
"Good. King's orders, so I doubt you'd have much choice in the matter." He pushed off the doorway and stalked over.
"Are we leaving now?"
"Unless Life has anything more to discuss with you."
"No," Life quickly replied, cheerily, "No, I believe that is all."
"Then let's go, Error."
**
"Estás siendo irrazonable!"
"Okay!" Jael cried, "Pero solo porque Chara preguntó por ti."
Cross sighed, clasping his hands together, "Finalmente! Gracias," He slipped through the open door, well aware his mother was still behind him.
In the hospital bed lay Chara, eyes open. He moved his pale head slightly in Cross' direction. "Cross!" His voice was hoarse and quiet, yet Cross was still able to pick up the genuine excitement that came from it.
"Chara!" He sat down and grabbed the pale boy's hand, "I'm so glad that you're awake-"
"Alpha," Chara breathed, "Alpha, where's Alpha?"
"He's not here, don't even worry about that. Alpha's not coming anywhere near you now."
"But he'll-" Chara paused for air, "He'll come back... He knows-"
"No, listen!" Cross assured, "He's not gonna come back, he's not gonna find you."
"But-but he knows-!"
"He might know, but that doesn't matter! He made his point, he's staying away now."
"If he comes back-"
"He won't. I won't let him, Chara." He pushed back Chara's white hair, preventing it from hanging messily over his eyes.
"-I'll cut his fucking head off!" Chara gasped.
Cross paused. "Well... I wouldn't try that."
"I'll fuck him up, Cross!"
"I'm sure."
"I will, I'll do it!"
Cross couldn't help but smile. "I know. I know you will."
**
"I'm sure you're familiar with these?"
Error frowned, pushing himself off the pillar he leaned against. He peered into Four's hands. "Oh."
"Put them on."
"You're gonna make me fight you in restraints?"
"Why not?" Four shrugged. "You really would benefit from it, do you even know how many Seekers' weapons are based around magic prevention?"
"I would guess many." Error groaned, taking the small, white bands from Four. Clicking the first one around his wrist, he wondered aloud, "Is this strictly necessary, though?"
"What did I just tell you?"
"Alright, alright... There." He stretched out his arms to show Four that both bands were on securely.
"If you cooperate, I might give you a gift later."
"The fuck does that mean?"
"Exactly what I said."
"Right, but-"
There was no time to finish his thought, as Error was knocked off his feet immediately by an invisible force. "Shit!" Scrambling to his feet, he groaned. "Fuck..."
"Slow."
"That was not fair!"
"Oh, you think all fights are fair?" Four chuckled darkly, amusement glinting in his eyes, "The Seekers aren't going to let you think, they don't take turns."
"Yeah, whatever..." Error briefly ran his hand over his dully aching skull.
"Okay, come here." Four beckoned him forward, and Error complied reluctantly. "There's nothing you can do if somebody uses blue magic on you when you're powerless. That's just a fact. So no, what I did was not 'fair'." He waited for Error to nod slowly, "But humans don't have blue magic. And as far as we're aware, their telekinetic weapons are still in development."
"So what do they have?"
"Guns, most of the time." Four responded shortly, "Pistols, machine guns, snipers- you name it, humans really like guns."
"Well, yeah, but how do you dodge a bullet without teleportation?"
"That depends." Four took a step back. "It's very rare, but it does happen. If it's from a handgun, then you'd better disarm the fucker, because you aren't dodging that."
"I know guns, Four!" Error cried, "I was being sarcastic, you can't dodge a bullet!"
"Well, I have. They had a sniper aimed at my head, I saw it, I reacted, it hit the guy behind me."
"Well..." Error groaned, "Well that's you! It wouldn't surprise me if you broke the laws of physics! And besides, how often do you even see where a sniper is located before it fires?"
"Alright, look." Four sighed. "Bullets aren't your worst enemy. In fact, bullets are tame compared to what else they have. They have literal flamethrowers, they have poison darts, and they even have a gun that literally causes all-over pain, just to distract you."
"It sounds like these things are pretty much unavoidable."
"They are... I guess."
"So why teach me how to avoid them?" Error put his hands behind his back, shrugging. "Just teach me how to face them."
"That would be excruciating, even for someone with your pain tolerance."
"Pain is temporary, right?"
Four almost smiled. "For once, I like your attitude."
**
"You know, I was thinking next week would be a good date."
Life frowned and lowered her watering can, looking over her shoulder from where she knelt on the soil. "For what?"
King Multiverse advanced. "To have them all see the Doctor."
"Goodness, Verse!" Life appeared genuinely surprised. "With the state Error's in?"
"It's been over a year since they last saw him, that's all I'm saying."
"I honestly do not think this should be a priority in such uncertain times."
"The uncertainty stems from the Seekers, Life. And tell me, what does the Doctor aim to achieve for us?"
"I do not wish to discuss these matters with you, sir." Life dropped her conversational tone.
"I appreciate your stance on this," The King continued, "But you do understand the goal, no?"
"I understand it, but I do not condone it."
"What's left to focus on, Life?" King Multiverse descended, sitting on his knees beside her.
