Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The anti-void was not all bad in his opinion. Error was perfectly fine where he was. He had everything he needed, shelter, company, things to do. Words like job, work, and responsibility were not in his vocabulary. He could read and write, crochet and knit, although he never remembered learning. In fact, he could not remember anything before he ended up in the anti-void. So he stopped trying to remember, learning what he could do on his own, with some help from the voices.

The voices were company, but not the kind anyone would want to have around. But Error was stubborn, he lasted through their attempts to drive him to insanity. He started being sarcastic to them, telling a bad joke or pun every once in a while just to make them angrier. Some of the voices ended up being a bit nicer to him, they were pretty good conversationalists once they noticed they were not getting anywhere. The nicer ones even helped him with learning his new abilities.

The voices were actually the ones who brought up his strings ability. Error learned a lot about what he could do, which is how he made his “string house”. Error’s strings were all over the “ceiling” of the anti-void. Once he got the hang of his strings, he tried climbing them. He liked being high up and swinging on his strings like a “swing set” as the voices told him what that was. That's when Error started getting ideas. He weaved his strings together, making layer after layer of magic cloth-like sheets. Magic was all about intent, so when Error wanted the sheets to be hard enough to walk on, they did. A floor of magic was held up in the tangled mess of Error’s strings in the anti-void. He liked sitting up there, talking to the voices, and soon he discovered his power to make portals.

They were one-way windows, Error could see and hear the people through the portals, but no one could see or hear him. Nobody else could even see the portal but Error, this is how he learned of the multiverse. He watched different AU’s through the portals and the voices told him about them, though some did try to be cruel and scream at him for not knowing. The voices told Error his role in the multiverse as well, trying to convince him that he could be nothing but a destroyer. Error ignored them and chose to not be the God of Destruction. The voices got mad and some astonished, telling him that he had the power to destroy AU’s and everyone in them.

You are the other half, the hated side.

Destroying is all you're good for. Someone has to take out the garbage.

Now you know, so go do your job, you lazy sack of bones!

Your sins will soon crawl on your back, God of Destruction.

But, Error refused. He simply did not want to. Besides, he did not even want to leave, much less did he know how. So he stubbornly ignored the voices and watched, eventually coming across Ink. The voices told him of his “other half”, the creator of worlds, protector of the multiverse, guardian of AUs. He did not like him, Ink was stupid in his opinion, forgetting things, acting ridiculous, and more things that just did not seem right about him. Later on, he learned of Nightmare. Nightmare had more common sense than Ink did. But he was a big dreamer from Error’s point of view. Trying to rule the entire multiverse, over a single world's misjudgment of negativity, and hatred for a brother, that only ignored his suffering, so bad that he wanted him dead? Nightmare was not Ink stupid but he did seem to have issues. Error watched as Nightmare fought Ink for control of the multiverse. Spreading his negativity in AUs, sometimes causing them to collapse under the pressure of such a dramatic change.

As Ink and Nightmare fought, Error was watching them or watching other AUs. When he saw people live in houses, he got curious. The voices explained what houses were and how they were made. Error wanted something like it, so he made his house in his strings. He already had a floor, so he copied what he did into walls. All the walls were blue like his strings, the house was more like a box treehouse, but larger with a flat roof. It became a single-room house with a living room and no doors. For a replacement of doors, Error made curtains from his strings, the bedroom door curtain was red with black edges and the front door curtain was blue with yellow edges. If he wanted the strings to change color, they did. It was magic. He made a beanbag chair red similar to the color on some of his bones. His bedroom had a hammock that was black with his signature blue strings for the support lines.

Error also made clothes for himself as well. In addition to the hoodie, shirt, and shorts he already had, he made a black trench coat with blue stitching purposely shown, a red turtleneck shirt, two pairs of sweatpants; one with two yellow lines on the sides and one with a red line on both sides, a couple of pajamas; one black with yellow criss-cross lines and one blue with a black string design all around the body, a robe similar to a river person’s but with a blue string design looking like the robe was loosely wrapped in thread, a long sleeve red shirt, and black jeans with red stitching. The wardrobe that Error made was more like an indented shelf with a black curtain. He was sort of organized in some ways after all. The bottom shelf had his pajamas, next shelf on top had his jeans and sweatpants, the middle shelf had his shirts, and second to last shelf had his coat and robe. The top shelf is where he put the scarves and gloves he knitted and crocheted. A window was placed along the side of the hammock, it had red curtains with yellow lines going across in random directions. Error’s room was small, but he hardly slept so it was perfect for a once in awhile nap.

The living room took three-fifths of the house, it was large and roomy even with his beanbag in it. Error loved sitting in there watching the AUs and talking to the voices, even though half of them shouted insults. He knitted and crocheted on his beanbag while talking to the voices for the longest time. But sometimes they spoke of his role in the multiverse, how destroying AUs was his job, that it was what he was supposed to do. To shut the voices up for a bit, Error tried using his powers. He opened a portal to a Swapfell copy, not caring which and, for the first time, sent his strings through the portal. At first, it was easy, he takes souls, shatters them, repeats. However, as it continued he had to kill the children and innocent. It hurt something inside him, to see them scared. He ended them quickly without pain, but his sins were still there. A couple of hours later, the AU fell, Error, on the other hand, was not well. And the voices were no help.

That wasn’t so hard now, was it?

If you had done that sooner it would have been easier for you.

Why so shocked Error? This is what you were made for.

Again! You're not done yet!

Done already? You haven't even started yet.

“tHey weRE JuSt KIdS! TheY diDn’T deSeRvE thAt!” Error screamed at the voices. Shouting about how it was wrong, that he did not want to do it again. But the voices told him what would happen if the balance was not corrected;

If the Multiverse becomes too full, half of the existing AUs, be it copies or originals, will destroy themselves. Are the lives of hundreds worth the lives of MILLIONS?

Error was smart enough to know they had a point. Now he could see the weight of his role. What being a destroyer meant. So he made a choice; Error would only destroy copies, and only if AUs were getting too close to each other or there was a shortage of room in the multiverse. Because of the conditions, Error made for himself, he hardly ever had to destroy. The voices tried to make him do more but to no avail. Error did feel guilty for killing, so he never let anyone he killed suffer or feel pain. His victim's death was quick and as merciful as it could be. After Error destroyed an AU, he cried. His tears become strings and he weaved tapestries of the AUs he destroyed. Error hung them behind his house, higher among his strings but, close enough to see them.

Ink could never tell when Error destroyed an AU. Error did it so rarely, that it was hard to tell which AUs Error destroyed and which Nightmare corrupted. Nightmare knew it was odd though. Every once in a while an AU died, and not because of him. He found it strange and went to search for answers. Nightmare never found Error, but he did find other Sans’ that had been wronged as he had. Nightmare found Horror, Dust, Killer, and Cross. Each had been created with a terrible life. Nightmare was still trying to take over the multiverse, however, he grew a soft spot for his gang of ‘dark sans’’. When Ink discovered Nightmare had back-up, he knew he needed help. Ink was already acquainted with Nightmare’s brother Dream, later he stumbled across the original Underswap sans, Blueberry joined up with them shortly after. Together they formed the Star Sans’, fighting the dark sans’ to protect the multiverse.

Error watched the two teams form. He even watched them when they were not fighting. Nightmare’s gang got along great in their hideout, they were like family if you ignored the whole conquering the multiverse vendetta. The Star Sans’ were like little kids in their spare time; playing around, laughing, and everything else you expect a child to do in their youth. Over time, he grew to like them, even Ink. He envied them, having people to love and care for while he had no one, and likely never would because of his job. He knew a murderer was not worthy of love.

Or so he thought for now. Soon, Error would find love, in the most unexpected way.

Chapter Text

It was another day in Error’s string house, he watched some AUs while knitting and talking to the voices. Error had not destroyed any AUs in awhile, Nightmare and Ink had taken a break from fighting, so things were quite peaceful in the multiverse.

This pasifist AU is boring. Switch to something else.

This timeline was interesting at first, but now things are dull.

Instead of watching this garbage you should be destroying AUs!

Maybe a neutral timeline will be more exciting?

“Ok, oK, i’lL SwiTcH aUs. gEeZ, yOu tHinK a GuY cAN kNiT iN peACe.” That did not mean the voices were going to be less annoying though. So he switched AUs for them, ending up with an Undertale copy, number 56 if he was not mistaken.

Oooh, the kid started a genocide. Nice.

I can’t tell if it's Frisk in control or Chara.

The amount of dust emanating off their body indicates that they wiped out all residents in the Ruins.

Why are you still being lazy? There are worlds to destroy!

That's more like it!

A genocide so soon? Normally those did not start before a complete pacifist or mostly sparing neutral. And this was a newer AU, was the code messing up? Error checked the code on another portal. Normal, nothing out of place. But there was an off feeling about this one’s coding. Normally codes would feel precise, on point, correct, no different. This coding felt, accepting? Like if he messed with it a bit, it would adapt to the change rather than deny it.

If you don’t like the AU, destroy it.

Destroying this AU seems non-beneficial. The location has room to spare and no AUs are  dangerously close to each other.

Finally, get off your lazy non-existing butt and work!

Actually, this world is only surrounded by other copies. There's not an original AU close to this one. Weird. 

After checking, Error found that the last voice was right. This copy was the farthest from its original. And so were all the other copies around it. He checked the other AU copies coding. They all had that feeling. What was going on? Did Ink make them like this on purpose? Or was there something else going on?

Uh-oh. Welp, so long Papy.

The cinnamon bun too?

That's genocide for you. No mercy.

Error turned back to the portal with Undertale copy 56 showing. The kid was starting their attack on Papyrus. The one that would kill him. Error had watched child after child kill a Papyrus. He was used to it, but this time, something shook him. Error could not, he would not let it happen to THIS one. Then, it happened. A dangerous choice.

What did you do?

Stop, you're not supposed to interfere!

That's a stupid move. You should know your place.

Are you helping him? Your suppose to either watch or destroy, not help!

Once Error regained himself, he saw his strings were holding the kid in place. Stopping them just before the blow hit. The AU’s Sans had come out from hiding, standing next to his brother protectively and also confused.

“BROTHER, WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT ARE THOSE STRINGS?”

“i dunno, bro. they’re new to me.”

Why? Why did he stop them? Why did the thought of this world’s Papyrus dying hurt so much? Questions, ones that he could not find answers for. Maybe he never will.

Um, stop? They are getting suspicious.

This is not your job! Know your place! Destroy the AU before things get worse!

What are you thinking? Messing with worlds is not what you are to do. This role is not yours.

Or maybe, we could have fun with this.

The voices kept talking, but Error did not listen. He focused only on the scene before him. Papyrus, confused and uncertain, staring at the strings holding the human. Sans, calculating and on guard, eyeing the human for any trickery. The kid, paralyzed and surprised, internally struggling to get out, but unable to move. No one can escape Error’s strings once they are caught. Error, confused more than anyone else, decided to play around a bit rather than ask more questions.

“wElP, mAy aS WeLl mAKe tHe bEsT oF THis.” Then he made the kid twirl, jump, dance, and other things. He saw the skeleton brothers look confused at first, but laughed when Error made the human shake their behind and make funny faces. Error made the human bow to the brothers after the little show. Making them clap in applause. Then, Error pulled out the child’s soul. Sans and Papyrus were silent, watching what was happening. The strings brought the red soul to Sans. Offering it without words.

