"Woah, woah, calm down Error, it's not that bad, is it?" you asked nervously, holding your hands up in a placating gesture. You don't think it worked with the death glare he sent you.
"CALM DOWN? SERIOUSLY?!" he seethed. You were getting a bit antsy when you noticed his hands clench into fists. Who knew he'd get so angry?! Sure, you expected him to throw a fit and spout some curses, but now you were getting worried it'd get physically violent.
"Yes, you need the help, right? And you can't ask anyone else, can you?" you tried explaining calmly. This felt almost like trying to calm a savage dog, with the way he began to bare his teeth in his outrage. You could almost imagine him foaming at the mouth.
"Who said I needed help? Besides, what could that octopus possibly do besides irritate me?" he said venomously. Yikes, he really doesn't like Nightmare. You wondered why, but you hadn't met the skeleton so you couldn't even make a guess. I mean, you could assume it has to do with how other Nightmares behaved, but there was no proof he was like that here, so you'd just have to meet him to know.
"For one, his abilities could be useful. Secondly, he and his gang would make for good distractions against the Stars-"
"His 'gang' is nothing more than a group of wannabe delinquents with brother issues, they couldn't help with anything, let alone something as important as the balance," he snarled, cutting you off. You gave him a stern stare, waiting until he sat back from looming over you before continuing where you left off.
"And lastly, you've been doing this alone for this long with no progress, why don't you take a chance and see if that can change?" you finished softly. You understood this was a tough subject for him, but he needed to understand that continuing as he has been won't change anything, and everyone will end up suffering for it.
He glared, long and hard, his expression twisting and changing as he thought over your words. He didn't appear to want to believe you, but that didn't change the fact that what you said was true. If things didn't change now, they never would.
"...and how are we supposed to convince him even if we wanted his help?" he finally grits out, his voice strained. Your tense figure relaxed a little, it seemed he was at least willing to consider it, even if begrudgingly. You smiled slightly.
"We offer to assistant him with his side of the balance," you said simply. He raised a bonebrow, looking at you skeptically.
"How are you sure his balance needs help in the first place?" he questioned. You weren't sure, but you had a reason for thinking so, you just hoped Error saw it the same way.
"Think about it, if the balance of creation and destruction is unstable, what do you think that does to the emotional balance?" you asked. You could practically see the gears turning in his head as he considered it. You knew you had him when he sighed heavily.
"I get it, but what do you want me to do about it? Destroy a whole bunch of universes and say "Look, your problem's solved, now help me with mine", because that doesn't sound like it'll work," he grumbled. Well... he had a point. That probably wouldn't do anything but create a temporary stalemate that'd break as soon as Ink created more AUs to replace the ones lost.
You contemplated. What was something that could permanently fix the emotional balance? You could maybe deal with Ink first, but you had a feeling Nightmare would refuse to help unless he got immediate benefits from it. As stated before, destroying AUs would only be a temporary solution. It's not like you could force both guardians to stop spreading emotions and then stop Ink either, you doubted they'd be willing to do that.
As your thoughts spiraled, you suddenly had an epiphany. What if you could help the guardians by restoring their relationship and having them sort out what they want to do? That way no one would have to get hurt, you could repair the bond between the two, and they could come to a solution together. It was going to be difficult, you knew, but this would ultimately benefit everyone.
You just weren't sure how the guardians would feel about that. You didn't know if the story in Dreamtale here happened the same way it did in a majority of fanfics, which meant there was no guarantee they even wanted to have a brotherly relationship anymore. That, and you still didn't know what to make of Dream.
He'd felt your emotions in that AU, and that meant he knew you had a soul and were at least conscious enough to feel. If he told Ink and Blue his suspicions of you, you weren't sure how they'd react. You didn't even know if Dream could feel Ink's emotions, considering the vials he had were meant to simulate real emotions, and could possibly interfere with his abilities to sense them accurately.
That brought you to another problem. If you and Error met with Nightmare, he'd be able to sense your feelings too. You didn't want him to know of your sentience, but you couldn't hide it from him either. If you tried, he may feel like your request for an alliance was a trap of some kind, and you weren't sure you wanted to see what he did to those he felt were trying to deceive him.
You looked up at Error, who had his chin in his hand with an annoyed expression on his face. He was probably going to laugh at your solution, but you didn't have any other ideas that could make everyone happy. At least, you hoped it did.
"I think I know something that'd work," you stated, feigning confidence. He grunted, side-eyeing you with squinted sockets. You continued.
"What if we repaired the guardians' relationship? If they can work together, they can surely restore their balance," you concluded. He turned to fully stare at you in surprise. Then, he snorted.
"And what makes you think they want their relationship 'repaired'," he said mockingly. You didn't know if they did, but you were willing to try anyway, and you said as such.
"I don't know, but I've got no other ideas, so it's the best one we've got," you said, determined to convince Error to at least try. He seemed to consider it, then sighed and leaned back further into his beanbag.