"The well-being of our lessers, perhaps."
"But they are exactly as you call them- lessers."
"Lessers in power-" She clarified hastily, turning to him, "They are people, the same as you and I."
"You know, I do respect them. They're doing hard jobs, but I need them to be reliable."
"You respect them, and yet you let them be used as experiments."
"Listen," The King rose, offering a hand to Life, "They are safe."
Life took his hand, but looked at him sadly once on her feet. "I must disagree."
King Multiverse dropped her her hand as he looked away. "Things haven't been going well recently."
"So you appear to be going back on the principles you sold us." Flatly Life responded, her long dress giving her the impression that she glided as she walked away. "I fear that you shall become the very thing you swore to eliminate."
The King made no attempt to follow her. Instead, he sighed and leaned against a hedge next to him, folding his arms. A cool breeze drifted past and he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry."
**
"What's going on?" Cross hung at the doorway of Chara's room.
"Nada," Jael called to him, placing a hand on Chara's forehead.
"I feel sick," Chara croaked.
"Sick how?" Cross interrogated, stepping forward into the room.
"Stomach feels weird..."
"¿Debo buscar una enfermera?" Jael rose and placed a hand on Cross' shoulder.
"Uh, if you want," Cross replied, smiling politely at her, then striding over to Chara's bedside.
"Okay," Jael scurried out into the corridor.
"Ugh..." Chara turned over to face Cross.
"How are you feeling, besides your stomach?"
"Mierda." He responded after a moment.
"Makes sense." Cross turned over one of the IV bags which was connected to his brother. "Oh, they got you on morphine, I'll bet that's why you feel sick."
"Tell them I don't want it..."
"Yes, you do. Trust me, you'd rather feel sick than feel the amount of pain you're actually in."
"I... no." Was all that Chara could summon.
Machines beeped regularly and irregularly together to form an unsettling rhythm of sorts. Cross glanced at the door every few moments, anticipating the return of his mother and the nurse she went to find. He'd assumed Chara had fallen asleep due to how quiet he had become.
Until he tried to sit up.
"Hey, stop-"
"I think I'm gonna-"
Cross panicked. "Wait, no-"
The skeleton looked around for anything that could be of use, but alas, there was no sign of anything. Not even a pathetic pulp bowl.
Chara rolled over and Cross stepped back in time to not quite be splashed by the clear substance Chara vomited onto the floor.
The teenager groaned, closing his eyes and trembling. "I'm sorry."
"No, no!" Cross stepped around it, "It's fine! You didn't even get me."
Chara opened his eyes briefly, looking down the side of the bed- which he was still hanging off. "Ew. That's gross."
"It's not that bad."
"I guess so- hey, why is it clear?"
"Uh..." Cross glanced at the door again, pleading someone would come in and save him from discussing the colour of the substance on the floor. "I mean, you haven't eaten in ages..."
"No, but stomach acid isn't clear..."
"Okay, let's not discuss the specifics of it."
"I feel better." Chara flipped over onto his back again.
"Well, that's something, I guess..." Cross muttered, stalking over to the door and poking his head out. "Hey! We need a cleaner, or a nurse, or both- or just whoever can deal with this!"
Jael turned a corner with a short nurse following her. Seeing Cross at the door, she called, "Is he okay?" In her thick accent.
"Yes and no," Cross replied, "The good news is that he doesn't feel sick anymore."
The nurse nodded.
"The bad news is that the floor needs cleaning."
"Oh." Jael sighed.
"That's okay!" The nurse cut in, smiling. "I'll come and check on him, we'll worry about the floor after." She strode into the room, cheerily calling out to Chara, "Hello Chara! I hear you weren't feeling well?"
"I'm fine now," He replied, "I just don't want to be on morphine."
"Your throat sounds quite dry." She responded, picking up Chara's case file, simultaneously nodding to Cross and then the water jug and cup on the table.
"I don't want morphine." Chara repeated.
"Everything will feel a lot worse without it."
"Eh, I can handle it." Chara took the water which Cross offered him.
"Chara..." Jael folded her arms.
"Here's a compromise- just lower the dosage." Cross suggested.
"I suppose we could..."
**
"Okay, let's try it again."
Error- leaned back against the pillar, breathing heavily. Beads of sweat formed on his skull and his hands were balled up in his pockets. "I need a minute..."
"I'll give you ten seconds."
The shorter skeleton exhaled shakily. "I retract my statement. This pain isn't temporary."
"One hour from now, you'll feel totally fine. Now come on."
"That wasn't ten seconds..." Error groaned, pushing himself off the pillar.
"Concentrate as hard as you can," Four commanded, "Focus on what you want to happen. Tell me what you're trying to do."
"Get these damn things off myself..." He shivered, flicking his wrists to indicate he was talking about the restraints.
"So do it."
He drew a deep breath again, and focused his magic at his wrists. It hit him again- the sharp pain which felt as though tearing his soul in half, rendering him blurry-eyed and weak. "Fuck!" He stopped trying, hissing as he felt burning on his wrists. Glancing down, he noticed that the restraints seemed to have a thin black smoke-like substance trailing off them.
