-Unstable verse Council Hall-
It was BirdTale!Sans, Raven that finally answered. "I think we have to face the other questions. I think it is time we got to know the tear stained Sans as Cobalt called him."
That got a few protests but not much. They were the judges and it was time to do it right even if it was far too late.
-Stable verse Multi-Void Kitchen-
Breakfast ended quietly, no one really knowing what to say and Error just wanted to process his life right now, how he is going to deal with it all, what is he going to do with himself now, and what is he going to do about Nightmare?
Orbit was quick to heard the Time Kids somewhere else in the mansion, he knew they would have to have a long talk about what just happened and just what Error is. After that display, Orbit knew he was going to have to tell them something, and it might as well be the truth.
Meanwhile Error was quick to leave the kitchen and out the backdoor, going beyond the backyard into the woods. He needed to think, to just sit and lay his head in his hands, try to make sense of all this crap that has happened to him.
He barely even noticed that Null, who was carrying Void, was following close behind. He didn't even care that one of this Multiverse's skeletons was following him, just as long as he could think.
-With Orbit and The Time Kids-
"Now kids....You have to understand that some people have been hurt very badly." Orbit told them. "And sometimes because of this, it makes them lash out when they hear news or facts they don't like."
Orbit had moved them all to the living room, all of them sitting around the coffee table. Him sitting on one side, the kids on the other.
Tilting his head, Peace couldn't help but ask. "But how hurt is Error?"
"I could answer a few questions for a price." Nightmare leaned against the doorframe looking tired with purple smudges under his sockets.
They all looked at him a few shifting uncomfortably. Finally Orbit asked, "Why a price and what do you want?"
"There is always a price to pay especially for those of us who come from the darker places Orbit just ask Tick or Cherry, they know it already. As for the price I get to hold and cuddle any kid I want while we talk." He wanders over and settles in a soft overstuffed chair off to the side.
Orbit frowned remembering Nightmare's outbursts and suspecting that he is one of those that hurt Error. "The children are not objects to be bargained over."
"No they are not that is why it is not your choice Orbit." Nightmare smirked, not even trying to be reassuring.
The kids traded glances, they had a choice, they could get answers maybe even ones the adults didn't know? Some of them had reservations but after earlier if Nightmare needed a cuddle. They might not have healing kisses but... TK spoke up for them. "Okay but only with an adult here we don't know you yet."
Orbit was surprised and a little disturbed that they not only were okay with such a bargain but knew to set safe limits.
Relaxing now Nightmare smiled easing up on making Orbit squirm. "Come here Tick." He opened his arms getting confused looks from the other kids and Orbit.
Tick was as surprised as the rest but stood and walked over to the chair only to be scooped up and settled in Nightmare's lap leaning back against his chest with his arms around him. Tick looked up at him, chain rattling. "Why me?"
Nightmare gave a sad chuckle, stroking the phalanges of one hand over the same marks, chips, and cracks Null and Void kissed the day before. "Monsters like us need to stick together.... If we don't look out for each other who will. The others never really understand. They mean well here they do but they still don't live the places we survive or see the things we witness. They are not left broken in the dark to save themselves or fall. Of course you who else here understands and would be comfortable in my arms. I know my aura makes others uncomfortable."
Geno leaned back against the wall by the doorframe and rubbed his chest wanting to cry. Knowing Nightmare was right his friends helped pick him up and helped him stop the fall but he had always known that they didn't understand what it was to watch their loved ones fall over and over and be able to do nothing. It was why he didn't go back to the save screen if he could help it. He couldn't stand to watch anymore.
Tick looked up at him then snuggled close ticking. "Mine." No one argued with him this time but the kids and Orbit looked thoughtful.
Cloud looked up, "Why would anyone hurt Error?"
Nightmare met his eyelights, "Fear." Orbit cleared his throat, hoping to everything they didn't screw this up and wishing that Nightmare wasn't right about his being scary when you noticed him. "Well, monsters and humans alike fear power, and fear those that have it." Orbit paused, then decided to go a different route. "You know that Error and Nightmare are from a different Multiverse right?"
"Yeah." Gaz nodded with the others with a frown. "But what does that have anything to do with this? Wouldn't it be the same as here?"