“SANS, WHAT IS IT DOING?”

“i’d say it’s giving us the human’s soul.”

Error made the strings bring the soul up and down gently, to simulate a nod of confirmation.

“that answers that.”

“BUT BROTHER! THE HUMAN CAN CHANGE! I KNOW IT!”

“sorry, bro. but i don’t want to see you die.”

“I KNOW BUT-”

Their arguing ended at the sound of cracking. Error was tightening the strings on the soul, causing cracks to form. They stopped once the skeletons stopped arguing. The strings brought the soul to Sans once again, with more firm movements.

“its got to go, bro.”

Papyrus said nothing more as his brother made a sharp bone attack. Sans locked the bone on target of the human soul. Then shattered it. The strings on the soul left, but the ones on the human’s body gently let go and placed the human down. The blue threads lingered for a moment, then vanished.

“BROTHER? WHAT WERE THOSE?”

“i don’t know bro. i really don’t know.”

Error watched as the brothers stood in silence before the world reset once more.

What were you thinking? Are you trying to be stupid?!

Did you want them knowing you were watching?

This could be bad.

The world reset. So as long as he doesn't do it again, things should be ok.

Again? That's right. The kid reset, so they would likely try again. They would try to kill Papyrus again. And Sans, and the KIDS. They would kill all of the monsters.

“I cAn’t Let tHAt hAPpEn.”

Is he thinking...oh I think he is.

Error, be logical. This is not your role to play.

That's how the AU is supposed to be! And you are supposed to be destroying it!

I know it's unfair. But so is life. You have your job, they have theirs.

“nO.”

What?

“I sAId NO! i’M gOiNG tO pRoTEcT THeM!”

Are you crazy? That’s not your choice to make.

“iT Is NOw. aNd nO oNe iS GOinG tO STop Me.” He was DETERMINED.

Little did Error know, this was the first step of a big plan. And someone was watching it all play out with a smile on their face.

Chapter Text

P.O.V- Sans from Undertale copy 56

Sans was beyond confused. Reset after reset, the strings kept coming back. But not always. Every once in awhile the strings would not come, and that was after dozens to hundreds of resets where they did come. That was not the only freaky thing about them. After so long, people started remembering the strings, after a reset. They could remember the moment the mysterious blue strings appeared to the moment they vanished into thin air. But nothing else from the resets were remembered. Only things involving the strings could be remembered. And that was not making any sense. How come they could remember the strings putting on a puppet show, but not remember a death battle with the human? How could they remember the strings tripping the human, but not how the battle ended? People could remember the parts of the battles where the strings interfered. After that, if they lasted longer it was because they got a deja vu feeling on what to expect from the human. They could see the strings clear as day in their memories of resets, but not anything else.

After so long, monsters started calling it ‘mercy magic’ and others gave them a name. Since ‘Strings Of Mercy’ was a bit of a long name, they made an acronym; SOM. Som became a known thing around the Underground. And people wondered what it was. A monster? A hero? A GOD? They were starting to believe that it was a divine being from the heavens. The strings magic was unlike anything they had ever seen or heard of. In comparison to boss monster magic, it was unrealistically powerful. But everyone believed there was a person behind them. Sometimes the strings would play tricks or pranks, moving things from one place to another confusing people. Sometimes putting things in convenient places for someone to fall face flat into a snowman or sit on a rubber ducky.

But the kids had seen the most of the strings. The blue threads would often take their teddy bears and dolls, then put on a puppet show for them to watch and laugh at. Sometimes helping the kids play a game or reaching for cookie jars when the grown-ups were not looking. Som seemed to have a soft spot for children. Then one day, the strings gave the kids little dolls. The dolls were obviously handmade because each doll was a perfect mini replicate of the child it was given to. Not only that but even after resets, they were still there. On the kid's bed or with their other stuffed animals, never disappearing. Adults wanted to thank Som for their help and kindness. So a group of monsters, as well as Papyrus, came up with an idea, leaving offerings. People would leave food, flowers, or little trinkets in an open area for the strings to take. Overnight, the offerings would be gone, only dishes remained were food once was.

One night, Sans woke up from a nightmare. Feeling restless, he went down to the kitchen for a late-night ketchup break. When he was about to head back, the strings appeared in the kitchen taking Papyrus’ plate of spaghetti and vanishing. Sans sat on the chair slack-jawed until the blue strings appeared again, placing an empty plate and fork right where it was before. He remained there, staring at the dishes with disbelief and confusion until morning.

“BROTHER! WERE YOU UP ALL NIGHT?”

Sans snapped out of his confusion when Papyrus entered the kitchen.

“sorry bro. just had a lot on my mind.”

Papyrus stared at him for a bit before asking;

“YOU KNOW YOU CAN ALWAYS TALK TO ME SANS.”

“i know, i just…… what do you think of the blue strings?”

Another opinion would not hurt. Maybe it could even help.

“WELL, I THINK THEY ARE MERCIFUL AND KIND. SOM HAS SHOWN TO BE A CARING BEING AND A PLAYFUL COMPANION.”

“but, why?”

“NEYH?”

“don’t you find it odd? one day they just show up and be kind out of nowhere. the strings have shown they can easily take out the human, no problem. but the most they do is trip the kid and move our attacks or us! why not just stop the human from the start?!”

Sans was frustrated. Whoever was on the other end of the blue strings was obviously powerful. Why not solve the problem? Why show up at all? What are their intentions? Their stats? No one could check the strings because there was no soul to check. What if they had EXP? Or LV? What if they were actually dangerous?

“BROTHER! THAT'S YOUR PROBLEM. YOU ARE TOO DISTRUSTING. GOM HAS SHOWN WHAT A COMPASSIONATE PERSON THEY ARE. YOU NEED TO STOP SEARCHING AND LOOK AT WHAT IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.”

Sans froze. Papyrus was right, the strings had shown that they were kind. Joking, helping, playing...but,

“the battles though-”

“SANS, LISTEN. IN EVERY BATTLE I HAVE WITH THE HUMAN, I LIVE LONGER THAN THE LAST. BECAUSE GOM TRIPS THEM AND MOVES ME. I HAVE LEARNED THE HUMAN’S ATTACK PATTERN BY HEART. AND KNOW WHAT TO DO IN CERTAIN EVENTS. SANS THE STRINGS ARE NOT JUST HELPING US, THEY ARE TEACHING US.”

Sans thought for a moment and realized that that was what the strings were doing. In each battle, Sans learned what the human did. And when the blue stings moved his attacks differently, he caught the human off guard. He only started winning his battles in judgment hall once he learned he needed to change things up a bit. He needed to be unpredictable. That is what the strings were telling him.

“i never thought of that before. wait, gom? i thought their name was som.”

“WELL, YES! THEIR NAME IS SOM BUT ALSO GOM. SOME OF US ARE STARTING TO BELIEVE THAT THEY MAY ACTUALLY BE A GOD FROM THE HEAVENS LIKE THE MYTHS TELL. SO GOM IS SHORT FOR GOD OF MERCY.”

“what myths?”

“WELL, IN THE LIBRARY, THERE ARE BOOKS THAT TELL OF A TIME LONG AGO. CLOSER TO THE BEGINNING OF TIME, THE GODS CREATED LIFE. THEY MADE THE LANDS AND WATERS, THE SKY AND STARS. AND SOMETIMES THE GODS WOULD TAKE A MONSTER OR HUMAN FORM AND WALK AMONG US. BUT AS TIME DRAGGED ON, PEOPLE STARTED TO RELY ON THE GODS TOO MUCH. THEY STARTED ASKING FOR MORE FROM THE GODS. THE GODS TRIED TO TELL THEM THAT THERE WERE LIMITS TO THEIR POWERS. BUT THE PEOPLE BECAME BLIND TO THEIR GREED, FORCING THE GODS TO LEAVE THE WORLD OF MORTALS, AND REMAIN FOREVER IN THE HEAVENS.”

“but, if that's true, then why would a god help us now?”

“THINK ABOUT IT! TIMES HAVE CHANGED, AND SO HAVE PEOPLE. WHY SHOULD GODS NOT CHANGE AS WELL? I THINK THAT A GOD ANSWERED OUR CALL FOR HELP WHEN THE HUMAN CAME. WE ALL WANTED MERCY, AND MERCY WAS WHAT WE WERE GIVEN.”

Mercy? Sans guessed that was right. Maybe he could trust them. After all, someone completely new went out of their way to help a bunch of monsters trapped under a mountain.

“ya, i guess we were.”

That night, next to Papyrus’ spaghetti, a bottle of ketchup was placed on the table.

P.O.V.- Error form the Anti-void

Error was gathering his nightly ‘offerings’, as the monsters were calling them, to his living room. Placing them on his coffee table he acquired in a surface AU on the other side of the multiverse. At that time he was searching for an AU to destroy for the voices' sake. Most of the time when Error was not helping the monsters in Undertale 56, he was killing another AU. Once he was done destroying he saw an AU’s Sans and Toriel at a garage sale. A coffee table never got sold, so the man left it by a dumpster. It was in great condition, practically shining in the light. The table was black with straight blue and red lines going across it in random directions, some even crossed each other. The legs were a bright yellow that added to the design. Error could not resist and took it once the man had his back turned. It was larger than needed for one person, but with all the offerings he got it was perfect.

They sure like giving you food.

It is a natural need to thank someone once they have helped you.

The kids seem to like leaving candy and cookies a lot. Do they think you're Santa?

They wouldn’t leave this stuff if they knew what you really were. You are still a god of destruction.

“I kNoW. bUt i cAN Be mYseLF tO TheM. thEy GivE mE thIS bEcAUse i’M BeiNG Me.” It felt nice to be given thanks. In that AU, Error could be himself, helping, caring, pulling pranks, and more. He could see those kids smile and laugh and the monsters were happy. Undertale 56 had long been claimed as HIS AU. He loved that AU, it was the only place he could care about people.

“nOw thEN. OnCe tHE mOre EaSiLY sPoiLeD stUFf iS EatEn, I cAn Get BaCK To mY LiTtlE prOJecT.”

In the corner was a black teddy bear about his hight. It had a red vest with blue stitching shown, a yellow bow tied around its neck and its arms and legs were almost complete. The bear’s eyes were blue, same for his nose and mouth, and the inside of its ears. Error was making it a surprise for the kids. He could play with them using the bear as a stand-in.

“tHey’RE gOinG tO Be sO haPpY wHen TheY sEe iT!”

But, watching from far away, was a person approving of the destroyer’s progress. Now the next stage can commence

Chapter Text

Error was playing with the monster children through his bear. Which they choose to call Merci for laughs. The human seemed to want to take a break from killing, so they were staying in the ruins for a while, leaving the monsters to appreciate life as it was. Though, his offerings never stopped coming, even when the human did not leave the ruins. Error got to spend extra time with the kids and the adults could relax. Even Sans had taken a break from being on guard.

“Merci! Merci! You can’t catch me!” A little bunny kid was trying to get away from him.