"You're getting there."
"How long we been out here?" Error asked through heavy breaths.
"About an hour."
"You didn't even check the time..."
Four rolled his eyes and checked his phone. His eyes widened for a moment, and he glanced at Error, then spinning around and walking off. "It's actually been an hour and twenty minutes."
"Can we stop for today?"
"Uh..." Four paused, scrolling down on his phone screen, "Yeah, sure."
Error waited a moment, but he kept staring at the phone. "Well, I need you to take these restraints off..."
"Oh, sure." Four walked back over, putting his phone into his pocket and stepping forward to grab Error's wrist. With a click, it loosened and he hung it round the back off his own hand, producing his phone straight back out of his pocket.
He began to type furiously.
"Everything okay?" Error asked, glancing at the restraint that still clung to his other arm.
"Yeah..." He finished his typing, reaching blindly for the other restraint.
Instantly, he hissed through his teeth, retracting his hand. "Fuck, I forgot that could happen!"
Error stared blankly. "What- what just happened?" Looking down at his wrist, and then back to Four.
"When you've been trying to use magic and you have restraints on, it can cause a sort of... build up. Of magic." He replied, his sentence pausing every few moments as he tried to think. "It can manifest depending on a person's magic type. You might wanna be careful touching people for a few hours, you might electrocute them."
"Sure." He nodded.
Four finally put his phone away after he (cautiously) removed the other restraint. "Good work today, kid." He had cleared his throat, sounding more confident- like usual. "I'm not gonna need to teach you to fight without restraints if you can break them."
"What about null guns?"
"There's ways to override the nullifier."
"Alright. Hey, so..." Error coughed, "Our last session, you were talking about teaching me something that sounded pretty... problematic, for reasons that you wouldn't explain."
"I told you to forget that." Four spoke sharply, narrowing his eyes.
Error clicked his fingers, looking away. "Yeah, that you did. Worth a try."
"Listen, I gotta go make a phone call, but that thing I said I'd give you if you did well today," Four reminded him, "I'll give you that tomorrow."
"Alright."
"Same time tomorrow, okay?"
"Got it."
Four immediately set off down the hall, speed dialing a number. "Is now really a good time?"
Error waited to leave, trying to hear the conversation.
"Alright, I suppose. No, I don't have a problem. Are we talking about the usual sort of..."
From there, Error couldn't hear much else.
**
"I just wanted to know if you wanted to do something tonight?"
"I have plans."
Error closed his eyes, sighing silently. "Alright." He put the phone on speaker and reached for the coffee he'd made a moment ago, leaning against the counter as he sipped it.
"You sound like you don't believe me."
"What?" Error groaned. "No, I do, what-?"
Ink cut him off. "I'm smoking with Cross tonight."
"Okay? And? I only asked whether you wanted to do something."
"Yeah, and I said no."
"I'm gonna go," Error grabbed the phone.
"Oh."
"What? You clearly don't want to talk to me."
"I just want to get on with what I'm doing."
Error couldn't help but feel hurt. "Okay, call me when you're ready to give a shit." He hung up and swore loudly.
For the next hour, Error was trying to take his mind off the situation between him and Ink. Unsuccessfully, that was. No amount of random scrolling on Twitter aided his restlessness.
Additionally, he'd been noticing irregular rushes of magic through his entire body, which sent him into a constant state of unease. Reasoning with himself, he came to the conclusion that it was like Four had said- the magic that he'd tried to use earlier was built up and searching for ways to manifest.
He pushed the feeling down. He could ignore it for now.
Eventually, as he entered his bedroom, he found Four's diary once again.
The last few times he'd picked up the book, he'd flipped to a random page. Noticing that one of the pages was slightly bent, he flicked to it. It was the same page he'd read last time, so he flipped it over a few more times.
"Sometimes, I do truly want nothing more than to sit and stare at exactly nothing until my eyes burn.
"Today would certainly be a day where I've experienced this several times. You can only be angry for so long before one's rage fizzles out and becomes apathy. I suppose I'm still tired- and not just due to a lack of sleep- though that is, perhaps, creeping up on me.
"Alpha's been very quiet. He stays in his quarters, and he is silent during meals. Life tells me she'll talk to him."
14th January, 1807
Finding himself wondering about Alpha, Error began to read entries in reverse order.
"Life's back.
"The only person who still has any faith in Death is King Multiverse. Perhaps he's starting to realize how badly the pre-war system had affected him. I don't think I'm in a position to tell the King how to do his job, though."
9th January, 1807
Still not finding answers, he scanned the previous page.
"I'm tired."
8th January, 1807
Error paused.
That didn't sound good. In his own experience, he'd only ever summed up his feelings in those two words when he was completely drained.
The sort of 'drained' that required total isolation and copious sleep for multiple days.
"I think Alpha's very mad at Death. He hasn't said anything, but then being the God of Mercy, he's not best pleased with Death's recent increase in genocidal tendencies."
7th January, 1807
"Mercy?" Error almost laughed, despite being slightly displeased with the continued lack of context.