Orbit shook his head. "Different AU's have different codes and rules, different cultures. It is the same with Multiverses, different sets of checks and balances." Orbit blinked, trying to think of a way to explain Error's job, before shrugging and deciding to wing it. "Our AU's are stable without any help needed, they fix and work themselves. This is not the case for Error's Multiverse." Orbit's face and voice turned grim. "From what we gathered from his SOUL and how he acts out, he was forced into being a part of the balance. Meaning he had no choice in the matter. Error was picked and formed into the destruction, making sure that his Multiverse is not too full. Our AU's and Multiverse know when an AU has to stop growing, how many there can be. Error's does not, so he must.... Take care of it himself." Orbit's frown grew tighter just thinking about it.
".....But don't you always have a choice?" TK quickly asked, face worried and scared. He was smart enough to read in between the lines, he knows what death and killing are. He couldn't imagine being forced to do that, he would have said 'No..' "Couldn't he have said no?"
Nightmare stopped Orbit with a raised hand. "Yes you always have choices but they are not always good choices." Orbit frowned down at his hands not liking this lesson, but nods at what Nightmare said.
Nightmare took a deep breath, "Let me tell you about Error's choice then you can tell me what you would do." Nightmare hugs Tick closer. "Error wasn't just chosen FATE ripped him from his AU, his home, destroying it in the process. Error was trapped in the Anti-void where there is nothing, just cold white emptiness. He did everything to escape, he used all his weapons, all his magic he ran and ran and ran." Nightmare didn't seem to notice he was crying. "He screamed and begged for help for mercy until the screams started screaming back at him. FATE had come to give him his new fate, his job, and she had brought all her furies with her. They abused him mentally and emotionally while the Anti-void warped and twisted his code until he was as he is now a glitch in the system." Nightmare had to stop as he shook with silent sobs.
Tick tried wiping away Nightmare's tears surprising the others who didn't know he could be gentle.
Sniffling Nightmare gave him another hug. "By the time Error could get out of there he knew that if he didn't do his job the Multiverse would eventually collapse, everyone would die. Take into account that there is another half to the balance, creation." Orbit never thought he would ever hear or feel such bitter disgust at that word until now. "Ink's counterpart, called Inky, is the other half of the balance, was created by FATE to make AU's. Error was more than a little crazy and really angry at FATE and Inky back then, but he still cared and that was a double edged blade because to save some others had to go and that caring was a blade to his SOUL. So to answer your question if one side keeps creating without care, the balance can be tipped too much. If AU touch they self destruct possibly impacting others close to them and causing a chain reaction, even if it is only two it still results in Multiverse quakes, that trigger earthquakes within the AU's. Billions die."
The kids were quite thinking about that about what they would do. About them going through that. Peace choked and Cloud sobbed quietly.
Orbit jolted out of his sickened shock. "Nightmare enough they are too young for this."
Orbit wiped away his own tears, his suspicion that FATE did more to make Error do his job, basically confirmed. Error feared FATE, it wasn't hard to see that. The look of fear on his face when talking about and asking himself how long it will be until he was dragged back.
"He's powerful." Tick nodded, chain rattling as he scratched his head in confusion. "So why is he so hurt? Why hurt something, someone, so important?" Tick could not understand that logic. In his AU, power meant eating and surviving. You did not mess with someone that is stronger than you unless you had to, like if they were going to eat you or take your food.
Cherry immediately nodded in agreement with Tick. "Yeah! I don't understand why that is." Cherry tugged at his hood in frustration. "If he's a part of the balance, then why are they messing with it? Why is Error even here if he is needed?"
Nightmare sighs, "That is the true tragedy of the situation; they don't know him. They don't know about the balance because it was not his FATE to be the hero. So tell me if you have never heard of the balance, you have no idea that the Multiverse only has so much room and you hear about someone going around killing off AU, if you are only told he is mad, SOULLESS, a killer. You would be scared what if he comes to your AU, your home, your family. Then one day he is there just walking through your AU what do you do? Count his scars and ask him to tea? Or are you scared, are you worried for your brother, your friends? Do you call for help or attack hoping to drive him away? Fear is not a bad thing, it makes you avoid danger but it can also make you blind and cruel."