Right now, Error was playing ‘Merci, catch me’ as the kids had started calling the game. The goal was to run from Error’s bear without getting caught and tackled into a big bear hug. The kids loved the bear he made, and now even the adults were watching as Merci chased the kids as fast as he could on two legs.

“Merci! Merci! Can you catch me?
Merci! Merci! Long time no see!
Merci! Merci! Jump, skip, spin, whee!
Merci! Merci! Now we are free!”

The kids came up with that song shortly after Merci was introduced to them. The parents found the scene adorable and often took pictures during playtime with Merci. Papyrus sometimes joined in too. Sans would watch from the sidelines making puns.

“i can bear-ly take this. but it's un-bear-able to look away.”

The most important thing was how people felt about Error. The last line of the children’s song meant more to the monsters than anything else. The monsters had felt free with Error helping them. It seemed that interaction with the AU caused the world a boost of mortality. People felt more confident of themselves. They were much happier with Error playing as their god. Error gave them hope, gave them mercy.

It was getting late and the children had to go. They all said goodbye to Merci and the adults bided a good night to Gom/Som. Error made Merci wave a paw goodbye and then strung the bear back to his string house.

You gotta admit, those kids are cute.

It's natural for all youth under the age of ten to be considered cute.

I love seeing those cuties every day!

Error had to admit, with the nicer voices, the kids were adorable. Night fell on the underground, or as close to night as they could get. Error grabbed his offerings, ate the stuff that would spoil if not eaten right away, put the longer-lasting foods on the coffee table, and went to knitting again.

He was soon stopped though by an unknown feeling. It felt similar to the feeling in HIS Undertale but different and more desperate. Like a call for help or-

‘MERCY’

Someone was begging for mercy. Someone was in trouble. Someone needed him. Someone close to HIS Undertale.

Don’t you even think about it! You’ve caused enough trouble in the multiverse by helping that copy of Undertale! Being a god of mercy is not your role! You are a destroyer! A murderer!

No matter how loud that voice got Error ignored them. He wanted to help. Just one more person to love and care for. That would be okay. It would not cause that much a difference. Ink and Nightmare still did not know about him or HIS Undertale. One more AU would not hurt.

So Error searched for the call. It was close to HIS Undertale. Underswap copy 92, a close neighbor of HIS Undertale. It was one of the others with that feeling of acceptance. Only in this part of the multiverse, where AUs were farther from their originals, did these copies have that feeling. The AUs were well spaced out from each other, and placed on the edge of the multiverse. No one but Error checked these AUs. Only he knew how different they were.

Error opened a portal to Underswap 92. A genocide timeline and the human was being reckless and merciless as expected. Standing on the path was Sans. Blue bandana and everything, opening his arms in welcome. The human was coming towards him, knife in hand, covered in dust. Once more, Error felt the need to help. He did not want that Sans to die. He would not let that happen. He reacted on impulse. Sending his strings in the portal to act.

Not again.

Will you ever listen to us?!

This is becoming an illogical habit.

Wait, think this through first!

It was too late to stop. His strings were tightly securing the human. Stopping them just before the fatal blow. Sans stood staring at the human's situation confused. Papyrus choose that moment to stand protectively by his brother, orange hoody and stern face, ready for anything.

“PAPY? WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN?"

“i don’t know. but it may be a better idea if we back up.”

They took a few steps back, Error waited until they were still again before moving. First, he made the human let go of the knife, which surprised Papyrus. Then Error made the human do a little ballet performance in front of the skeleton brothers. They watched in confusion until Error made the human do silly faces and wiggle their booty. Which caused them to laugh a little and be less tense. He made the kid take a bow then stand perfectly still.

He brought out the red soul. It was wrapped in his blue strings and carefully guided towards the two skeletons. The kid was fighting tooth and nail inside the body but could not move. Error would not let them.

“BROTHER, ARE THE BLUE STRINGS GIVING US THE HUMAN’S SOUL?”

“seems like it, bro.”

Error made the soul bop up and down like a head nod.

“welp, now we know.”

“BUT, PAPY! THE HUMAN COULD CHANGE! WE COULD HELP THEM!”

“i don’t want to watch you dust again, sans.”

“BUT, WE-”

A cracking sound stopped their arguing. Error was squeezing the soul till little cracks could be seen. Gaining their attention again. He guided the soul to Papyrus with quick and firm movements.

“no need for a second opinion.”

Sans stayed silent, not arguing with his brother or Error. Like HIS Undertale Sans, Papyrus conquered a bone and shattered the soul to a million pieces. The strings on the soul vanished, the ones on the human’s body made the left hand do a thumbs up before placing the human in the snow and disappearing as well.

“PAPY? WHAT WERE THOSE STRINGS ANYWAY?”

“your guess is as good as mine sans.”

The world reset and Error stared at the whiteness of the anti-void, through one of his living room windows, lost in thought. The emotions from before were coming back, the desire to protect them. To care for and love them like HIS Undertale. Maybe this world could be HIS Underswap.

We let the Undertale copy slide, but this is not a game! You can’t mess with the Multiverse like this! It’s not your choice or your role!

You have to either be a god of destruction or mercy. You can’t be both. Who will keep the balance?

As much as you wish for this to continue, it can not. If you spend more time playing mercy god, the balance will tip. You could end up destroying all these AUs because of your actions now.

Those who live double lives often find trouble.

“yOu HaVE a PoiNT. BuT wHo SAid I cOUldn’T dO BotH? iF i KeEp deSTroYINg thEN thINGs wIlL bE OkaY. bESidEs, it’S noT LIke i DOn’T haVE tHe TimE.”

Ink could get curious. Or Nightmare could come looking for you.

What if the other ‘gods’ find out what’s happening to these worlds?

“iNk iS tOo dUMb To fInD oUt. aS fOr NighTmARe, wEll, IF He LAYs sO MuCH AS a FINGeR ON THeM, HE WiLL DIE.”

This could be fun~

You're gonna end up regretting this once things go wrong.

Would he regret this? No. Error would not regret this, no matter how dangerous things may get in the future. He wanted this and he was willing to fight for it if it came to that.

Little did he know, he may just have to one day. Farther down the line, when he would be forced to make a difficult choice. And someone would watch as it all played out.

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Papyrus from Underswap copy 92

After that reset, the blue strings kept coming back. Sometimes helping Sans with battling the human, sometimes helping people, or, heh, sometimes pulling pranks. But even after so many resets, people still remembered them. They could remember moments from the resets, but only the moments with the strings. What are those blue threads of magic? Why did they feel so powerful? And if they were that powerful, why didn’t they just stop the human themselves? What was their motive? Where they dangerous? These questions just kept piling on as time and resets went by.

The strings did seem to have a fondness for the children. If you couldn’t find them anywhere, go to the children. Anyone could see them playing with the little bunnies and monsters. They put on puppet shows with the kiddo’s stuffed animals and dolls. Papyrus had even seen the strings help some kids reach for cookies and sweets when the parents weren’t looking. After some time, the strings brought a surprise for the kids. One day, a big stuffed bear showed up before the kids. It was a bit taller than Sans, black with a red and blue vest and a yellow bow on its neck. It was controlled by the strings and acted as a playmate, often playing little games of chase or hide n’ seek. The kids called the toy Bearci, like 'bear' and 'merci' put together.

The other monsters felt perfectly fine with the strings. Some feeling grateful that they helped with the human. Many wanted to give their gratitude to whoever was controlling the blue strings. Curious about who helped them and showed kindness every reset. Sans had told him not too long ago that people had started leaving thank you gifts overnight for the strings to take, calling them offerings. Muffet had even said she left sweets out and wouldn’t find a crumb in the morning. Now, every night Sans left a plate of tacos on the table and by morning the plate would be empty. Papyrus didn’t know what to feel, surprised that whoever was controlling the strings could even enter houses, or concerned since they ate burned, glitter-filled tacos every night.

After work Papyrus came home, finding Sans in the kitchen making one batch of tacos for dinner and another batch for the strings. Papyrus had spent all day stressing out about the strings, asking questions that no one could answer. He sat on the couch thinking some more. Still unable to understand those blue strings of magic.

“PAPY, ARE YOU ALRIGHT? YOU’RE A BIT DEEP IN THOUGHT, IT’S NOT LIKE YOU.”

Papyrus gazed over to his brother. His face was laced with worry and concern.

“i’m alright bro. just confused is all.”

“WELL TELL ME. MAYBE I CAN HELP.”

Papyrus debated with himself. Should he ask Sans?

“i... i just don’t understand the strings.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

“i mean, why do they help us? what are their motives? why don’t they show themselves?”

Now he really needed a cigarette. But he knew better than to smoke in the house. Especially after that one time when the strings poured Sans’ water bucket over him when Sans was working and Papyrus was sneaking one behind his brother’s back.

“BROTHER, YOU NEED TO BE MORE OPEN MINDED. EVER SINCE GOM APPEARED, THEY HAVE SHOWN NOTHING BUT KINDNESS TO EVERYONE. ACTIONS SOMETIMES SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.”

“i know, but- wait, gom?”

“OH YES! YOU SEE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN CALLING THEM THE GOD OF MERCY, BUT THAT SEEMED LIKE A LONG NAME SO I WENT TO UNDYNE FOR ADVICE ON A SHORTER ONE. SHE TOLD ME ABOUT ACRONYMS AND HOW THE FIRST LETTER OF EACH WORD CAN MAKE A NAME. SO NOW MONSTERS ARE CALLING THE STRINGS GOM!”

“but why ‘god’? you don’t really think a god like in the stories is the one behind the strings, right?”

“OF COURSE THEY ARE A GOD! HAVE YOU NOT SENSED THE MAGIC EMANATING FROM THE STRINGS? IT'S JUST LIKE THE STORIES DESCRIBE THE GODS POWER. A BEING WITH CAPABILITIES UNLIKE ANY OTHER. FILLED WITH UNLIMITED POWER, USED ONLY TO HELP THE PEOPLE.”

“sans that just sounds crazy. a god? a divine being from the heavens? a myth from long before the war?”

“I KNOW IT SOUNDS CRAZY, BUT THE STORIES ALSO TELL OF SOME GODS WHO DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE. THERE WERE STORIES IN THE LIBRARY TELLING OF GODS THAT EVEN DESTROYED THEMSELVES OVER THE FACT THAT THEY COULD NO LONGER STAY. GODS THAT LOVED TOO MUCH, AND ULTIMATELY, DIED BECAUSE OF IT. MAYBE THE GOD HELPING US NOW COULDN’T STAND AND WATCH ANYMORE. MAYBE THEY ARE BREAKING LAWS JUST TO HELP US.”

Papyrus was silent as he thought. It did seem like the strings weren’t supposed to be there. The fact that people started remembering the resets was proof enough. Whatever was happening was not natural. Like monsters surviving longer in genocide was not met to be. And if some outsider was helping, it was obviously messing with reality even more than the kid’s resets. But unlike the human’s powers, the blue strings were helping monsters. Maybe he didn’t really have to judge this, Gom person. What they have been doing so far, told of the kind person they were.

“guess i was just thinking about it too much. you're right, sans. maybe this time i should have a little more faith.”

