"...so we'll need to take him to Radiology for a CAT scan," Doctor Goodman said. Erratum and Blue glanced at each other, confirming that they had, indeed, been transported to a weird place- that not-so-human boy said it was called the Ask Realm -in the middle of their hospital visit. No one besides them would remember anything, and apparently time didn't pass while they were there. Really, the whole experience seemed surreal, but, then again, Blue was literally dating a god of destruction from another multiverse, so...
They were snapped out of their thoughts when the doctor added, "Erratum, was it? You get to ride in a wheelchair so you don't get hurt!" He tried to make it sound exciting. "Since you have a pretty bad head injury, you have a possibility of passing out or falling and making your head hurt even more." Erratum just slowly nodded, still weirded out by the whole "hi-uh-yeah-you-guys-are-book-characters-and-also-here-are-some-random-people-asking-personal-questions-oh-and-only-you-two-will-remember-this-lol-see-ya" thing. Suddenly, an idea struck him. "AnD BlUe WiLl RiDe WiTh Me," he declared, hopping into the wheelchair. "Wait, no, that's not how it- Oh, alright, fine," the doctor conceded as Blue yeeted himself next to Erratum.
"$o, HoW f4sT c4n Th1s Th1nG g0?" wondered Erratum.
"I dunno, let's find out," Blue suggested mischievously.
"...Let's not," suggested Nightmare, wheeling them out into the hall.
Unfortunately, the children thought otherwise. As soon as they were in the nice, wide-open, surprisingly-empty hallways, Blue began spinning the wheels as fast as he could while Erratum shoved Nightmare's hands off the handles, surreptitiously using blue magic to make sure the wheelchair didn't tip over. Nightmare, Dust, and Horror, as well as the doctor, ran after them. "Stairs ahead!" shouted Blue. There were, indeed, stairs, about twenty feet ahead of the Daring Duo, which Erratum just made up on the spot because he felt like they should have a name. Erratum grinned. "$p3eD uP. 1 h4v3 a Pl4n." The adults ran faster. Surely they wouldn't-
But they did. The wheelchair flew down the stairs, kids still "safely" in it. When the stairs took a turn, Erratum used his strings to whirl their makeshift contraption in the right direction. The stairs opened up onto the lobby, which was full of people. Luckily, most of them were sitting down. Unluckily, there was someone directly in their path. There wasn't enough time for him to move, so Erratum did the only thing he could think of doing. He summoned two angled bones out of the ground, right in front of the wheelchair.
The bones acted like a ramp, launching the chair well over the monster's head. Erratum quickly unsummoned the bones and glanced behind him. The adults had caught up to them in time to see what he did, and were standing there in shock. Giving them a mock salute, he zoomed away, urging Blue to go even faster.
Nightmare was starting to regret waking up that morning. What the hell WERE these kids?!? Normal 5-year-olds do not a) go down the stairs in a wheelchair with b) another skeleton turning the wheels to ensure it's at top speed after c) getting a major skull fracture and d) acting perfectly calm about the whole thing! He rushed after the giggling pair of skeletons, arriving in the lobby just in time to see them about to run over an elderly turtle monster. Before anyone could react, Erratum used magic and formed a ramp out of bones. Although, now that he was thinking about it, he really shouldn't have been surprised about that particular thing. What he should have been surprised about, though, was the fact that it worked! They flew safely over the monster's head and landed perfectly. Nightmare had a strong suspicion that Erratum had used magic so the chair didn't tip over, but still! He even turned around and jokingly saluted Nightmare, Dust, Horror, the several nurses that had joined the chase, and the doctor himself before zooming off!
Dust was, to say the least, both extremely worried and mildly impressed. The kiddos stole a wheelchair, big deal. The kiddos used said wheelchair to escape and flung themselves down the stairs while on it, they've got metaphorical guts. This was also when Dust began worrying for their sanity, though. What really made him impressed was when they fricking launched themselves over a monster's head and actually landed it. Horror seemed to have a similar view of the scenario, as they shared an incredulous look of 'what-the-everloving-french-toast-did-I-just-see' and 'holy-cow-those-are-our-kiddos-they're-so-awesome'.
Eventually, the group of adults managed to catch up with Error and Blue, and found, to their surprise, that the children were waiting placidly in front of the Radiology department. They were sitting calmly on a bench, not even fidgeting as the skeletons often did. There was no sign of the wheelchair, either. Erratum had dropped it into the Anti-VOID via portal, intending to use it for future pranks. "Oh, hello," said Blue innocently. "Why are you guys so out of breath?"
After a few seconds, the two burst into laughter, unable to continue the ruse, and the adults shortly followed suit.