Orbit looked down at his hands, suddenly afraid not of Error but of himself of what he would do under those conditions to protect his home and his brother. From the way Error looked at Ink sometimes, Orbit could tell there is some history - bloody history with him and this Inky. "Everyone has a breaking point, an Error has most likely hit, his a long time ago. From what I can see, Error eventually could not take their abuse anymore, and simply tried to....give up, but landed here via Destiny instead."
"Then what is going to happen to his Multiverse?" Cloud wondered aloud in horror. Not that Error is here, but for the fact that all this could happen to another. All he could think about was that could have been him, he could have been forced to do all that and more.
The rest of the kids thought that, and knew that there was a lot left unanswered and unsaid. Things only this Inky knew and only Error knew, and everyone knew they wouldn't be talking for a while.
Orange looked up at Nightmare. "Why.... Why did you fall with Error?" That had all of them looking up at him.
"A long, long time ago I lived in my Multiverses version of DreamTale with my brother Dream. We were the Guardians of the tree of feelings. I was the Guardian of nightmares and negativity and he was the Guardian of dreams and positivity." He looked away and hugged Tick tight for a moment. "Then the village was built around the hill on which our tree grew. The villagers loved Dream for his aura made them happy." Then Nightmare shook his head. "No that is not true they used and manipulated him, he had many false friends. They hated me for what I was. They believed I was unnecessary. They hurt me and the level of violence towards me grew daily. The codes where such that the Apple incident was inevitable he could not see or believe that they would hurt me and it only hurt him if I tried to tell. It was inevitable that I would try to prove I could take care of the apples from his side of the tree. That I would consume the apples in an attempt to save myself from the angry mob when my touch turned all the apples negative save the one Dean had with him and the tree withered. The apples of the tree gave me the magic I had never had and a mixed blessing of sorts, a head to toe goopy coating of negativity that froze my body in time, ageless and unable to heal. My brother consumed the last golden apple to protect it from me. There were only two possible routes during and after the Apple incident. That I kill my twin the only one to ever love me or he kill me. No escape in the codes, just pain, heartbreak and imbalance. I could not do it even driven mad by the rush of negative power I loved my brother then as I love him still. But I could not let him kill me for I had a secret. I was carrying a child."
Nightmare stopped taking a shuddering broken breath. "I broke from the codes and my FATE long enough to invoke a magic that temporarily freezes a guardian in stone. I used my new magic to flee DreamTale. Error found me not long after sick, scared, lost, pregnant, with on where safe for me not when negativity that drove others to violence poured from my very being. He found and abandoned AU that Inky never finished for me to live in, he got me food, and took care of me, he even married me so my baby would have a family. He took care of me when I had a preemie who didn't survive. He taught me to fight. Then one day he went to do his job and didn't come back. It was almost eight hundred years till I saw him again. When I did he didn't know me but he had a lot more cracks in his skull. I refuse to lose him forever."
Peace wiped his eyes. "How broken is he?"
Orbit flinched, before looking at the little Sans with a saddened and pain filled face. Orbit was not going to lie, it led to nothing but pain in the end, but the truth can always hurt more in the end as well.
"He's beyond broken."
-With Error-
Error sat in a clearing, filled with wild grasses and flowers, a few stumps, and surrounded by trees. Error sat on the grass, bag right beside him, leaning on a stump while Null was a few feet away gathering wild flowers, and Void was crawling around not too far away in front of Error, pulling up grass with a giggle.
He hardly paid any attention to Blue, who was standing just out of arm's reach and watching him with a worried look on his face. Error had too much to think about, then to contemplate why Classic - No, Blue Classic's counterpart, was worried about him for whatever reason. It's hard to think of them as separate at times, as they share the same face with only a few differences.
'What am I going to do now?' Error sighed, his SOUL aching a bit from Nightmare's outburst, he was going to have to figure out what was bothering him. Error looked up at the blue sky, clouds rolling by lazily. 'After death, I wouldn't have to do anything anymore right? That's why they all wanted me dead, so that I can do nothing.' Error could feel a headache coming up, just trying to make sense of everything. 'So why did Destiny interfere with that? Why get involved now?' Error shook his head, he can think about Destiny later. For now he had to figure out what he was going to do now. 'Fate will see me missing eventually, they will hunt me down no matter the Multiverse even if they don't have much power here. But....What if they don't?'