"He got away with it."
5th January, 1807
"With what?" He wondered aloud, slipping the page aggressively.
"There's a fine line between confidence and stupidity. I'm pretty sure Death crossed that line today.
"I spend an entire day carefully making a list of people for Death to reap. Once they're moved to a new universe with their memories wiped, I'll go in and do my job as usual. Kill the unlucky.
"Life is still recovering from the Divinity Seekers'-as they've now started to call themselves- last attack. Thankfully, Death and I took the least damage, with Alpha and Life caught off guard.
"I'm fine with working extra while they heal. But for Death to waltz in, ignore my list and reap EVERYONE? And that confident smile he gave me, saying the King would let him off, and that he was allowed to do what he wanted...
"Well, we'll see."
4th January, 1807
"Oh..." Error proceeded to read those same entries, but in chronological order this time.
It made sense now.
So, there was a God of Death whose name matched their title, much like Life. And Life had been around just as long as Four. And so had the Divinity Seekers. Those were the key takeaways for Error.
Again, it was peculiar for Error. Reading someone else's perspective of being Destruction was comforting in a way- he felt less solitude, which was helpful, considering that he'd gradually managed to convince himself that he was in fact a terrible person for doing what he did.
He put the book down. Despite his best efforts to ignore the strange pulsing sensation in his soul, it grew and grew, bringing with it a burning feeling in his arms down to his fingertips.
What had Life said earlier..? That he'd be fit for regular duties... tomorrow, that was it.
But tomorrow was only a few hours away, he reasoned.
And he didn't really have much else to do.
**
"Hi guys..."
Cross pushed the studio door open with his back while he held multiple Starbucks drinks.
"You get us coffee?" Ashley gasped, running over, heels clicking loudly.
"Call it an apology for being late in again." Cross allowed Ashley to take hers, putting two others down on the front desk.
"Cross!"
Calling his name was a seemingly agitated Ink. He came storming over.
"What's up? I got you an iced tea, I think it's lemonade flavoured, I don't know," Cross handed him the cup from the desk, "I sorta got up there, had a breakdown and asked for-"
Ink cut him off, "Yeah, that's great. Hey, listen-" He cleared his throat and sipped his drink, "Are you busy tonight?"
"Uh..." Cross paused. "Depends on who needs me where, I've been at the hospital a lot lately, and Chara wasn't feeling great earlier-"
"Listen, I got some really good weed, and I wanna smoke it with you." Ink flashed him a grin.
Cross hummed, thinking. "Probably gonna have to pass, I should probably go back to the hospital tonight-"
"C'mon, buddy, you need a night off from that hospital."
"I..." He paused, looking down guiltily. "Ah, okay."
"Great!" Ink beamed at him, "Oh, hey, you wanna help me go through some E-mails?"
"You're in a good mood, did dinner with Error's family go well?"
"Yeah." His smile didn't budge.
Cross returned the expression. "Alright." He shrugged off the bag on his back, unzipping it and pulling his laptop out, then kicking the bag under the front desk where Ashley was scrolling on the computer and checking her nails.
Ink led Cross to the back, passing Phoenix, who was talking to two girls, presumably about tattoos.
"Okay..." Cross opened his laptop and sipped his coffee as the pair sat down on top of the table. "What E-mails?"
"I'm supposed to have some sort of message about expenses, but they might have sent it to you instead," Ink replied, "Makes sense, considering you're the one they hear from the most."
Cross nodded, and started typing.
"Anyway, I was just wondering if you'd heard anything from Error today?"
Cross continued to keep searching for the E-mail. "No, why would I?"
"I don't know, aren't you guys like, friends now?"
"Kinda, I guess."
"Well, just let me know if he asks you any questions."
Narrowing his eyes, Cross lowered the lid of his laptop slightly to peer over at Ink. "What's up with you today?"
"Nothing, why?" He answered hurriedly, false smile flashing.
"You're speaking way too fast, and you're talking like you expect me to hear something from Error."
"You sound like Dream!" Ink joked.
"Is there something I should know about?" Cross pressed.
"No! No, why would there be?"
"Because you come in here asking if I've spoken to Error, and then you basically say that there's something he might ask me?"
Ink sighed, ditching his fake smile. "Alright, I just need you to tell him I'm with you if he messages."
"Why would he message?" Cross grew more confused.
"Because I told him I was busy with you tonight."
Cross stared blankly. "Why would he care enough to check?"
"I don't know!"
"You make him sound like he's super controlling."
"He's not! I just-" Ink cut himself off, shrugging.
"Okay, what the fuck is going on?" Cross slammed his laptop fully closed.
"I'll tell you later."
**
A: Can I ask you something?
Four was glad of the distraction. He dropped his pen onto the spreadsheet and notepad below him.
F: What?
A: What did you tell Glitch?
Four almost felt nervous. Almost.
F: About what?
A: He said that he did some reading and asked some questions
F: Context?
A: He was in the library
Suddenly Four would have preferred to keep working rather than have this conversation.