“THAT’S THE SPIRIT PAPY! NOW COME ON, THE TACOS WILL GET COLD!”

After dinner, a bottle of honey took a place next to a plate of thank you tacos. Waiting for the strings to come and take them away.

P.O.V.- Error from the Anti-void

Error now had twice as much food than before. Which he should have expected when he claimed HIS Underswap. While he did not really need to eat, he still enjoyed the food. Before becoming the god of mercy, he had not even given a thought to eating. Now he had such a wide range of food options that it was hard to pick favorites. The voices found out quickly that Error’s stomach could really pack food in. They often said it was like a bottomless pit.

I’m surprised you haven’t gained any weight.

At least he has a balanced diet with real food and sweets.

Now you're pigging out?! This has gotten out of hand! You need to destroy!

It looks as if the expected chaos is not coming. Perhaps this preposterous idea can be a possible option.

Error returned the last of the dishes to their respective homes. The remaining paper-packaged and plastic-wrapped foods were laid out on his coffee table. The flowers were placed outside his string house in hardened string pots. Error used them as extra decoration till they wilted. The string pots were his signature red with black lines going across them in random directions, imitating black thread loosely wrapping around them. The trinkets were often little ornaments, so he hung his favorites on the ceiling of his room and decorated the ceiling of his living room and the anti-void with the rest. Error was given color to decorate his plain white world with.

Ink still had yet to notice the destroyed worlds or HIS Undertale and Underswap. He and the Star Sans’ had apparently gathered a council of all the original AU’s judges, mostly Sans’ but also others in the original Undertale Sans’ place. They were working on stopping Nightmare and the dark Sans’ from taking over the multiverse. Ink, Dream, and Blueberry were the founders of the resistance, so they were too busy to notice anything Error did.

Ink took on the role as head of the resistance, often being the one everyone turns to for answers and solutions. He took on a more serious persona after, losing a bit of his childish behavior at times but still forgetful most of the time.

Dream was second in command but also a peacekeeper due to his ability to keep negative emotions at bay. It helped when an argument broke out during meetings, especially when the idea makers could not decide on the best course of action.

Blueberry was like a mascot and a positive reinforcer. He always helped the others to see what was important, doing the best they could to keep everyone safe, helping them to work together.

Error’s lack of continuous destroying just helped keep them away. And the resistances’ primary focus was on original AUs, copies were more of an emergency back-up, and the older copies were the first to go to. Error’s AUs were newer and farther away, so no one gave a glance at them. Which is how he liked it.

Nightmare, on the other hand, was getting annoyed with Ink and his resistance. He and his fellow dark Sans’ trained hours on end, Horror even got his brother, who took the nick-name Blood, involved with the situation. Nightmare had recruited Fresh, who seemed a bit normal to Error, but he learned of his origins and understood why Nightmare took him in. The gang became more like family over time.

Horror and Blood were not starving, having plenty of food in the hideout, they even learned how to cook new foods and were the chefs of the house.

Dust and Killer were like twin brothers, they were inseparable most of the time. The two of them even learned how to widdle and carve together, sharing their love for their chosen weapons.

Cross was more like the child of the group. He was energetic and playful, even in training, smiling all the time and appreciating his new home. Which was understandable, his whole world was empty thanks to certain events, leaving him as the last survivor and an orphan.

Fresh was a freak cross between an 80’s teen and a scolding mother. He was calm and laid back, often telling the others to do the same. Fresh was chill about everything if an argument broke out between members he would be there to settle things calmly, addressing the matter and solving it. He also had a ‘no cursing’ rule that he kept to, spending most of his time correcting the gang's language.

Nightmare had grown to love his gang, sure he still had a desire to control the entire multiverse, but he was caring and considerate of his group. It had been such a slow change that Nightmare had not even noticed until recently. And he had no problems with it, he was happy with the way things were.

With both sides distracted with one thing or another, neither side bothered to check the edge of the multiverse. The battles were mostly in the center, where the AUs originals and older copies lived. Error knew he had nothing to worry about as he eyed Underfell copy 66.

Going to help them next?

“yEaH, bUt i HavE t O fiNisH tHe UNDerSWap kiDdo’S doLLs fIRsT. ThEn i CaN heLP tHeM, cARe fOR tHEm.”

Underfell 66 had been in genocide for too long, and Error was going to fix that.

Chapter Text

Error had made a blue bag with a black string design making the bag look like it was loosely wrapped in thread. He put all HIS Underswap children’s dolls into it and made his stand-in bear take them to the kids. He smiled a mile a minute seeing them hug and play with their gifts. Each doll was made to look like the monster child it was given to. Error worked hard on them for days to get them just right. The adults watched from the sidelines, smiling at their kid’s happiness. Error made Bearic play with the children until it was time for them to go home, making it wave goodbye and bringing it back. Now was the moment he was waiting for.

Underfell might not accept you as well as Undertale and Underswap have. It’s a naturally violent AU and it's in genocide.

Stop this now! This is not your job! Killing them is! Stop helping those monsters and get back to your real job!

Are you sure you want to do this? The AU hasn’t asked for help, it's just miserable.

“wHetHEr thEY aSk fOr hELp oR nOT, tHEy nEEd iT. eVEn IF tHeY KilL mORe tHaN nORmAL AuS, eVEn TheY DesERvE MErCY.”

Spoken like a true God of Mercy~

“gOTta LivE uP To ThE NAme, dOn’T I?”

Error took a deep breath, then opened a portal to Underfell copy 66. Like HIS AUs, this one’s coding was accepting to Error’s changes. He wanted to protect it, protect them. This was his choice and no one could change it.

An Underfell AU was supposed to go through a pacifist timeline before ever entering a genocide. This copy never finished its perfect timeline, a horrible thing to happen to an already suffering world. Error wanted to give those monsters better, give the KIDS better, they deserved better.

The portal showed the human entering their battle with Papyrus. The captain of the royal guard was going through his speech, about how the monsters would all be free once he took the human’s soul when the kid readied their knife and started attacking before Papyrus could even finish. Papyrus dodged, shouting at the human for their ‘impatience’ to fight, but the kid did not hold back. They were aiming to kill without mercy, fighting like a soulless demon. It made Error mad, seeing the human fighting monsters that had already been through hell. He acted, as a god of mercy, sending his strings to immobilize the human before the final blow.

Papyrus had gotten worn out from the battle, he was catching his breath while staring at the blue strings with confusion. Then he circled his head, searching, looking for the source but he was not able to see Error’s portal. Sans came shortly after, standing alongside his brother, weary of the strings and also searching for the person behind them. Once the taller brother regained his composure he called for the one interfering with his battle.

“I DO NOT KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BUT YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO SHOW YOURSELF BEFORE I FIND YOU! NO ONE INTERFERES WITH THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS’ BATTLES!”

“ya really don’ wanna have us go looking for ya. you’ll be in for a really bad time.”

Error choose then to make his move. First, the human released their knife, letting it fall in the dust-covered snow. The skeletons were tense, back on guard, preparing for an attack. However none came, instead, the strings focused on the human’s hands bringing them up for the brothers to see clearly. Error had been watching many Underfell AUs, he knew better than to not respond to the captain’s commands. So he chose to communicate with the skeleton brothers, for the first time. He made his human puppet gently sign to the brothers;

‘You have nothing to fear now. I am here.’

The brothers stared at the human confused. They clearly knew how to read sign language, but did not understand the meaning of the words.

“that isn’t making any sense, buddy. and we asked ya ta show yourself, not play puppet.”

Oh, how Error wanted to. He knew how to make window portals, but he never was able to figure out how to make a doorway to another world. He had tried before but was never successful.

‘I would if I could, but I can not. The best I can do is send my strings. But this will be enough. Things will change, for you and your people, as they have for others.’

“YOU ARE NOT MAKING A LICK OF SENSE! WHO ARE YOU? WHERE DO YOU COME FROM? WHAT OTHERS?!”

‘Those are questions for another day. All you need to know now is that these are my Strings of Mercy. And I am Gom, the God of Mercy. Your world will be under my protection now. Your suffering will end soon. MERCY will be given to you.’

Before either of them could respond, the strings grabbed the human soul and brought it before the skeletons. They looked surprised and confused as Error signed to them again.

‘Shatter it. All will make sense after. All will change.’

Sans eye sockets went black and his expression blank as he said, “look, uh, ‘god of mercy’, don’ know if ya knew but-”

Error was quick to cut him off, signing with firm and knowing movements, ‘Believe me, I know of the resets, Sans. And I PROMISE you, from here on, things will change.’

Sans’ expression changed a lot; surprised because Error knew his name, amazed that he knew of the kid’s ability, and hopeful that what he said was true.

The blue strings of magic guided the determined soul closer to Sans.

‘Shatter it, not for the last time, but for the beginning of your future to come.’

Sans hesitated, unsure if he should take Error’s word for it. Papyrus stood silent, confused about the situation, but had a hopeful look on his face. Then, it happened, Sans make a razor-sharp bone attack, aimed it at the soul with a determined look in his eye, and destroyed the kid’s soul.

The strings that held the soul immediately disappeared, but the human puppet signed, ‘You will see my strings again, Sans and Papyrus.’ before releasing the body, setting it in the snow, then leaving the AU.

“SANS, TWO THINGS. ONE, IS THERE SOMETHING I NEED TO KNOW? TWO, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO THAT WAS?”

“sorry boss. but those strings were new ta me too. and, i guess there is a bit ta tell, later though.”

Papyrus was not able to say anything about his brother’s response because then the timeline reset. Error went out to the edge of the ‘floor’ that was ten feet from his string house. He sat on the edge, letting his legs swing back and forth as he stared out into the anti-void, a portal to Underfell 66 by his side watching the human’s moves. Error let what he just did sink in, he had communicated to a Sans and Papyrus. He had actually spoken to them, told them of his given name, and promised them a better future.

Can you even keep that promise?

Now he’s talking to them! This can’t go on! This isn’t how things are supposed to be!

Wow, they took that better than expected.

Very clever, how you used the one thing a Sans takes seriously to gain the first step towards his trust.

Now you can add Underfell to your list~

“I dOn’t cARe If thINgS aRE suPPOseD tO Be DIfFeREnt. i dON’t eVEn CAre aBOUt wHAt iT tAKeS To mAKe ThEM HapPy. As ThEIr GoD Of mERCy, i wILL dO wHATevER It tAKes tO KEeP THEm sAFe.”

You’re really taking that mercy stuff pretty seriously. It’s a bit strange that you're also a god of destruction too. Your given job and your chosen role are completely different from each other. How long can you keep this double lifestyle up?

“As LOng aS i LIve.”

Woah! Don’t overestimate yourself. Even you have limits, immortal or not.

You may be a god, but you're talking about forever here. Even you can’t keep this up for that long.

Secrets never stay secret forever.

“mAybe, bUT i caN tRy. beSIdeS I nEVer dO anYTHinG thAT atTRacTS thE PEopLE frOM OUtsiDE.”

No, but the people like Ink, Nightmare, and Dream could be attracted to those worlds.

If something is different, Ink always checks it out.

“iF aNY Of ThEm cOMe, i’LL coME uP wITH SOmeTHinG. UNtil tHEn, thEY dON’t KNoW.”