'With dying I would have been free, why can't Destiny see that! No more fuss and everything would have been more simple!' Error mentally scoffed, only to stop short. His mind whirled when he realized something. 'What is freedom? What is being free really?'
Error could not remember a time when he was truly free, and he had no idea what being free really meant in the long run. He had thought dying was being free, but is it really? Questions swam in his skull, no answer coming forth. So he turned to Blue, who looked shocked that Error was even paying him any mind, and decided to see if he had any answers. 'What the hell, I have nothing to lose.'
"WHaT doES fREEdOM MEAn?"
Blue had followed Error when everyone else was too shocked/horrified to, to make sure that Error didn't do anything stupid in his fragile state. Finding out you are in a different Multiverse after trying to die can mess with a person, heck trying to kill yourself period messes with your mind! And this monster did all that and more, so Blue thought better safe than sorry.
Watching the taller skeleton sit criss-cross applesauce, leaning his back on a stump and just watch the sky did not trick Blue. He can feel the conflict inside the other, the way his eyes flickered in thought and the frown growing on his scar ridden face told Blue that Error was far from okay.
When Error turned to him and actually asked him a question, he was shocked. Blue thought Error wouldn't even pay him any mind, being too far inside his head or because he looked like one of his abusers. Blue shivered in disgust just thinking of sharing a face with another that broke someone else. He believed in putting the blame where it is needed, and Error wasn't the half of the Balance out of control it seemed.
"Freedom huh?" Blue gave a small smile, trying to show that he meant no harm. It took a moment before it hit Blue on why Error was even asking him. 'He has never been free before. Free to do anything.' Blue really wanted to strangle someone right about now, instead he rubbed his head with a sigh. 'He has no idea what it means to be free and what that means for him.'
"It means you can choose what you want to do, where you live, what happens to you, and who you are." Blue told him, smiling bitterly. "Being free means you have choices, and no one else can force you to make one."
"ChOICes....? WhO i Am?" Error's brows frowned as his face twisted into confusion. "i AM eRRoR. WhO elSE cAN i BE?"
"Your name is Error, yes." Blue nodded, sockets half-lidded to hide his sadness. "But what that means, is that you can pick who Error is." Seeing Error's massive confusion, Blue started to clarify. "You can be Error, Destroyer of Worlds. Or you can be Error, just a normal monster. Hell you could be Error the flower collector for all we care. Who you are is not just a name it is what you do and what you identify yourself with. Freedom means you get to choose that."
"....I dON't KnoW whO I aM AnYmoRE thEN." Error muttered to himself. "NevER gOt tO piCK THAT....I dON'T KnoW...."
"You have all the time in the world to choose that." Blue was quick to reassure him. "You can even be more than one if you want. You can be whoever you want whenever you want. "
'Whoever I want to be?' Error frowned harder, not understanding yet but wanting it. 'I'm Error, Destroyer of Worlds and formed to be the other half of the balance to creation, I am destruction....But do I want to be that? Can I really let go of that title? Can I hold a different title?' It was just so confusing to Error, what did it matter who he was in the end? But he also wanted to be more than just the other half, to be more than a killer. To call himself something different in his head....... But then what could that be? Who is he in the end?
Seeing that Error was thinking about it seriously, Blue decided to leave him to it. Walking out of the clearing, he took a sharp turn into the trees. In the shadows under the trees where you could see Error and the kids clearly stood Maple, Honey, and Daze. Apparently they had the same idea as he did when it came to Error.
"You do know you could have come into the clearing too right? Bunch of stalkers." Blue couldn't help but smirk at Daze's guilty face. Maple and Honey just shrugged together.
"We just wanted to make sure everything was okay!" Daze flushed bright yellow, trying to defend himself and the other two. "I was worried, Error's emotions were all over the place and I-" He stopped when Honey patted him on the head. "He gets it." Honey leaned over with a smirk. "Besides, he had the same idea too. Ain't I right?"
Blue snorted while Daze calmed down. "Yeah, yeah."
"Oh!" All of them blink, turning to look at Maple. They saw Maple pointing into the clearing, and taking out his cell phone with his other hand. Following to where he was pointing they all froze. Honey was quick to bring out his cell as well. Maple and Honey nodded to each other, one started filming and the other snapped pictures like no tomorrow.