F: That's impossible
It was his impulse to lie, and yet he regretted it immediately. If Alpha had seen him, his best bet was probably not to lie, but to intimidate. Then again, he didn't particularly enjoy threatening his brother.
A: Well that's what I thought
F: So what happened?
Incoming call: Alpha
"Fuck."
Beep.
"So what happened?"
"They were in there. I went in there to look for a the last publication that we talked about, and sure as shit, they were there."
"They?"
"He brought Error along- probably just as muscle, I don't know. But it was obvious that it was Glitch's operation."
"You saw them?"
"And spoke to them- hell, I had to choke Glitch to put him in his damn place!"
"But you didn't do anything?" Four faked mild agitation, raising his voice and adopting a stern tone.
"What could I do? I'm not in a position to discipline any of them until KM trusts me again!"
"Was this today?" He continued to feign innocence.
"No. A couple weeks ago."
"And you're only telling me now?"
"Alright, I'm sorry! I didn't want you to blow it out of proportion!"
"Blow it out of pr-" Four inhaled, summoning his inner actor, "You- We could have fixed this an hour after it happened, why the fuck did you let this stew so fucking long?"
"It's not that big a deal!" Alpha defended.
"No, it is. They know where all our files are- do you even know how many times they could have gone back there in two weeks?"
"They won't, I threatened them!"
"They know you can't hurt them like you did to Error."
"This is not a big deal-!"
"Stop saying that, dumbass! This is a problem, I mean- we're gonna have to tell the King, right?"
"No- No! No, no, no, we don't have to do- Fucking hell, Four!"
"How did they find out? I mean, who was answering their questions?"
"Well, I honestly thought it was you!"
"No, dipshit! Why in the fuck would I-?"
"Well, it isn't gonna be Life!"
Both brothers stopped talking very quickly.
"Oh, fuck." Alpha sighed.
"Hmm." Four clicked his tongue.
"It was Life..."
"I- Well..." Four debated defending Life. Of course, it was Life- this much he knew- but there was only so much he could deny. "I don't think she meant to, like... say-"
"What do you mean? What do you mean you 'don't think she meant to', did you speak with her?"
"No!" Four groaned, "...Yes! But, that doesn't-"
"Oh my- How much of this is actually new to you?" Alpha now raised his voice to match his brother's tone.
"Everything! I didn't speak to her about this! I just knew that she told Error some stuff about the Order's history while they were at hers the night before they got the kid off you!"
"So you know she talked about the library, or you assume?"
"I assume!" Four banged his fist against the table. "You should have just told me about this sooner!"
"We are not going to KM about this."
This was just the reaction Four wanted. "Fine. But you piss me off, and I'm going straight over to tell him."
"Deal..."
**
Click.
Click, click.
"For fuck's sake. My lighter's dead."
"Here," Cross was sitting on his bed, legs outstretched with a wooden box in his lap. The box was engraved with a large cannabis leaf- which was coloured in by yellow, blue and red stripes. Inside were two lighters, assorted papers, cones, a grinder, a poker, a pipe, and -of course- weed.
Cross threw one of the lighters down at Ink, who sat on the floor next to the bed.
Cross' apartment was unlike his mother's house. Instead of the vibrant colours that plastered Jael's house, Cross' monochrome dress code was reflected in his room, too. His apartment was very small- only a kitchen fused with a small living room and a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, which contained a small shower instead of an actual bath. The apartment itself was decorated nicely, yet minimally.
Above Cross' bed hung a Colombian flag, and next to which was a few medals which he'd explained as receiving thanks to being the captain of his high school soccer team.
On the other side of the room was his desk, which his laptop rested on along with an ashtray. He also had ashtray next to his bed, and thankfully, a window- next to which, a nylon-stringed guitar rested on a stand.
Ink took a toke on his joint. "You decide between blunt or joint yet?"
"Yeah. I'm not gonna do either," Cross took out his pipe, "Gonna smoke a bowl."
"Aw, fuck. I still need to get a new bowl."
"We can share, just don't waste that joint."
"My weed, I can do what I want." Ink giggled.
"Yeah, well, my shit's better." Cross smirked, packing his bowl with his own green.
"Well this shit isn't from Blue," Ink offered Cross a toke. He laughed and accepted, then handed the joint back to Ink, exhaling the smoke out the open window.
"Yeah, but this shit is imported," Cross gestured to his pipe, clicking the other lighter from his box to it very briefly, quickly plugging the carb with his thumb and breathing in. He held it in for a few moments, then lay back, closed his eyes and exhaled. "Oh, yeah, that's the good shit." He offered it down to Ink.
Ink sighed, "Anyway, uh, I lied about the whole..." He did the same as Cross, taking a hit from the pipe. "...Fuck, that's good." He gave it a moment, then continued, "Um, so... Yeah," He swallowed, "I lied about the dinner with Error's family. It went really bad."
"What happened?" Cross took the pipe back for another hit.
"I, uh... He said something about, well, I don't really remember. Something to do with how we would probably be in a shitty place in our relationship when we go back God duties... I don't know, he didn't word it like that."
Cross ripped the bowl again and passed it back down. "Mhm."