Far away though, someone smiled with approval to Error’s success. Now they just have to be patient for the right moment to come.

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Sans from Underfell copy 66

What had it been now, over fifty resets? Ever since the supposed ‘god of mercy’ helped save the boss that day they just kept coming back. They did keep their promise that things would be different, but that’s what was so frustrating about them. Things were different in the next reset but not as he expected. The first clue was the fact that when he woke up the reset after ‘Gom’s’ appearance, the boss remembered what happened.

Papyrus literally came crashing down his door early in the morning demanding to know about resets. If that didn’t send off red flags then the fact that Papyrus forgot everything, after the strings left, did. The only part of the reset his bro remembered was from the moment the blue strings showed up to the second they vanished. Once Pap was informed, the day went by as normal just like all the other resets. However, that's when things changed. At every battle the kid fought, the strings showed up. But unlike how the first time went, the strings only moved monster’s attacks, the monsters themselves, or trip the human. They never went after the human directly again.

Top it all off, once the kid died and reset after THAT, every monster remembered resets. And just like his little brother, they only remembered the parts with the strings. That kept going on, until everyone, even the king, knew about them. Papyrus had informed the royal guard of his first encounter with them, explaining that whoever controls the blue strings claimed to be a god of mercy. At first, everyone laughed, after all, why would a god help them? But after King Asgore got help from the strings, the next reset after, he called everyone for an important announcement.

At the time, about twenty resets had occurred, the kiddo only ever made it to the king about five of those resets. The announcement surprised everyone, because dangling from the ceiling of the Underground, directly over the king’s stand, was the blue strings. His speech was actually what really shocked everyone.

“My people, I stand before you today, as you king and leader. However, today I also stand below a being far more powerful than even I. I too have heard the rumors that a god has come to us. Helping against a human incapable of dying. At first, I did not believe a word, now I have come to tell you all that every word is true. Five times these powerful Strings of Mercy have helped me. They have helped teach me what it is I must do should the human stand before me. If the human comes, I will often feel I know the human’s attacks by heart, that I know what to expect and avoid. Now I know that I can not be so predictable, that I must catch them off their guard, take them by surprise. As a child, I was often told the tall tales of beings from long ago. Long before even the war between humans and monsters. Tales of beings with so much power, but also many limitations. Rules and laws that governed their capabilities, stopping them from ever doing more than what was allowed. The stories ended with humans and monsters alike relying on these sacred beings too much. Becoming greedy, begging for them for more of their power, never listening to the gods’ words. The gods were forced to leave the mortal world, leaving monster and human alike to rely on themselves. The legends say that the gods still watch over us, even from the heavens. I believe, that this being who controls the blue strings really is a God of Mercy. One who has crossed great lengths to help us in our time of need. Gom, the controller of the Strings of Mercy, will be our god. They have promised to protect us and watch over us until the end of their days. Now, even one such as I can be granted mercy from the greatest source. From this day forth, all in our kingdom will be given Mercy!”

The crowd went into a roar after that. Some were crying with relief, others were openly showing affection to their friends and loved ones, the rest were cheering at the top of their lungs. Everyone remembered every word of that speech. Reset after reset, they remembered. Things lightened up after that. Well, a bit. Ya can’t go from kill or be killed to ‘you don’t have to kill’ overnight, much less after one reset. The people had gotten used to openly showing affection to others after another ten or so resets. People did still have anger issues, but hey, doesn’t everybody got them? The worst of the remaining killing mostly came from people with grudges. The royal guard handled that fine though. Things were really looking better.

But despite all that, the resets were still happening. Sometimes people died, sometimes the human died. At this point, it had become a natural part of life in the Underground. While it was nice to not be the only monster in the Underground to remember resets, something was still bothering Sans.

Why? Why did the god of mercy come to them? Why show mercy on a civilization of monsters with a reputation for killing? Sans had looked in every book in the library about gods. Searching for some small clue on why this god would help. He even called Alphys and asked to look in the royal archives. She had calmed down a lot since Gom had helped. Last he heard she and Undyne were actually together, in public, not hiding that they liked each other. But even in the oldest books and records, not a thing could be found on why a god would help. Sans had often pulled all-nighters and drank himself to sleep over the stress he was putting on himself. Wasn’t long before Papyrus finally said something.

“SANS, WAKE UP!”

“wha? where am i?”

“YOU’RE HOME. YOU GOT BLACKOUT DRUNK ON MUSTARD AGAIN!”

“whoops. sorry, bro- i mean boss.”

“SANS, LISTEN. I KNOW IN THE PAST I TOLD YOU TO CALL ME THAT. BUT NOW THAT THINGS ARE BETTER, YOU CAN CALL ME BROTHER AGAIN.”

“i know… bro. it's just taking some getting used to.”

“I THINK IT’S TAKING SOME GETTING USED TO FOR EVERYONE. EVEN UNDYNE SEEMS TO HAVE TROUBLE GETTING OVER CALLING ME CAPTAIN OFF DUTY. BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT I REALLY NEED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT.”

“so, what is it, bro?”

“THESE ALL-NIGHTERS! YOU HAVE BEEN GETTING LITTLE SLEEP AND DRINKING YOURSELF LIKE CRAZY! WHAT IS ALL OF THIS EVEN FOR? IT’S JUST GETTING OUT OF HAND!”

“look papyrus. i’ve just had a lot on my mind, ok? it’s nothing important you need to worry about.”

“......IS IT ABOUT GOM?”

Sans froze, his expression blank. How did Papyrus know that?

“I’M NOT BLIND SANS. I CAN SEE THE LOOK OF UNCERTAINTY ON YOUR FACE EVERY TIME THEY’RE MENTIONED. WHY ARE YOU SO DISTRUSTING OF THEM, BROTHER?”

“... because i just don’ get it. the underground is filled wit’ monsters, that dust each other on a daily schedule, an’ one day a god decides to show mercy!? on us?! murderers?”

“PERHAPS ITS TIME TO STOP QUESTIONING A MIRACLE. FOR YEARS, EVER SINCE THE KING’S DESITION TO KILL OR BE KILLED, PEOPLE HAVE BEGGED FOR MERCY TO BE GIVEN AGAIN. NOW, AT OUR MOST NEEDED TIME, IT HAS COME. INSTEAD OF ASKING WHY WE SHOULD ACCEPT THE GIFT THAT IS GIVEN.”

Sans thought it over. Maybe this was something he should just accept. ‘Never look a gift horse in the mouth’ as they say. And maybe, he didn’t have to judge, just this one time.

“BESIDES, A BEING WHO SPENDS HOURS ON END PLAYING WITH CHILDREN CAN’T BE ALL BAD.”

Wait, what?

“what do ya mean by playing with kids?”

“YOU HAVEN’T HEARD? THE STRINGS HAVE BEEN SHOWING UP MOST FREQUENTLY AROUND THE CHILDREN. THEY SEEM TO HAVE A WEAKNESS FOR YOUNG MONSTERS. COME! I’LL SHOW YOU.”

Sans followed his brother to Snowdin. Some monsters waved or said hello to them, but greetings were still new to the Underground. They eventually got to an open area where kids were running around laughing. They all stopped though when blue strings fell from nowhere holding a big black bear with a bow and vest. The thing was a bit taller than Sans and carrying a blue and black bag that looked petty stuffed. The kids were cautious at first, never expecting that to happen, then the bear waved at them. The kids got closer slowly, their parents were eyeing the large stuffed toy, watching for anything dangerous. The strings opened the bag and pulled out a doll, handing it to the closest kid, a little bunny girl. She was curious and looked at the toy for a moment, before smiling like crazy and taking it from the threads holding it.

Sans focused on the toy the bunny was holding and saw that it was a perfect replicate of the girl. Ears, dress, bow, and even the cottontail was just like the real child. The larger toy was passing out more dolls to the kids that got closer. They all got little mini versions of themselves and were literally jumping with joy. The adults were smiling at their kid's happiness, some even had tears in their eyes from the heart-melting moment. Sans was sure even he had a tear falling down his skull. A god was giving little kids gifts, the gifts were obviously hand-made and much effort had to be put in them to look that perfect.

“THAT WAS CERTAINLY NEW.”

“...ya know bro. i think i will stop asking why. this is too good to question.”

Papyrus nodded in agreement to him. They and other monsters stood by and watched as the strings made the bear play with the kids and the kids played with their new gifts.

Later on, mustard was left on the kitchen counter, beside an offering of lasagna. The brothers wanted to try it out for the heck of it. But by morning, the dishes were empty.

P.O.V.- Error from the anti-void

That took a lot of time, but it seems to have paid off.

Now they really trust you~

I’m surprised at the change. Mercy seems to have made that world a better place.

That’s not how things are supposed to be! You’re changing too much! Stop doing this!

Which one is next? You are planning on taking another, right?

“oF cOUrSe. I caN’T sTOp NoW, tHEre ARe tHReE mOrE lEFt.”

Error stood outside his string house, in front of him were three portals; Outertale copy 70, Swapfell copy 99, and Dancetale copy 50. They were all in genocide far earlier than normal, and they all had codes of acceptance. And soon, they would be HIS.

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Ink from the Doodle sphere

Within a meeting room, hidden in the doodle sphere, loud shouts could be heard echoing through the halls. The room was filled with the council of the multiverse, for a meeting and update on current events.

“Order! Everyone, order!” The protector shouted to the top of his non-existing lungs, trying to gain their attention. To no avail of course, after all, judges hardly ever listen to anyone. How they all started fighting after JUST getting here was beyond Ink. Maybe he should just go back to working solo.

“QUIET, YOU NUMBSKULLS!”

“...............” That shut them up.

“Thank you for your attention. If you all would like, the meeting can commence.”

All the judges, from Sans’, Papyrus’ to even Charas, sat at their chosen seats not saying another word.

“First, I’d like to start with an update on the multiverse’s current condition. Dream, if you would.”

“Thank you, Ink. As most of you know, the majority of AUs are in pacifist or neutral timelines, more in the former than the latter. Nightmare has corrupted ten more AUs since the last meeting and three more have fallen due to over negativity. Our last plan to capture Nightmare failed, leaving Underkeep 12 to become corrupted and all residence inside it.”

The original Underkeep Sans, Jester, had his head down looking grim. He held his cane with a vice grip.

“Their loss and sacrifice will be remembered, as we continue to stop Nightmare from further reaching his goals. At our current rate, Nightmare could corrupt a dozen more AUs within the next two months. Positivity and morale are waning, thousands are dying, and there is little time between missions to make more AUs. Nightmare has to either be captured or slowed down enough to regain our footing in this war. We need plans, suggestions, and possibly more people. Many of your brothers have offered to help and some could be great assets in this battle. I ask that you think of this before making an immediate choice.”

Many had their heads down with dark expressions, some had sweat going down their heads in worry, and the rest looked in thought of the idea.

“Other than that, the multiverse is in stable enough condition for our work. Back to you Ink.”

“Thank you for that, Dream. Now then, we do have some ideas left over from the last planning session, but if anyone has more, please inform the rest of the council. Before that, I’d like to go through the top three plans from last time. First, we have Sci and G’s plan to make a multiversal barrier or wall to keep Nightmare from entering original AUs. Anything either of you wants to add to it?”