-A Few Minutes Earlier With Error-
"...WhO aM i?...DO i-" error stopped his muttering when a call sounded out.
"Ma!"
Looking up with a sigh, Error found Void sitting down about three feet away. When Void saw Error paying attention to him, he gave a bright smile and started wiggling.
"WhAT dO YOu wAnT liTTlE TeRRoR?" Error asked tiredly, leaning forward not expecting an answer of any kind.
Suddenly Void got a determined gleam in his sockets, making Error freeze when he saw it. Then Void did something that made Error forget to breathe.
Void slowly stood up on shaking and unsteady legs.
Error felt numb as he watched Void slowly start to toddle his way to him, arms outstretched and a determined look on his face. Void's grin grew the closer he got, and all Error could do was watch him in shock.
"Ah!" Void gasped, tripping on his feet just when he was a foot away. closing his eyes, little Void waited for the pain. But then large hands quickly caught a hold of him, stopping him from hitting the ground. Void opened his sockets to see Error's hands lifting him up. Void wiggled out of Error's hold before he could pick him up getting back on his feet.
Error slowly flexed his hands, not even understanding why he did that. But then Void let out a triumphant yell, little hands gripping Error's knee. Void had made it all the way on his own.
"Ma! Ma!" Void said, A smile working its way onto his face Void started bouncing on his feet and slapping his knee. Picking up the orange-clad babybones, Error lifted him up so that they were face to face. "gOOd JoB."
"Ma! Mama!" Little hands gently slapped his tear marks, before Void suddenly lit up. "Ma...Ma..Mamama...Mama!"
Error's sockets shot open wide, his marrow running cold. "WhAT diD yOU JusT saY?"
"Mama~" Void cheered, giggling and laughing aloud. "Mama! Mama!"
'But I'm....' Suddenly a blue blur slammed into Error, making him lose his breath. Looking down, Error was greeted by Null's excited face, dirt smeared on his cheeks and flowers now all over as Null dropped the ones he collected into Error's lap when he let go to grip onto Error's jacket.
"Mama! Void walked and said his first words!" Null couldn't contain his excitement. "He talked!"
"NuLl." Null stopped his cheering to look up at his Mama in confusion. "WhO aM I?"
'That is a silly question.' Null couldn't help but giggle. 'Mama's being silly!' "Mama is Mama!"
"i'm....MaMA?" Error softly questioned, eye lights flickering with so many different emotions.
Null gave a cheerful nod. "Yep! But Mama's our Mama!" Null pouted up at him. "Don't forget that okay!"
Hand gripped them both pulled them close, making both kids giggle as Error nuzzled them.
'Mama, huh?' A Bittersweet smile grew on his dark face. 'I like that better than Destroyer. Null and Void's Mama, mother sounds way better than that.' Emotions and thoughts, doubts fought in his head. 'I have a choice about who and what I am, that is freedom. I chose to take my life, I did not choose to land here. But I don't want to go back, so can I choose to stay like this forever? To be a mother?'
'I want to be this mama they look up to, but what happens when everything fails like it always does?!' Tears fell from his sockets, making Null and Void gasp. Unknown to Error, he started to glow green, only for it to flicker. 'What will I do when this is taken from me?! I never get to keep anything good! Fate and Inky make sure of that.'
"Mama!" Errors sockets blinked open, the green glow still flickering and fading. Void tried to wipe the tears away while snuggling into Error. "Mama are you okay?"
"....I'M yOUr mAMa..." More tears fell. "i'M sO haPpY.......BuT i-!" Error choked on his tears, cuddling both close. So many different emotions fought inside him that he didn't know what he was feeling anymore. "JuSt stAY likE thIS...PleaSE?"
"Okay." Null gave a little kiss on one cheek, Void on the other. "Mama needs more kisses!"
"Mama~" Void agreed, planting more kisses on his tear marks. "Mama!"
More tears fell harder and harder the more kisses that were given to him.
-With Blue, Daze, Maple, and Honey-
"He's....glowing." Maple breathed out, numbly keeping his cell out.
"But it's flickering and faint." Blue pointed out in shock. "I didn't know it could do that. I thought you only glowed green in the sockets when you are truly happy."
"It's because he is truly happy." Daze told them all quietly, smile bittersweet. "He's happy, but I can feel his emotions. They are conflicted. He's happy, but sad and so many other feelings at the same time. That's why it is flickering and not as bright.