"So anyway, I went outside for a smoke and he followed me out, and we kinda argued for a bit outside, and everyone could smell weed on me when we got back in." Ink took another toke.
"That why they were mad? Weed?"
"They weren't mad, the whole atmosphere was just... uncomfortable. It was fine before, and his mom is a lovely woman."
"Oh, I wondered about her," Cross rolled over onto his stomach, taking the pipe off Ink, but laying it down in his box. "What's she like?"
"She seems..." Ink paused to think. "...She seems really supportive. I mean, I heard some stories about Error last night. He was an addict throughout his teenage years. Drugs and alcohol. And she way she spoke about him, it's like... she was never disappointed in him, you know?"
Cross nodded.
"She was..." Ink tapped his crossed legs with his bony fingers, "It sounded like he gave her hell- not that he meant to, but, you know... Most nights I think he'd come in barely conscious and pass out on the sofa, or something like that."
"My mom would never," Cross chuckled, "I remember one time, it was probably about two in the morning... I came in so drunk I could barely stand- I think it was your birthday, actually!"
"Fuck, I remember! Shit, it was my..."
"Eighteenth." They said together.
"So I would have been seventeen." Cross continued, "Anyway, I came in and, like, forgot how to speak Spanish or something-"
"How? It's your first language!" Ink kept giggling, feeling the effects of the weed kicking in.
"I don't know, man! I was speaking English all night!"
"Wait, you weren't even seventeen!" Ink cut him off.
"What? Yes, I was."
"No! Your birthday's in October! Mine's in April! You would have been sixteen on my eighteenth!"
"Oh, you're right! That's probably why my mom was so mad!"
"Fuck, how old would Chara have been?"
Cross started whisper-counting. Apparently, their earlier conversation about the family dinner had been forgotten- and the rest of Cross' original anecdote.
"He would have been seven..."
"Wow."
"God, I swear he was barely three yesterday."
"Oh, don't!" Ink cackled, "You sound like a Facebook mom!"
"No, I'm serious!" Laughing, Cross sat up.
Ink couldn't stop laughing. "No, no! You can't say shit like that! That's so middle aged!"
"I remember his third birthday! There was a bunch of kids from his daycare, but he didn't speak much English, so he just sat there really fucking quietly until I came over and started playing with this shitty little action figures in Spanish with him!"
"What a good brother," Ink grinned, "But why did your mom never make you learn English before Spanish?"
"Well I was born in Colombia, and we didn't intend to move back then!"
"But wasn't Chara born in America?"
"Yeah, but we all spoke Spanish at home, so it made sense! Anyway, your mom taught you French before English!"
"No, she didn't! She taught me both!"
"At the same time?"
"Yes!"
"That's not how child development works! Kids need to learn the basics of one language first, or they get confused!"
"Oh, sorry, I forgot you had a degree in child development?" Ink mocked, yet sounding like he'd asked a question. Sliding back down to the floor, he rolled with laughter. "What the fuck do you know about children?"
"More than you, apparently!"
**
Fallen trees, smoking structures, and fresh death.
Crackling... that was the best way to describe how the feeling in Error's soul had transformed. It crackled in his bones like a faulty fuse.
He hadn't even checked where he was before he'd started tearing it apart by its very roots and foundations. Each person he'd killed the same- wrapping strings around their necks and cracking them sideways.
Eyes close, he summoned what resembled flickering pixels from a screen. They glitched in his hands. Kneeling, he touched them to the nearest tree.
They disappeared into the bark. Moments later, they began to multiply, spreading down the trunks, down through the roots into the soil, turning the grass into a glitching mess.
He figured they'd spread soon enough.
Now he clasped his hands together again- but when he drew them apart, a large, black, void-like circle was created, stretching as far as he would stretch his arms. Stepping back, the mini-void rolled off his fingertips, yet he still controlled it, motioning for it to stretch wider still.
First, the grass uprooted itself, flying into the void. Following, the leaves off felled trees. Then branches, trunks, bodies- soon, the whole world seemed to be attracted to the hole, everything except for Error himself.
The skeleton flicked his wrist, and a green oval encompassed him to protect him from the debris that now flew past him at every angle. Deafening was the sound, but Error's shield muffled it considerably.
He only had to keep this tiring magic up for a few minutes, before the last of the universe sealed itself into the void-hole. It was heavier for Error to lift with his magic, but he brought it back down as his shield fizzled away, and the void became a a small, glass-looking sphere. These orbs always reminded Error of snow globes- they had a scene inside them and glitches glittering like snowflakes.
Error hovered the sphere telekinetically, just above his hands, which were clasped as if physically holding it.
Now the world was just white. So blindingly white- so white that your eyes would ache in confusion and you could fall over from looking for the end as you glance up.
But there was no end. It was a whole universe of white.
An anti-void- a blank canvas with glimmering potential- was created.
Error didn't even know where he was. He didn't know whether he was about to get punished or whether this would help him fulfill his quota.
"Well, that wasn't very nice of you."
Error turned.
Portals formed and multiple humans had started making their way in, dressed head to toe in black- capes and tactical boots, holsters with identical pistols on each person's hip.