The original Science Sans raised his hand. “Take it away Sci.”

“i’ve done more research on the required magic needed to make it running, my calculations have decreased the amount by 21%. though, if any others would like to help, we could bring the amount even lower. as far as the plan itself, we could add a magical magnetic connection between separate AU barriers and link them together, making a wall-like structure cutting off portions of the multiverse. there have been smaller tests made in my world that have been functioning well, i believe it can be possible on a larger scale with few problems.”

Ink nodded to Sci once he finished then turned to G, who was smoking a cigarette, and gave a questioning look. G simply shook his head, indicating he had nothing to say. Ink then went on.

“The second plan belonged to Outer, a plan to catch Nightmare and his gang in a location with no gravity. Any chance you’ve solved the problem with us not being affected?”

The original Outertale Sans, Outer, shook his head.

“i’ve even talked to alph’ about it. we just can’t seem to find any other solution other than all of us wearing jet packs, which frankly requires training and time that we don’t have.”

“Ok, we’ll leave it to the side then. The last plan was made up from Red, Death, Mutt, and Geno. Cornering Nightmare and the dark sans’ in the save screen area, wear them down, WITHOUT killing them, and then capturing them. Anything you guys want to add? Besides killing?”

Red, from the original Underfell, shrugged his shoulders. Mutt, the original Swapfell Papyrus, copied Red. Geno, from the original Aftertale, shook his head no. Death, from the original Reapertale, was floating in a far corner of the room. He never talked much and stayed away from the others because of his ability to kill people with a touch. He too said nothing.

“Alright then. Are there any ideas that anyone has come up with?”

No one responded to Ink, which he personally preferred. The last thing they needed in this meeting was another argument.

“Well, that just leaves the last thing to deal with. More help. Does anyone have preferences on who we ask for?”

“not our bros, that’s for sure.” Of course, leave it to the original Undertale Sans, Comic, to say that now.

“I second that.” And Chara, from the original Storyshift, just had to agree with him!

“I understand your hesitance to ask them for assistance, but, if you were in their positions you know you would do what you could to help. We may not even need them for battle, we just need ideas and hard workers. Because right now, a snail has more energy to get from one place to another than this whole room has to capture a group of murderous skeletons.”

They all remained silent at that. What could they say? That he was wrong?

“if we’re talking about recruitin’ brahs than why not ask all the au copy’s brahs for help, brah?”

Brah, from the original Epictale, which he insisted everyone call him, had a point but there was a problem.

“If we asked every Sans from every AU to help us, we would only get more confused with names and there is the matter of getting everyone back to the right AU. Unless you have already forgotten what happened the last time we brought more than one AU’s copy of Sans in this room alone.”

How could anyone forget the confusion of having four of the same skeletons, who looked exactly alike, having to jump through portals and back again just to find their AU’s?

“we don’t need every au, just someone with more energy than us. we’ve all been through hell and back with the resets from our worlds. maybe instead we should ask for an au that still has HoPe. one that has yet to deal with demons.”

Many of the others nodded or hummed in agreement with Stretch from the original Underswap.

“Huh, I never thought of that. But, if we ask a newer AU they’re likely to ask us questions about what will happen in their ‘future’.”

All newer AUs were in the early stages. They still had to go through neutral and genocide after their pacifist is reset. Judges from those early stages would ask what would happen with the human. That would crush their souls far too early, possibly making them give up before even trying to stop the human.

“then we tell them.”

Everyone froze and turned to Save, the original Flowerfell Sans. It surprised everyone that he even spoke. He spoke more than Death but that was like how three is more than two.

“we’ll tell them what happens. we’ll tell them of the genocide, but also what comes after. we’ll tell them that if they can survive that hell, they will find a life better than anything they could imagine.”

Save held his necklace tightly, knowing what he said was true. Out of every fell version of Sans, Save knew what it was like to walk through hell to reach heaven. He had lost the one person that loved him to find a better life, to get out of the Underground. Save may not be the strongest Sans in the room, but he sure was one of the wisest.

“He’s right.”

Everyone turned to the tallest Sans, Soul. Soul was from the original ‘The Thought’ AU. It was an interesting turn of events that lead a timeline, from the original Undertale AU, to make itself an AU. Like how Geno got stuck in the save screen by getting more determination, Soul got stuck in a void closest to the code of his AU by absorbing the seven souls.

“If we were in their place we’d want to know too. Not just learn about the bad times but also the good that came from it. And since they have more HoPe than we do, they will probably last longer in their timelines after they know that genocide eventually ends.”

The room went into a mumbling moment, talking in small voices to those close to them, before turning silent. They were smart enough to know he was right.

Ink took a deep breath to break the silence.

“Okay, Dream and I will look into newer AUs for help.”

“OH-OH, CAN I HELP TOO? IF YOU NEED HELP MAKING ALLIES IN BATTLE, I’M YOUR SKELETON!!”

Ink couldn’t help laughing, Blueberry, from the original Underswap, was always ready to help in even the smallest ways.

“Alright Blueberry, you can come. We might need you if they can’t trust us.”

“MWEH HEH HEH!”

Stretch smiled from where he was sitting, that was a clear signal to Ink that it was OK. Now they just needed to find the right AUs.

In an unknown space though, someone’s silver silk gloves gently brushed magical paper books. Someone knew what Ink was planning, and they could not be more excited.

Chapter Text

Error was getting ready. He needed to do this. He just had to.

Do you really have to wear that every time you go?

By wearing that, he respects those he had to kill. For Error, it is like dressing formally for a funeral.

The style does seem to add to the weight of the visit.

You shouldn’t even respect them! You're supposed to not feel anything for them!

He ignored them as he prepared. Error was wearing his black robe, the string design making it look like he was wrapped in his own strings. He put the hood over his head, steeling himself before going. Error had always dressed like this when he entered the tapestry hall.

Error went to the back of his string house. At the edge of the floor was a long blue stairway, Error made a new stair for every AU he destroyed, it grew higher each time and Error always climbed every step. He never dared to use his strings to pull him up to the hall, he felt he had to go to the hall on his own two legs, as punishment for the lives he took. After the long and nerve-wracking trend up, he made it to the second floor. Error had long ago made a narrow level just for tapestry hall, it was a pitch black floor that stood out in the surrounding colors of the hall. White could barely be seen in tapestry hall despite being so high up. Error’s strings had overlapped in layers, only speckles of white could be seen through them behind the tapestries. The hall was dark without the glowing white of the anti-void, but it had its own source of light that added to the guilt Error had for destroying the AUs.

The hall was more like two rows of tapestries that hung from the blue strings higher up in the anti-void. Each tapestry was designed to show the moment he destroyed a world. In a small way, they were the last evidence that the AU ever existed. At the bottom of each tapestry was the AU’s name and the copy number. Each showed the moment in the timeline when Error destroyed them. The background would have one of the locations; ruins, snowdin, waterfall, hotland, the capital, judgment hall, or the throne room.

The determined human was placed in the center, if the timeline was pacifist they would have a stick in their hand, if it was neutral they would have a clean knife, and if it was genocide they would have a dusty knife. Their red soul would be in front of them, wrapped in Error’s blue strings. Surrounding the bottom and up the edges would be the black shadows of the monsters Error killed, in front of them, their souls were shattered by the blue threads. Those shadows in the tapestries always looked lifeless, like they could not feel pain as Error killed them, which is what Error made sure of. In some tapestries, there was a monster in front of the human; Asgore in the throne room, Toriel in front of the ruins door, Sans in the judgment hall, Undyne in waterfall, or Papyrus in snowdin.

On the top of each tapestry was a replicate of Error, standing emotionless over the scene. Tears came from his eyes, becoming the strings that wrapped around his fingers, used to shatter the souls, and connected to the weaving in the border of the tapestry. The borders were his signature blue color.

If the AU had collected human souls, Error had destroyed them. However, they had an odd effect on some of his strings. The strings Error used to shatter the colored souls changed to the color of the soul they shattered. Even after the AU was gone, they glowed in the color of the souls. Error collected the strings and made them into lamps like he had seen some humans do for decoration. These lamps needed no light source, for they glowed brightly in their sphere shape. Error placed three soul lamps on each side of their respective tapestry, their burning glow reminding him if his own sins. The red human souls were not shattered. Error did not want to continually kill the monsters, so he captured the human soul and stored them before killing the rest of the Underground. After the AU fell Error secured the determined souls in string lamps, placing them above the tapestry of their AU. The souls and lamps lit the hall, they were reminders for Error of how close the AUs were to their freedom.

Error walked down tapestry hall slowly, letting his sins crawl on his soul as he walked past each woven masterpiece. He let the guilt add on as he glanced at each scene, looked at each colored glow, and relived each moment written in those two long rows of memories. Error believed he deserved to go through this, this was his everlasting punishment for his actions. This was how he judged himself, as a murderer who will live through the consequences of his actions, every time he comes here. If Error was a normal monster, the weight of this would have killed him. But Error was a god and he was capable of surviving through this endless torture.

Even the cruelest voices remained silent as Error walked. Adding anything more to hurt him just seemed wrong, even they knew to stop in this scene.

The god of destruction eventually got to the end, where the first and largest tapestry was hung. It was the Swapfell copy he destroyed, the first AU he ever used his powers on. After Error had cried that day, he spent hours making this tapestry, learned which copy it was and weaved every drop of guilt he had into it. It was the only tapestry with Error hunched over and covering his face as tears flooded from his hands. It was the only tapestry with children’s shadows and little monster souls. This one was the only tapestry that showed Error’s guilt and sadness for his actions, the disliking of his position so much that it made him grieve. This tapestry was easily twice to three times the size of the others, it symbolized the real beginning of Error, the god of destruction.

Error fell to his knees before the Swapfell tapestry, his first murder, as tears came down his skull. The tears became strings and were lifted above the tapestries, blocking out more white and darkening the hall, adding to the others that hung above him making a ceiling of blue. He recited the words he always said when he entered his hall of sins;

“fOReVEr aM i GUily FoR tHEse LiveS I hAve tAkEn. alWAyS i WiLL reMEmBEr tHe PAin i HAvE cAUseD. etERnEllY tHeSE SiNS wILL hAUnt Me, HUrt mE, aND toRMeNt ME.”

Error repeated those words a hundred and sixty-five times. The same as the number of tapestries that hung in the hall. He remained there for hours before getting up to walk down the hall again. Error willingly let the pain continue until he descended to the bottom of the stairs.

Only when Error touched the first floor did he let down his hood, taking a deep breath as the lingering pain washed over him.

Must you always hurt yourself like this? This seems too much, even for your actions.

While it is necessary for murderers to be punished, this torture is not needed.

Error returned to his room and took off his robe, under it were his sweatpants with yellow lines going down the sides and his red turtleneck. He neatly folded the robe, put it away, and reached for his black trench coat with blue stitching.

“thIS iS whAt i deSerVe. SoMeoNe liKe mE dOes noT Get tO atoNe foR thEIr sInS.”

Why did you go anyway? You only do that after you finish another tapestry.

“iT feLt likE SomEtHINg i haD tO Do. befORE i stARt.”

So Swapfell is next. And you feel you have to make up to them for destroying a copy of their world so carelessly.