"What have I got to lose, besides my time?" he mumbled. The corners of your mouth lifted to smile brightly as you cheered internally. That was harder than you thought, but you managed to persuade him after all! You probably looked like you won the lottery with the amount of joy radiating from you.
He rolled his eyelights. "If this doesn't work, don't say I didn't try dissuading you," he said, grimacing. You nodded excitedly, you were just glad he'd listened! You weren't looking forward to any conflict this meeting might cause, but if it worked you believed things would get a whole lot better.
But first, you needed to prepare. You thought about the things you might need to ensure both of your safety. You couldn't trust that Nightmare wouldn't go back on his word if he lost interest. You also wouldn't put it past him to have his gang poke around where they shouldn't.
You didn't have any big "secrets" to hide, but he would probably dig just to be safe, or to try and find some leverage over you. Be it for blackmail or just insurance, you wanted to be able to prevent that. There were some things even you didn't know, and you were worried about what he'd find.
"Error, is there any way to stop yourself from being Checked?" you asked, a bit hopeful. He looked at you with an inquisitive gaze.
"That bow I gave you should be able to interfere if anyone tried, I don't make things that are useless," he said. Huh, that was good to know. You'd honestly forgotten it'd existed since you had been preoccupied with more important matters. You brushed your hand against the soft material, before deciding to ask about something else.
"Error, do you have anything you could bring?" you asked. He gave you a confused look.
"Why would I bring anything?" he questioned. You hummed, tapping your chin.
"I figured it'd be best to take some healing items, just in case things don't go according to plan, not that we have one," you explained. He mouthed "oh" in comprehension. Then, he turned and opened his inventory. After digging around and grumbling, he spoke aloud.
"I don't have any more healing items, that kit and bun were the only things I had, I figured getting more would be pointless," he said, irritated. You felt regret, maybe you should have asked earlier. Oh well, nothing you could do about that, you'd just have to procure some now.
"Alright, that's okay, but where would you get more? We need it, we can't afford to be careless," you stated, hoping to get across how urgent it was. Without the proper supplies, there was nothing you could do if Error got hurt, and you didn't want to be unable to do anything. Even if the food didn't do anything, you felt better seeing him at least eat some, and applying bandages wasn't hard.
He pursed his 'lips', looking around thoughtfully, before he looked back to you. "...Usually I'd steal the supplies I use," he eventually said quietly. You stared.
...you should've known. Error obviously had no way of getting things normally. If he went into an AU to get something you could imagine the chaos that'd cause. You also didn't know if there were any AUs aware of the Multiverse, and you didn't want to risk them being able to contact the Stars through unknown means...maybe he could open a portal to snatch a few items?
You didn't like the idea of stealing, but you didn't have any other options. It was either steal the things you needed, or risk going into an AU personally and buying them. You weren't even sure Error had the money to. He might...kill the inhabitants of a universe, but you doubted he stole the money off of them too.
"Could you open a small portal so we could get some?" you asked. He gave you an annoyed look.
"Of course I can, that's easy," he replied arrogantly. He lifted a hand, and a portal the size of a basketball appeared. Inside, you could just make out the interior of a store. There were all sorts of objects and items for sale. It varied from magical foods, unique trinkets, and weapons, to merchandise for some version of Mettaton. You wondered faintly what AU it could be.
Error sent a few strings through the portal and grabbed hold of a myriad of magical foods and healing supplies, tugging them through and slamming the portal closed. You stared in awe at the mountain of things he'd brought over. You wished you had an inventory to put them in.
"Sweet! Now all we need is to know where Nightmare is!" you exclaimed. He hummed absentmindedly, opening his inventory and taking a few items at a time from the selection to sort neatly into matching rows. When he finished, he turned to look at you.
"I know where Goopy's castle is, he invited me over once, so I made sure to memorize the AU so I could monitor his movements," he said, looking less than pleased. You were surprised, before you remembered him saying something about Nightmare offering him the chance to stay once. It felt like so long ago that you'd forgotten.
You wanted to go now, even with how nervous the idea made you. As you prepared to say so, you suddenly remembered why you shouldn't. Error was still injured, and before he was healed it wouldn't be a good idea. So, begrudgingly, you spoke.
"That's perfect, but we'll have to go after your injuries have healed, we don't know what to expect so it's best we be safe than sorry," you finally said. He nodded reluctantly. You assumed the reluctance had less to do with wanting to go, and more because he didn't like, but acknowledged how his wounds would hinder him in a confrontation.
Satisfied with your plans, you moved to sit in your own beanbag. As anxious as you were with the thoughts of how this meeting would go, you were hopeful that Nightmare would accept an alliance. Error needed the help, regardless of how much he despised the very idea. Now, you just had to wait.
Whenever I write the inner thoughts, I actually begin to consider the same questions, it's what fuels the next chapter's events and my own ideas.
I feel like this chapter was worse than the last, but maybe that's because there was less action, or because I was in a bit of a funk. ':p