Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

They all stood in a blank AU that Ink had created, and waited. Waited for hours on end, whilst Ink and Dream paced near the front.

It was going to be a simple attack. Most of the Sanses who volunteered would be going to keep the Bad Sanses occupied, buying them time and stopping Error from calling on them for help. Nightmare and Error might not have an official alliance, but they weren’t against each other either. If Nightmare came, he could spoil everything.

Meanwhile, with Ink and Dream, more Sanses waited. The majority of skeletons chosen for this were from copies of UnderFell, UnderSwap, and DanceTale. UnderFell was the most violent and tended to have the most skilled fighters, but UnderSwap Sanses were also good at fighting due to their dedication to training, born from a Papyrus personality. While DanceTale wasn’t as violent as the others, they were the strongest physically due to hours of dancing practice. Even if the Sanses slacked off by DanceTale standards, they would still have regular exercise and be incredibly fit and athletic.

Neither Ink nor Dream had told Blue about their plan. He was too special to both of them, and a mortal. If Ink or Dream got in danger, he would jump after them, risking his life, when out of the three of them, only he could die.

Well, Ink could die, technically, but he’d reform within the Doodlesphere in a day.

“Ink…” Dream started, but then looked down. 

“Yes, Dreamy?” Ink asked, tearing his eyes from the AU access point.

Dream seemed to swallow, debating a decision. “You do know I love you, right?”

Ink blinked, surprised. “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?” He cast a worried glance at Dream, unsure. Was he ok?

“It’s just… I’m scared. Error’s powerful, really powerful. What if I lose you? What if he tears your code apart or what if you get trapped with him? I want you to know that I’ll always support you, no matter what happens.”

Ink froze, eyelights turning white for a second. He was… what? He blinked, and his eye lights turned back.

“Dream, I swear, it will be ok. Because I love you too.” He slipped his hand into Dream’s and rested his head on his side. “And I know you’ll back me up.”

Dream looked down, a slight golden blush spread over his cheekbones, and he smiled, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. “You know I will, my artist.”

—-

This was suspicious as hell.

Error squinted at the AU, checking the codes again. Almost entirely empty. But there was one thing, a flower, the core of the AU. He just had to wreck that to destroy the whole AU.

It was too easy.

But he could sense it getting dangerously close to OG Outertale, close to colliding. He couldn’t destroy Outertale, he had to wreck this place instead. And he could handle anything the Star Sanses threw at him. He’d have to.

And so he opened a portal, stepping into the AU.

It was painted so crudely. A rough blue sky, splotches of green covering the ground in what might have been grass, blobby mushroom trees. It looked like a child had created this place, Ink had never been this sloppy before. 

He’d probably forgotten this place existed, Error told himself. He just… moved on, or lost motivation or something. It happens to every monster eventually.

… so why exactly did this place give him the creeps?

He felt a shock run down the back of his neck, and instinctively raised a wall of bones as Gaster Blasters appeared, shooting beams of light, so many of them, and all of them slightly different. Pouring more energy into his shield of bones, Error kept the wall up until the shots disappeared.

Letting them fall, he spun, facing the group of Sanses that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Or shortcutted. Ink and Dream led them, standing only a little apart, Ink with his oversized paintbrush and Dream with his blazing bow.

Their attacks hurt when they landed. Never enough to kill, but still.

He sighed. “iT’$ a TrAP, 1$n’T iT.”

“One chance, Error!” Ink yelled, drawing a vial into his hand. Red. “One chance to surrender. Your last chance. Stop destroying, and we can end this.”

“. .  .” Error let his gaze rise to the sky. “i cAn’t do THaT. I cAn’T sToP a$ l0nG @s y0u dOn’T. WiLL yOU?”

“Don’t say we didn’t warn you.” Ink raised his brush in the air, and Error sensed he was in trouble here. They’d brought their most experienced fighters in an AU they created just because of him. He might enjoy fighting sometimes if it was a good challenge, but he wouldn’t fight for no reason, especially when it was a horribly unfair battle. Unfortunately, it was not for Error to decide whether he was fighting or not. Sanses swarmed him, Dream on his left, Fells on his right, Swaps and Dances behind him, Ink floating above him, raining down paint. He sighed, flexing his strings, throwing them out to create a web. He must have caught five different SOULs, he thought, sensing the tremors as he dodged strokes from all sides. He was good.

Error or not, he was originally a Sans. He knew how to dodge, and he knew how to fight.

He ducked to the left, giving himself a little bit of breathing room, as he saw someone appear. His eyes widened as he recognised the blurry figure in front of him. He wore a blue jacket and basketball shorts, and instantly, he knew, he knew, it was the real deal. 

He only just managed to jerk his strings to miss his soul. “WHAt aRE yOu dOInG HerE?! Do yOU hAVe a fREaKinG dEaTH wISh?!” Glancing behind him, he dodged a graceful kick from a Dance that would have shattered his shin. Instantly, he shortcutted behind Classic, grabbing his arm with only a moment of hesitation, ignoring his glitches and the urge to run, to avoid. To stop the stupid touch. But he had to, and he forced himself to grab Classic by the hoodie, avoiding the bone. Error managed to shortcut away with Classic, behind one of the big blobby trees.

“YOu iDIoT, If You d!3, aLl oF US d!3! WhAT ArE yOU tHinkinG?!?” Error growled, keeping it as quiet as he could, glancing around the tree.

Classic unfroze. He’d seen what he thought Error wouldn’t have. The stroke from the Fell Sans, not his Red, aimed at Error. It wouldn’t have hit the Destroyer. It would have hit him. “Did you- did you just save me?”