“...YeAh.”

Error had never forgiven himself for that. He did not take what he was capable of seriously back then. He had hurt so many monsters, monsters that already had a hard enough life.

“I wON’t fAiL tHEm tHIS TimE. tHEy dESeRve fAr bETeR.”

The God of Mercy walked out of his house, past his beanbag and coffee table full of sweets and packaged foods, pushing the blue and yellow curtain door between two windows closed black curtains with red lines crossing them out of the way, passing his pots full of flowers. He gazed at the ornaments and trinkets that hung on his strings, most were hand-made by HIS AU’s residences. Error stopped close to the edge of the floor, a foot from the new railing.

A while ago Error had added a rope railing for ‘charm’ as some people say. Every four feet there was a black three-foot tall pole, connecting them was a thick yellow rope looping around the tops of the poles tightly. Error thought that the rail put a little more color in his plain white world.

He took a deep breath before opening a portal to Swapfell 99. The sight was as gruesome as he had expected. The human was covered from head to toe with monster dust, their knife was equally as covered and there, standing in their way, was Sans.

Error looked at the scene DETERMINED. He would not fail this AU. He would protect this AU.

He would make it HIS.

Error would become their GOD. Their God of Mercy.

He was now prepared for this. And no matter what, he will succeed.

He was GOM, the God Of Mercy.

Swapfell copy 99 will be given all his Mercy.

Nothing could stop him now.

Chapter Text

Error looked into his portal to Swapfell 99. The human had just reached Sans, they were covered in so much dust that he wondered if they bathed in their victims. Sans was standing before the kid, blocking them from continuing.

The small skeleton had flames coming from his eye sockets, matching the mauve purple coloring of his tattered bandana, gloves, and boots. His eye lights were spheres of his signature purple color and they had a guarantying look of death in them. Sans started his speech, claiming that the human would not be able to continue, telling of how he would be phrased for killing the human, and the war that would follow once the monsters were free. The determined soul paid no attention to Sans, readying themselves to attack. Close to the end of Sans’ speech, they charged with a demonic smile on their face.

Sans dogged and screamed at the human for their lack of attention. He battled them skillfully, however, the child had had more experience with battling the other. They moved from the bones with ease, getting closer to the skeleton and tiring him out.

Error could see Papyrus among the trees, his back turned from the scene. As if he had given up on trying. He could see the older brother flinch at every sound but slouch lower as if slowly breaking from the weight of the situation behind him. Even in the shadows of the trees, Error could still make out his vermillion orange turtleneck popping out of his black fur hooded jacket. He could see the smoke coming from a lit cigarette in the skeleton’s jaws. Every part of Papyrus told how much the resets had done to him. Genocide in a world of living hell was lower than satanic.

Error looked back to the battle, Sans had gotten exhausted while the kid was still battle ready. The captain of the royal guard stopped for a moment to regain his composure, however, this was the moment the human was waiting for. Not wasting a second, they charged at the black and purple monster, their red eyes glowed like the devil promising no mercy. Error acted, immediately sending his strings to stop the final blow.

And so it begins.

This is beyond barbaric! This is not meant to be! This is not what you were made for!

Now for Swapfell to join~

The human was frozen in their position, they stood in front of Sans, knife inches from hitting him. Confused, Sans observed the human’s situation, realizing what had almost happened. A surprised sound escaped him, making Papyrus curious and turn around. Seeing his brother’s position he immediately teleported to him, grabbed Sans’ shoulder, and teleported again a few more feet away from the string wrapped child. Once Sans was farther from the human, he searched his surroundings, seeking the controller of the strings. Papyrus did the same, but just like everyone else, he and Sans could not see the portal.

“WHOEVER IS THERE, SHOW YOURSELF! IT IS POINTLESS TO HIDE FROM THE MALEVOLENT SANS, CAPTAIN OF THE ROYAL GUARD, FOR LONG! YOU HAVE INTERFERED WITH AN IMPORTANT BATTLE, ADRESS YOUR PURPOSE AND YOUR PUNISHMENT WILL BE LESS PAINFULL!”

Papyrus said nothing, still trying to find where the strings were coming from but failing to see their source.

Like Underfell Papyrus, it was unwise not to answer the captain of the royal guard. So Error chose to respond. He made his puppet release their knife, startling the two brothers. They readied themselves for a fight, but it never came. Instead, the human’s hands moved so that they could be seen by the skeletons. Then, using sign language, Error spoke to them.

‘You have nothing to fear. I am not your enemy. I have come to help you and your world.’

Both skeleton brothers were shocked and confused by his words, unused to someone helping them.

“sorry buddy, but that doesn’t add up. you see, here it’s kill or be killed. so you’re either really stupid or you’re planning something.”

“YES, NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD HELP ANYONE IN THE UNDERGROUND. AND IF THE LATTER IS TRUE, THEN I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT KILLING US WILL NOT BE AN EASY FEAT. AND I WILL NOT REPEAT MYSELF AGAIN, SHOW YOURSELF!”

‘I wish I could stand in front of you right now, but I can not. Because of certain complications, I can not enter your world. The best I can do is send my Strings of Mercy. But this will be enough to help you all. It has helped others like you and I will give you the MERCY you deserve.’

The brothers looked beyond confused now. It was obvious that they had questions, especially Papyrus.

“mercy? bud, you have not been paying attention. there is no mercy here and there never will be.”

“AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY OTHERS? OF ENTERING OUR WORLD? WHO ARE YOU?!”

‘I am Gom, the God of Mercy. I give mercy to those I protect. Your world will be under my protection. All will change from here on. Your suffering will end.’

They were both silent, shocked at the response they were given.

“A GOD? YOU REALLY EXPECT US TO BELIEVE THAT?!”

“i know crazy people, but buddy, you have to be the craziest person i’ve met.”

‘I know how unrealistic it sounds to you, but everything I say is true.’

“what proof do you have? why should we trust you?”

‘I have nothing to show that you can trust me, yet. And the proof will come shortly after the reset, Sans and Papyrus.’

The taller skeleton’s eye sockets widened at the mention of resets while the younger brother looked more confused.

“HOW DO YOU KNOW OUR NAMES? AND WHAT IS A RESET?”

‘That is something you will have to ask your brother. Later though, for now, there is something you must do.’

Before either of them could make a reply, Error’s strings pulled the human's red soul out. Sans and Papyrus were silent as the blue threads brought the soul closer to them.

‘Shatter it.’ Error made the human sign with firm movements.

“...... buddy, if you know about the resets, then you know it happens when the human dies.”

‘I know, Papyrus. But this time, things will be different. The human will not get their way, I PROMISE you that.’

Papyrus looked conflicted, he was obviously untrusting of Error but he seemed to have the smallest shred of hope that what he was told could be true. Sans remained silent, unsure of what to say and also confused beyond measure.

After minutes of still silence, Papyrus summoned a bone attack. His eyes glowed in vermillion orange flames looking directly at the determined soul.

“ok, buddy. but you better keep that promise.”

Instantly, the bone pierced the soul, making it shatter to pieces. The blue strings holding the soul disappeared, but the ones on the human remained for a moment, signing one last sentence;

‘Thank you, I will.’

Error’s strings placed the human in the grey snow before vanishing.

“PAPYRUS, YOU SEEM TO HAVE SOME EXPLAINING TO DO. I DEMAND TO KNOW WHAT A RESET IS!”

“of course, m’lord. later though.”

Sans never got to reply because right that second, the world reset.

I think that went well.

The Papyrus seems more distrusting than the Underfell Sans and Underswap Papyrus put together.

I can’t believe you are continuing this! Stop now!

Papy will be in for a surprise when he wakes up the next reset and finds out that Sans remembers!

“yEAh, i miGHt nEeD tO woRK oN gAIninG hIs tRUsT.”

What if you can’t get his trust?

“I wiLL, nO MatTeR wHAt.”

Far away though, someone read the scene, and they were worried that Swapfell 99’s Papyrus could be a problem.

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Papyrus from Swapfell 99

After that reset, Papyrus learned just how different things were going to be. The ‘God of Mercy’ had said that the proof of them being a god would come after the reset. He just didn’t expect his brother to come barging through his door early in the morning demanding to know what resets were. Apparently Sans had remembered the strings interfering with his battle against the human, but only the part with the blue threads of magic. Anything before and after was just a feeling of knowing and not an actual memory.

What was more surprising was that the strings showed up at every battle the human had with a monster. After the human died and reset, all the monsters that encountered the strings remembered. And just like Sans, they only remembered the strings. No memories from before or after, just memories of the strings and feelings of familiarity. Sans eventually told the rest of the royal guard of his first encounter with the strings and how the person controlling them claimed to be a god. No one believed that until the queen made an announcement.

On that reset, about fifteen resets after the strings first appeared, queen Toriel had called the kingdom for an announcement and when people got there they all saw the strings hanging from above the queen. Papyrus had mostly spaced out through the speech because it was all about the Strings of Mercy and the God of Mercy. She had gone on about how she was sure that they were a god from stories long ago. How even she remembered the battles from the resets, and how the strings, Gom, helped her win. She said that Gom would be their god, that they would watch over them and help them with the human. That we had been grated Mercy.

Since then people had lightened up a bit. Sure, everyone had grudges and anger control issues from the ‘kill or be killed’ rule, but they managed. Sans had cheered up a great deal, though he still demanded respect. Alphys was nicer and she and Sans had become better friends over time. Even Undyne had relaxed and come out of her lab. She and Alphys were together now, in public, without having to worry. Everyone had felt grateful to Gom, so most of the residence left offerings for the strings to take. Said offerings would disappear overnight, only empty dishes were left behind. Sans’ burrito offerings were always left on the table and by morning, not even a crumb was left on the plate.

Gom also seemed to like monster children a lot too. If you couldn’t find the strings anywhere your best bet was to go to the children. Ever since the Underground became a safer place than it was before, the kids would be running around playing games and laughing without fear. The strings would often play with the kiddos, even putting on a puppet show using the kid’s dolls and stuffed toys. Some time ago the strings brought a large stuffed bear out of nowhere, it acted as a playmate for the kids and showed up almost every day and reset. A few days after the bear appeared, it came with a bag full of dolls, but each doll was a doll of the child it was given too. They were little replicates of the kids, every detail was added, even little things like the number of buttons on the kid’s coat or the length of a girl’s dress. The most amazing thing about the dolls is that they never disappeared after a reset. The dolls remained with the kids from then on.

After so much time, resets became a common thing in the Underground. And while it was nice for Papyrus to not be the only one to remember resets, it was still nagging at him that he knew so little about Gom. Even though it was clear that they could take out the human on their own, the strings only helped in the battles, they never went after the human again, other than to trip them. Reset after reset, the blue magic was just an extra hand, on standby, watching from the sidelines. If they were a god then why not handle the problem from the start?

“PAPYRUS! ITS HIGH TIME YOU CAME OUT OF BED! IT’S ALREADY LUNCHTIME!”

Papyrus snapped out of his thoughts. The questions could come later, he needed food.

“coming m’lo- i mean, sans!”

He teleported to the kitchen where his brother was preparing the table.