"We found you." One boy with a young voice spoke. Their faces were covered with balaclavas this time.
"That you did," Error replied, making sure his magic gripped tightly onto the orb that still hovered above his fingertips.
They began advancing, and the boy spoke again, "Do you think you could help us, mister...?"
"You know who I am." Error's gentle tone threw the boy off.
"Alright, Error," The boy's hand gravitated toward his holster, and all the other followed suit, "I was asking you nicely."
"So, you got the whole teleportation network tapped?" Error pushed, stepping forward.
A girl- whose only visible features were red hair and emerald green eyes- lowered her hand onto her pistol.
Error stared. "Anyone takes out a weapon, and we're gonna have a big problem."
They all produced their pistols.
"You see, Error," The original boy continued his advance toward him, "We already have a problem."
Briefly, Error recalled KM's meeting, and how he'd demanded that all Seekers be reported, and not dealt with alone.
But the way he saw it, there were only seven of them, and the only visible weapons were handguns.
He liked his chances.
The humans on each end of the lineup suddenly gasped and spluttered, one falling to his knees and the other crouching and clutching his chest. The leader looked around, panicked. "Guys?" Suddenly his confrontational front had evaporated as he looked around, searching for an escape.
"What did you do?" The redhead screeched, pointing her pistol at Error.
"Oh, I didn't do anything, it was that guy," Error gestured behind her.
She turned, staring behind her for a second. In this time, her gun had spun out of her hands, changed angle and fired straight into her nose as soon as she turned back around.
By now, the five remaining Seekers were firing randomly in Error's direction, screaming and yelling frantically. Thankfully, Four's ridiculous method of dodging a bullet didn't have to reoccur, since he was not nullified this time.
Teleporting behind the panicked five, Error summoned a bone that tore straight through the original boy's chest, and while the other four had noticed he was not behind them, one had to reload, and the others were still trying to figure out where exactly to aim.
Still hovering above his left hand was the orb.
One of the four who still stood flung himself at Error, who promptly clicked his fingers and reappeared in front of them all again, whisked them all up in a flurry of strings, teleported into the air above them and pulled them up- teleported back down and throwing them down with such force that one landed with a splat and a colourful red painting on the floor.
Another had landed on her leg, and screamed endlessly in agony as her knee bone could be seen poking out at an angle from her flesh. Error walked straight past her, kicking down the boy that scrambled away on the floor behind her.
"No- No, please, Error!"
He knelt down next to the boy. "We are not on a first name basis, boy."
"Sorry, I'm sorry!" He flinched, backing up.
"Well, I'm not," Error growled. Without hesitation, he wrapped strings around each of the boy's limbs,- and his neck- and made them pull. He didn't even get the chance to scream.
Unfortunately, this gory action sprayed Error in blood- each severed limb created a fountain, but none quite as much as the head pulled from the neck.
The blood was a mild annoyance to Error. Over the years, he'd perfected the art of scrubbing out blood so that it wouldn't stain, but that didn't mean he enjoyed doing it.
But Error had let his guard down, and the sudden sharp pain in his shoulder confirmed it. He looked down slowly, as the remaining boy frantically reloaded his gun.
The bullet had smashed straight through Error's shoulder bone. Blood spouted out, soaking his shirt with the warm, coppery substance.
Error raised his unaffected arm, pulling the boy toward him with magic. "You got me."
The boy said nothing, breathing heavily and keeping his gun aimed up at Error.
"Give me that."
He did not.
"Give me the gun." Error commanded, outstretching his hand, "Or you get the same fate as your buddy there." He nodded toward the sickeningly disfigured corpse beside them. The boy refused to look at his teammate's remains, trembling.
After a few moments of the one-sided standoff, he reluctantly handed his only weapon to Error, rendering himself completely defenceless. "What happened to all your magic weapons, hm?" Error interrogated, spinning the gun by its handle on his finger.
"They don't- they don't let the newest recruits use them!" He gasped, shielding himself with his arms, curling up.
"No? I thought you guys looked pretty young." Error replied monotonously. "And you shoot like you're blind, not to mention the severe lack of coordination between you all."
As the human boy had nothing to say, Error took a few steps back, to the girl with the broken leg. She'd given up on her screaming. Whimpering and crying quietly were far less energy consuming.
"No..." She muttered weakly, as Error pointed the gun directly at her head.
"How did you know I was here?" Error hissed to the boy, meeting his eyes.
"I don't know! Our leader told us that you were!" He choked, "But you killed him."
"And I will shoot her if you do not speak some truth now." Error put it simply for the boy.
"I know nothing!"
The girl cowered.
"No?" Error pressed.
"No!"
"Last chance, or she gets it, kid!"
"I'm not lying!"
"You smell that?" Error poked the girl's forehead with a gun. Shook her head rapidly. "Smells like-"
Bang.
"-bullshit."
The boy's mouth began to move, trying and failing to form many different words, eyes focused ahead on the girl's limp body.
"So..." Error stepped over the body.
"Okay! Okay, I'll talk!"