Error looked at him with a frown. “SO wHAt? I dON’t wAnt tO d!3 yeT, anD I doUbT yOU do eITheR. DoN’T cOUnT oN iT hAPpeNiNg AGAin.” He swore as a Lust saw him, yelling out. “FOr KaRMa’S sAkE, StAy tHere!” He started to run, and Classic got a horrible sense of doubt as thoughts started to run through his head.

If Error wanted to destroy the Multiverse, he just had the easiest chance to do it. Ever. Killing the Core of the Original Universe, him, would have wrecked everything. It wasn’t even his universe, where a reset could save him. The Fell Sans would have destroyed the world for Error. 

They were missing something. He knew it.

“Error, wait!” Classic yelled, but Error was haring across the crude fields with many other Sanses on his tail. There was no way he could have heard him.

—-

He couldn’t keep this up forever. 

For each Sans Error squeezed in his strings, two more appeared in their place. Already his magic was depleting, Fate draining it to stop him hurting her precious Ink.

He couldn’t win here. He had to get back. 

Short cutting a while away, he waved his hand, summoning the energy needed for a portal. “cOmE 0n, COmE 0N!” He managed to open a portal to the AntiVoid, and as quickly as he could, he darted through the portal, then sensed Ink and Dream crashing after him.

This was wrong.

They never followed him when he retreated.

Something was very very wrong.

Ink dashed his paintbrush on the floor, creating a huge circle of paint surrounding them. Another quick splash, dousing Error in purple paint which snaked around to bind his wrists and ankles, hobbling him. Dream and Ink darted outside the circle.

“I’m sorry, Error, but you’ve left us no choice!” yelled the Creator, raising Broomie to the sky.

He was completely unprepared for what happened next.

SOULs shot up from the ink on the ground, surrounding him. Each one left a trail of golden thread as Dream thrust out his hands, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. The threads wove together, surrounding Error, until there was a nearly complete dome surrounding the Destroyer. 

Error looked around frantically. “WhaT aRE YoU dOiNG.” This worried him more than that fight out there. What were they doing with all those SOULs? How had they gotten so many? Then he looked to the ceiling and realised he had bigger problems.

His strings were coming undone. The SOULs he had previously captured glowed, floating down from their previous bindings. The other Sanses clearly hadn’t planned this, although judging by Ink’s manic grin and his yellow and orange exclamation mark eyelights, it wasn’t going to be great for him.

With a quick flash of clear vision, Error noticed the child standing behind him, her hands resting on Ink’s shoulders. Her blood red hair flowed down her shoulders, twining around Ink’s hands and skull, forming a crown. Fate had decided who the victor of this battle would be, and Error froze momentarily, feeling her cold glare rest on him. Then she was gone, and it was just Ink again.

Soon, there was only one SOUL left. A ruby red SOUL, a determined SOUL.

Error’s eyes widened as he finally understood what was happening, and he fought harder than ever, trying to break free. They were creating a barrier. Trapping him in the AntiVoid.

The red SOUL floated in Dream’s hand, and he sent it floating to the top of the dome, where it latched into place. Error watched in horror as golden magic spiralled down, from SOUL to SOUL, weaving each one firmly into place.

It was a powerful spell.

And with that, his chains vanished as he clambered to his feet as fast as he could, running to the border. And an invisible force threw him back as he connected with the wide mesh of the golden fabric. He was thrown to the ground, unceremoniously.

“N0.” He was up again in an instant, back at the barrier, staring at the two who locked him away. Dream looked faint, probably from the huge spell he just cast.

“N0 n0 NO!” he thumped a fist on the mesh. It was like glass.

Summoning his strings, he tried to shoot them, to tear the thing apart, to do anything, but they wouldn’t work. After five minutes of trying, he stood back, breathing heavily. Ink and Dream hadn’t moved. He turned to them, eyes wide.

“UnDO iT. NoW.”

Dream shook his head, eyes downcast. He could feel everything that Error was feeling. It wasn’t fun. “I-I can’t. The spell is done.”

Error was frozen, in shock and anger and fear. “YOu Can’T dO tHIs. YoU’RE jUsT gO!NG t0 L3Av3 M3 H3r3?!”

Ink nodded, looking him in the eyes. “I’m sorry, Error. We had to.” A blue and lime green eyelight. He was genuinely sad, and surprised that it worked.

“…”

Error began to laugh. A horrible, broken laugh, that gradually turned to a scream.

“¥0U !D!0T$.” 

Both of the others felt their marrow chill as Error stood, perfectly calm now. The Destroyer no longer looked panicked. He looked like a monster with nothing to lose. And that was scarier than a monster who threw around threats and tantrums.

“¥0u’r3  @1w@¥$   g0!ng +0  b1@m3  m3,” Error said dully, his voice glitching worse than either of them had ever heard before. They could barely understand him. “!’m +#3  D3$+r0¥3r. !+’$  m¥ j0b. ¥0u  £3@r  d3$+ru€+!0n.” He tilted his head, and in that moment, even Dream couldn’t guess what he was thinking. His emotions, they were garbled, rushing out from a dam he had hidden them behind for years, where they’d been pent up. He was… amused. Amused, sad, angry, relieved, happy, scared, worried, all at the same time.

“! W0nd3r #0w 10ng !+’11 b3 uN+!1 ¥0u b3G £0R !t.”

Ink turned to leave. Dream only stayed a moment longer.