"Well," the radiologist said, looking at the scan, "Erratum doesn't appear to have any brain damage, except for a bit to the visual cortex, but it's really old. Might I recommend getting him glasses?" Nightmare nodded, making a mental note to ask Erratum if he ever wore them. The doctor continued speaking. "However, I suggest we do a full-body scan, to make sure he's not injured anywhere else. Of course, since you're the closest thing he has to a guardian, we'll need your consent to this procedure, and he also needs to give his permission, since you're not his legal guardian."
Nightmare nodded again. "I'll talk to the kid, but a full-body scan sounds fine. I don't think he'd tell me if he got injured, we're only here because I asked about the bandages on his head." As if he had felt himself being talked about, Erratum chose that moment to walk through the door. "$o, Wh4t DO 1 h4v3 t0 d0 n0w?" he asked dryly, seeing their faces.
"Well," Dust began, "you should have a full-body scan. Only if you want to, though. It's just to make sure you're not injured anywhere but your head."
Erratum sighed, looking faintly disgruntled. The scan might show his magic levels, which would make Blue worry, and it would definitely show his messed-up SOUL, which would make everyone else worry. "1'm NoT hUrT 4nYwHeRe 3l$e Fr0m FaLl1nG d0wN tHe $t4iRs," he swore. It was true. Sure, there were a couple lingering injuries from the battle with Inky, and his SOUL would never be healed properly, but the only injury from the stairs incident was his busted skull.
Horror noticed his specific wording, having used similar tricks himself when he was arrested and such. Erratum wasn't hurt from falling down the stairs. Not 'Erratum wasn't hurt'.
"So there's no reason not to have a scan, then?" Horror said.
Erratum sighed, again. "FiNe. DoN't Fr3aK oUt 0r 4nYtHiNg, Th0uGh. 1 aM w3lL aWaRe 0f My... PeCuLi4r1t1e$." This, of course, only piqued the adults' curiosities. Blue shot him a look. "Stop hinting at things!" he hissed. "Honestly, even Inky's better at keeping secrets than you are!" Erratum snorted. "0nLy BeCaUs3 h3 f0rGeTs Th3m 4fTeR a FeW m1nUt3s," he replied, startling a giggle out of Blue. Nightmare, Dust, and Horror watched them with interest. With only a few words, the two children were a giggling mess. And just who was this 'Inky' person? It didn't seem like they poked fun at him maliciously, more like he was a close friend.
Error hesitantly stepped into the machine that would scan his entire body, doing his best to stay calm. He had never really enjoyed tight places because of living in the Anti-VOID, but it only really affected him when it was a very small place and/or he was already stressed. For example, right then. Blue gave him a reassuring look, then went back to watching the screen intently. It didn't take long for the machine to begin spitting out results.
SOULbeat: 180 bpm
Magic Level: 20J (Warning: Extremely Low)
Injuries: Fractured Skull, Hairline Fracture on Left Arm, Damage to Visual Cortex (Minor), Cracked SOUL (Stable)
The skeletons' (and rabbit's) eye(socket)s widened. Blue sighed. "Alright, you have questions. Let him out of the machine and ask away." He sounded so tired, Nightmare almost forgot about the newly discovered information. Almost. "Why's his magic levels so low?" asked Horror. "500J is normal for a kid, right?" He glanced at the radiologist for confirmation.
They nodded. "Extremely low- Tell him not to use any more magic or he could die!" they exclaimed softly. "At least it's not 'critically low'. Yet."
Blue paused, thinking. "I actually don't know why his levels are low," he said, frowning. "You'll have to ask him that."
The radiologist helped Erratum out from the machine, which nearly caused him to crash. As soon as he stood up, he threw himself at Blue, who didn't even blink before picking him up. "To0 cRaMp3d," Erratum whispered, so soft Blue could barely make it out. "I know, RuRu," Blue replied, positioning Erratum so that he was piggybacking on the younger skeleton. "The others are just dying for answers, you know," he said after a few seconds, causing Erratum to sit up a little straighter. "NoT l1tTeRaLlY, 1 h0p3," he joked. "4sK aWaY."
Blue went first, surprisingly. "Why didn't you tell me how low your magic levels were?" he scolded. "You let me spar with you, knowing you didn't have magic to spare? And then you went and used magic with the wheelchair, too! It's like you want to be constantly giving me SOUL attacks!" Erratum, for his part, looked sufficiently remorseful, murmuring an apology and promising never to do it again. "And just why was your magic so low, anyways?" Blue wondered. "It's never been this low before, not even after-'' He broke off, not wanting to reveal too much.