"You selfish bastard," Error smirked, "It takes someone's life to get you to talk?"
"You were right! They're tapped! The teleportation system, it's being monitored!"
Error's injured arm was still holding the orb. He looked into it before asking, "The whole system? Or just between universes?"
"Only between universes!"
"Thank you, you've been a great help."
Bang.
**
"-but nobody ever sees that, because I can't always be high- because society says I can't."
Cross set his bowl down, blowing smoke into the air yet again. "Society, huh?"
"Yes," Ink clapped his hands, "Exactly. If I could make people see- and I can't, but if I could- then maybe they'd- it's not that I don't care about people, it's- I don't know how to express what I feel, and that- you know?"
Cross coughed, fanning all the smoke away with his hand. "Yeah, I get you."
"Don't you feel like that?"
"Like how? Specifically."
"Like," Ink spaced out again, "Like people don't understand what's going on in your head. They're not you, and they don't- they don't know how you feel!"
"That's... That's how it works, yeah."
"No, I can't explain this, it's-!"
"I think what you're trying to say," Cross interjected, raising a finger, "Is you don't like your sober self. You notice all your flaws when you're high, so start to resent them, and pin them on your sober side, and that makes you hate yourself, but only a particular version of yourself."
"Sort of..." Ink sighed.
"I can't lie to you," Cross nodded, "I like you better when you're high."
"Yeah, me too."
"You should call Error up. Invite him over, you know, get him fucked up on our level."
"Maybe," Ink sighed.
"Aw, fuck, man," Cross stood up, "I can't feel my fuckin' legs, but I need some water..."
"Good luck with that." Ink smirked, laying back and starfishing out on the carpet.
"How about you give Error a call while I get some? I'll order us some food too, I ain't taking another hit till I eat something, I haven't been this fucked in ages."
"Sure, worth a shot," Ink replied, already scrolling through his phone.
As Cross left the room, he waited as the line rung.
"Hey, Ink. You calmed down?"
"I'm all good, baby," He hummed, "Man, I am so fucked right now."
"Hope you're having fun."
"Get your ass over here, we were thinking that you could do with some of this shit!"
"I'm... I'm gonna have to pass, I'm-"
**
Error winced, removing the bloodied cloth from his shoulder. The shirtless skeleton stood in his bathroom, already on his third cloth.
"I'm tied up in something."
"Oh, what's up?"
"I..." Error drummed his fingers against the sink basin. "I got shot."
"...Shot?"
"It's not a big deal, it's almost stopped bleeding."
"Babe, what the fuck? Who shot you? How? Why aren't you at the hospital?"
"Look, I wasn't even gonna tell you, but-"
"What, why?"
"I just didn't wanna answer questions! I only told you because I thought you'd appreciate the honesty!"
"Okay, fine, questions later, hospital now!"
"No, I'm good! It was only my shoulder, as I said, it's almost stopped bleeding." Error put his head in his unharmed arm, hand resting on the back of his skull.
"Cross! We're leaving!"
Error jumped at hearing this. "No! No, I got this!"
Error could hear Cross talking in the background, but couldn't distinguish the words.
"Error got shot! I don't know! That's what I said! Yeah, come on, we're going!"
Beep.
Error felt a surge of anger rush through his bones. He wanted to deal with this alone. He needed to deal with this alone.
He tried to take deep breaths to contain his frustration.
In, out...
In, out...
In-
"FUCK!" He screamed, swiping everything off the basin, shattering a glass on the floor in the process.
He slid down to the tiled floor, back against the wall.
"Fuck."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HI YALL <3
IT'S BEEN SO LOOONG
HOW ARE YOUUUU GUUYYYYS
Anyway :D
I'm doing a lot better than I was! Cut a few people out of my life, kicked some bad habits, and wrote this whole chapter in 3 days.
I'VE ALSO BEEN WORKING ON LORE FOR WEEKS AAAAHH!
So anyway:
We already had this as an A/N, but not everybody reads those, so I'll ask again:
Would you guys be interested in a re-write of this book, yes or no? Thanks for all your feedback on the last chapter, I've read every single comment :)
Anyway! As other authors will know, it really helps to keep you motivated when you have a little reader interaction... so just letting you all know that I appreciate every comment and vote! I read most comments even if I don't always respond.
A step further would be joining the Discord you've all heard about, so I won't rant about it today, just gonna drop a link and leave it there.
https://discord.gg/UExZC4acvC
Or add me at: Crash of Worlds#0404
ALSO YES, I WILL ALSO BE REBRANDING MYSELF AGAIN TO 'CRASH OF WORLDS' RATHER THAN 'MISS DEMEANOUR'
Damn I went from EmoTrash360 to CrashOfWorlds wtf
(my username is likely to change within the next 24 hours, so beware)
ANYWAY!
Thank you so much for sticking around until I got my shit together! I look forward to publishing more regularly from now on (apart from that I have my final high school exams in like 4 weeks lmao)
One more little thing. If anyone is interested in seeing and supporting my new RDR2 photography account, give me a follow on Instagram! The name is crash.of.worlds
Thank you all, love you!!
-Brooke