Daze could feel Error's happiness, but it was like a thick blanket was over top it. It was fighting to get out and shine, but too much was over top of it. It was all it could do to glow out a little for a short time. It was heartbreaking to feel and see it happen.
"He's probably drowning in doubt." Honey muttered as he put his cell away. "It's eating away at his happiness."
After a few moments of silence, Blue nudged Maple. "Come on, let's give them some time alone. If trouble happens, we'll just teleport back.
-With The Others-
"I think it would be best if we took him to Life." Death told the others. "He's been touched and cut by a reaper's blade, Life would be the best out of all the Toriel's for this. She is the best healer out of them all."
"Yeah, okay." Red shrugged, then leaned forward with a sarcastic look on his face. "But how are we going to get him to agree to going there?"
"With him knowing this isn't his Multiverse, will it really be that hard?" Hearts questioned, leaning back on his chair as he thought aloud. "I mean, it's not like he expects us to do the same...." Hearts then gulped, glancing around at the others. "Right?"
"He does." Echo rubbed his sockets, remembering the looks he got when he pulled out the chair for the darker one, then pushed him in. It was like Error was expecting him to beat him with the chair instead of just letting him sit, and Nightmare thought he was trying to seduce him. "Did you see the way he looked at us? There is no way Error doesn't think we are going to hurt him in some way eventually."
Misery shakes his head listening in on Nightmare's talk with the kids. "Then how do we prove to him we mean no harm?" Misery asked them all, raising a brow in question. "You can't just take a victim without their consent to a different place, take their choices, or force them into something they don't want. That will just make things worse in the long run."
"Then what do we do?!" Ink finally had enough, he just wanted Error to feel better and get better. "We have to-!"
-BANG-
Jerking, everyone turned to see a sweating Maple on the ground. Maple shot up, face painted in horror. "Error's hurt! He's in the clearing not too far from here! Dust and blood-!" Maple was able to force out, panic written all over his body.
Hop choked, nearly falling off his chair. Hannibal and Murder were already on their feet, Echo was out the door already, Ink not too far behind Echo. Red was sweating up a storm, running off into the living room to tell Orbit. Misery harshly sighed, trying to think of a plan of action. Hearts was blankly staring at Maple like he couldn't believe what he just said. Death was shooting off to follow Ink and Echo. Fresh jumped up and grabbed Maple, demanding answers.
"What. Happened?"
"Calm yourself Fresh." Nightmare leaned in the doorway Tick still snuggled in his arms. "Hannibal and Murder. Have you decided if the project I suggested is viable?"
-With Error-
"iT's FiNE." Error growled out from where he was forced into laying down. "It haPPEns, IT wILl GO baCK evEnTuaLLy-"
"It's not fine!" Blue growled back. Daze was kneeling beside Error in front of Blue. Honey was hovering on the other side while the babybones were beside Error's head. Null and Void had little tears in their eyes, worry all over their faces.
Error just thought this was drama over nothing.
"LoOk, IT haPPEns." Error would have shrugged if he was sure he wouldn't get yelled at for doing it. "YeS It HURtS, BuT i'm alwaYS IN pAIn. IT wILl ReAttaCH iTsELf soOneR oR laTER!"
"YOUR RIB FELL OFF!" Blue exploded, pointing to the dusty and bloodied rib not too far away. Error just looked at him unimpressed. "aND?"
"What do you mean 'and'?!" Blue's hands went up as if to shake Error into sense but Honey held him back. Daze started to let his magic roam, to feel how much damage Error has that needs to be healed. "Your. Rib. Fell. Off."
"NoT FoR thE fIRsT tIME." Error sighed, deciding to just let them freak out if they wanted to. He just didn't see the big deal. "OnE tImE aLL mY boNEs wERe RipPED oFF, I waS lefT iN piecES. My bOdY pUT itSElF bAcK ToGeTHEr." Error tried to explain, only to get horrified looks back. He glanced around not understanding what was wrong with what he said. "whAT?"
It didn't help that, that was when Echo, Ink and Death came into the clearing. Ink's scream being able to be heard from miles away.
"WHAT!?"
Error blankly looked at the sky. 'Today is going to be a long day.'