Error grinned. "WeLl, Th1s Pl4c3 h4s 4 v3r$i0n 0f My HoMe! $o 1 w3nT tHeRe, BuT iT w4s 3mPtY, s0 1 c0pY-p4sTeD mY 'd3c0r4t1oNs'-"
"You wHAT-"
"4nD iT t0oK a LoT oUt 0f Me. $oRrY f0r NoT t3lLiNg YoU."
"I think you're missing the part where you copy-pasted Code from another multiverse!" Blue said, reverting to WingDings for the second half of his sentence. "Does this mean we could go home?"
He looked so hopeful, and Erratum hated to crush his dreams, but Blue had to know the truth. "No, YoU s4w HoW mUcH m4k1nG a PoRt4l Th4t 1 c0uLd BaReLy FiT mY h4nD tHr0uGh To0k 0uT oF m3, aNd 1t Wa$ b4r3lY aCt1v3 f0r FiVe $eCoNd$," he said sadly, saying 'portal [etc u know the italics]' in WingDings. (oof that was a sucky sentence but I'm tired. Hey future self that ISN'T half-asleep, edit this for me. Thanks! -Technically-past self) (No. Deal with it. -Future-now-present self) (That's not nice! -Future-now-present-pretending-to-be-past self) (I don't care. -Present-pretending-to-be-future-now-present self) (Shut up and keep writing, you two! -Actual-present-but-technically-past self) (Fine. -Even-more-future-self-that-is-still-technically-present-self-but-actually-past-self) (At least delete this... -Present-self-trying-to-edit-this-monstrosity) (No -Past self)
Blue's face fell. "Oh," he said softly, before slipping on his usual bubbly mask. "Alright, next question!"
The radiologist asked, "Can I see your SOUL? The machine said it was cracked, but stable, and I want to know how."
Erratum sighed deeply. "4lRiGhT, bUt Do N0T fRe4k 0uT. 1t 1s PeRf3cTlY f1n3 aNd $t4bLe, 4nD h4s Be3n FoR a$ l0nG a$ 1 c4n ReMeMb3r." He gently pulled out his SOUL, which was green and purple, bound by light blue strings the colour of his 'tear-track' markings. They used to hurt a little, but Destiny apparently cleared that up. The SOUL was cracked and scarred; the strings were probably the only things that kept it from breaking. They gave him his strings, ability to access, read, modify, and destroy Code, and his immortality, and they couldn't be removed. So he was understandably nervous about showing his revolting SOUL to a stranger and three members of his new family.
The monsters gasped, having never seen anything quite so horrifying. And yet the way the colours of Erratum's SOUL shifted and blended, the gentle warmth the strings seemed to be emitting, the almost overwhelming feeling of comfort and home that filled the room, gave it an almost ethereal beauty. "See? Perfectly fine," Blue said, snapping everyone out of their trances. "Next question?"
"Uhm, have you ever worn glasses?" Nightmare inquired. "The machine said that the part of your brain that sees stuff is damaged."
Erratum tilted his head, thinking for a moment. "$o Th4t'$ wHy Th1nGs 4r3 a BiT bLuRrY! 1 f0rGoT 1 h4d Th0s3! My Gl4s$e$ $h0uLd Be 1n Th3 'pLaCe' WiTh Th3 r3sT oF mY 'd3c0r4t1oNs'. 1'lL r3tRi3v3 tHeM wHeN 1 g3t HoMe." Dust raised an eyebrow at the implied air-quotes, but let it be.
The rabbit monster told them that that was enough, they were curious, too, but too much time had passed. They prescribed Erratum some pills that would raise his magic level and told him not to use magic for at least a week. Then, they shooed them out of the room so they could talk to the adults. Erratum and Blue, of course, listened in, because honestly who wouldn't?
The radiologist looked at the three worried skeletons in front of him. "Nightmare, Horror, and Dust, yeah?" Their rabbit eyes twinkled. "Off the books, I can tell how much you care for Erratum and his friend. I assure you he will be just fine, this is merely a precaution." They turned back to the screen, but not before giving the skeletons one last remark. "I heard about the Great Wheelchair Escapade, as my coworkers insist on calling it. Most excitement there's been around here since Debbie took a triple-shift and got caught making out with Barbara in the seventh-story supply closet. Keep an eye on the two, alright? They seem like trouble-makers."
Nightmare nodded absently, lost in thought. Dust and Horror shot a glance at each other, both thinking the same thing.
Life with the gang's about to get a lot more chaotic.
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Welp. It took forever to write this. Thanks to one of my friends for giving me an idea for this chapter. Leave questions, comments, and concerns- you know what, if you're reading this, you've read the other A/Ns, too. You know the drill, reader. Thanks for reading!
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