“IT’S ABOUT TIME YOU GOT OUT OF YOUR ROOM. YOU ARE SPENDING MORE TIME IN THERE THEN YOU ARE SLEEPING. IF THIS BECOMES A HABIT OF YOURS THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES.”

“yes, sans. i'm sorry.”

“FORGIVEN, NOW EAT BEFORE YOUR FOOD GETS COLD.”

“yes, sans.”

Lunch was quiet, to say the least. After Papyrus was finished he put his dishes in the sink and headed back for the stairs.

“WAIT.”

Papyrus stopped at the living room entrance and turned to his brother.

“SIT BACK DOWN.”

He looked confusedly at Sans but obeyed and sat back in the kitchen chair across the table.

“...WHAT IS BOTHERING YOU?”

His eye sockets widened at the question as he stared at Sans.

“I’M NOT A FOOL, BROTHER. I CAN SEE YOU ARE TROUBLED BY SOMETHING, IT DOESN’T TAKE A GENIUS TO SEE THAT.”

He put his head down, his hand fingering a packet of cigarettes in his jacket.

“it’s nothing you should worry about, sans.”

“LIKE HELL I SHOULDN’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT MY OWN BROTHER!”

Papyrus straightened himself, surprised at Sans’ response. Sans calmed himself before continuing.

“YOU HAVEN’T BEEN SLEEPING WELL, YOU STAY IN YOUR ROOM ALL DAY, YOU HAVEN’T EVEN BEEN DRINKING BAR-B-Q SAUCE OR SMOKING. IT’S EASY TO SEE THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG. WHAT IS IT?”

Letting his head fall, Papyrus debated with himself. Should he tell Sans? Would it help?

“...... i just can’t seem to understand.”

“ABOUT WHAT?”

“gom! that’s what! one day they just show up and stop the human, the next they just stand to the side! if they can defeat the human than why not solve the root of the problem and finish them? why show up at all? what made them chose to help us? are they really here to help or is this some trick? and how come there is so little known about them? where did they come from? how do they know so much? someone with so much information and so little known about them is just so hard to trust!”

He gasped for breath after his rant. It had been bottled up for a while, the questions just kept piling on. And there was so little to answer with.

“BROTHER, I KNOW IT’S HARD TO TRUST THEM. BUT ASKING QUESTIONS YOU DON’T HAVE THE ANSWERS TO DOESN’T HELP. IT JUST MAKES IT HARDER.”

“sans as much as i want to stop asking, i just can’t. … maybe that's just how it is now. i’m the only one in hell that has a hard time with a god of mercy.”

Before Sans could say anything, he teleported back to his room. He heard Sans remain silent for a while, likely worried for him. Later got up and headed to his last rounds for the day. Before he opened the door though, he said something, probably hoping that Gom would hear.

“PLEASE HELP HIM SEE HE CAN TRUST YOU GOM. I JUST WANT HIM TO BE HAPPY.”

Sans closed the door behind him, unaware that Papyrus had heard what he said. Mostly because he was loud by nature.

“heh. it would take a miracle for me to trust gom.” Shortly later, he fell asleep.

P.O.V.- Error from the anti-void

Error had watched the whole thing play out from his portal, thinking hard on what he could do.

“A MiRaCLe, hUH?”

A thought came to him. He looked over to his coffee table, where eight dolls were lined up neatly in a row. Each was a perfect mini version of the eight skeletons of HIS AUs. Below each was a drawstring pouch large enough to hold them in.

The Undertale Sans doll had a blue pouch to match its jacket. On the front of the pouch was an embroidered name: classic.

The Undertale Papyrus doll had a red pouch to match its scarf. The front also had an embroidered name: PAPI.

The Underswap Sans doll had a light blue pouch to match its bandana. The pouch’s embroidery had the name BLUE.

The Underswap Papyrus doll has an orange pouch matching its hoodie. The pouch’s embroidery said orange.

The Underfell Sans doll had a black pouch to match its jacket. Embroidered on the pouch was the name fell.

The Underfell Papyrus doll had a dark red pouch matching its scarf. Embroidered on the pouch was RUS.

The Swapfell Sans doll had a mauve purple pouch matching its bandana. The name embroidered on the pouch was MAUVE.

The Swapfell Papyrus doll had a vermillion orange pouch to match its turtleneck. The pouch’s name embroidered on was vermillion.

“oR maYBe aNOtHer’S opINion.”

He had never tried to pull others through his portals before. But, Error was willing to try if it helped Vermillion trust him.

Chapter Text

Error was putting the last skeleton doll into its pouch, closing the drawstring tightly so they would not fall out. It was a bit of a gamble, what he was about to do. However, Error desperately wanted HIS Swapfell Papyrus, who he had nicknamed Vermillion, to trust him.

You know it might not work.

The chances of you successfully pulling another through your portals, when you yourself can not go though them, is 50/50 at best.

Besides, that Papyrus might not even trust his other selves.

This could just make things more confusing for all of them.

“fIrST, hIS nAMe iS VErmiLliOn. sECoND, i kNoW hOw LOw tHe cHAncES aRE. tHIRd, evEN iF I mAKe tHINgs coNFUsinG For tHEm, iT'S woRTh A tRY.”

You really want that skeleton to trust you, huh?

“mORE tHaN yOu kNOW.”

Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s give it a try~

Error did not need to be told twice. He immediately opened four portals to HIS AUs. In Undertale, Sans, Comic, was lazing on the couch while Papyrus, Papi, was making spaghetti. In Underswap, Papyrus, Orange, was sitting in the kitchen watching his brother, Blue, make tacos. Underfell, however, Sans and Papyrus, Fell and Rus, were heading back home from their rounds. Swapfell, on the other hand, was different. It was the only AU with the brothers separated, Vermillion was laying on the couch lost in thought, his brother, Mauve, was almost home from work.

Error was DETERMINED.

He then sent his strings to deliver the pouched dolls to their respective skeletons. He put the Undertale brothers’ dolls on their kitchen table, surprising Classic and Papi as they got closer to see what they were.

“SANS, WHAT HAS GOM BROUGHT US?”

Sans shrugged his shoulders before grabbing the blue pouch with the name ‘classic’ on the front. He opened it out of curiosity and pulled out the doll. Classic looked amazed and confused as he examined his mini, stuffed self. Papyrus squealed when he saw the doll and did not wait another moment to open the red pouch. Papi smiled so much his face glowed as he held his doll.

“SANS! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THESE ARE?!”

“uh, yeah bro, dolls. of us apparently.”

“NOT JUST THAT, THESE ARE DOLLS FROM GOM! THE GOD OF MERCY HAD GIVEN US GIFTS! I THOUGHT THEY ONLY MADE DOLLS FOR THE CHILDREN, BUT I WAS WRONG! GOM HAS GIVEN ME A DOLL I SHALL CHERISH FOREVER!”

“yeah, someone as cool as you deserves a gift bro.”

“NYEH, HEH, HEH!”

Classic was more focused on the pouches now, looking puzzled at the names written on them.

Error reluctantly had to turn his attention away from the scene, as he had to deliver gifts to the others. Switching his attention to Underswap, where the brothers had finished eating and were putting up their dishes. Error placed their dolls on the table, causing them to stare in confusion as they slowly got close to them.

“PAPY, WHAT ARE THEY?”

Orange made an ‘i don’t know noise’, then took the orange pouch from the table. He loosened the drawstring and pulled out the doll. He stared at it questionably then at the pouch’s embroidered name on the front. Blue’s eyes sparkled with stars as he watched his brother bring out the doll and proceeded to open the light blue pouch himself. He was like a kid on Gyftmas when he saw his little self.

“PAPY! THESE DOLLS ARE JUST LIKE THE ONES GOM GAVE TO THE KIDS!”

“yeah bro must mean that gom really likes ya.”

“MWEH, HEH, HEH!”

Orange’s attention was more focused on the pouches as if trying to figure out the meaning of the names written on them.

Error was halfway through the first part of his plan. He then proceeded on to Underfell, where the brothers had just arrived home and headed to the kitchen. Error acted quick and placed the black and dark red pouches on the table, directly in the skeletons’ line of sight. They were both puzzled by the appearance of the blue strings but went to the table anyway to see what they were given. Rus was slow to open the dark red pouch, but when he revealed the doll of himself he stood slackjawed. Fell was equally as surprised when he opened the black pouch, amazed at the tiny toy.

“uh, bro. why would gom give us these?”

“THAT IS AN EXCELLENT QUESTION SANS. ONE THAT I CAN NOT FIND THE ANSWER TO.”

Error had to divert his focus from the speechless skeletons to the last portal. Mauve had gotten home and was gathering ingredients for burritos in the kitchen, Vermillion was still on the couch lost in thought. Error plopped the last two pouches on the table, gaining the attention of both brothers. Vermillion teleported closer to the table but kept a few feet of distance. Mauve was not so cautious and came right up to the pouches. They both looked confused at the names embroidered on the cloth, then Mauve took the purple pouch and loosened the drawstring. Once the pouch was open he brought out a little doll of himself. Vermillion was beyond puzzled but he opened the reddish-orange pouch. He stood speechless at the perfect mini toy of himself.

“... PAPYRUS, I KNOW YOU DON’T TRUST GOM, BUT CAN’T YOU TRY?”

Vermillion said nothing, unable to find words.

Error used that moment to set the next part of his plan. He opened extra portals to Underswap, Underfell, and Swapfell, connecting them to Undertale. He took a deep breath to steady himself, then sent his strings to grab the six skeletons. The four edge brothers shouted in surprise and struggled a bit, the swapped brothers were deeply confused but remained still.

“PAPY, WHAT IS HAPPENING?”

“that’s what i want to know.”

“WHAT IN THE BLAZES IS THIS?!”

“huh?!”

“WHAT THE-”

“i knew we couldn’t trust them.”

Error ignored Vermillion’s hurtful words and focused on his strings. He kept a firm grip on the skeletons but loosened them enough so that the brothers would not get hurt. Once Error was sure he would not lose them, he pulled them into Undertale. All of the skeletons fell into a pile in the Undertale brothers living room floor. Classic and Papi looked at the scene confused. Classic though was more focused on the dolls and pouches that came with them, looking to their dolls then his.

“BROTHER, WHY ARE THERE SKELETONS THAT LOOK LIKE US IN OUR LIVING ROOM?”

“whoever is on top of me, get off! i’ve only got 1 hp.”

“you’re not the only one sunshine.”

“YOU ARE ALL TO GET OFF THE MALEVOLENT SANS!”

“BUT I’M THE MAGNIFICENT SANS.”

“FOR THE LOVE OF ASGORE, GET OFF!”

“welp, today just got interesting.”

Sans was more than correct in Error’s opinion. Now the god of mercy just had to watch as things played out. He hoped this would be enough for Vermillion.

No turning back now.

This has to stop! You can’t do this! This is not what’s supposed to happen!

I wonder if this will really work.

“yoU aNd Me bOTh. iF tHIS doESN’t wOrk, THen nOTHinG wiLl.”

Vermillion’s silence to the situation was nerve-wracking to Error. He briefly wondered if his plan would fail.

Chapter Text

Third person P.O.V. in Undertale 56

Eight skeletons had calmed down in the Undertale brothers' living room. After the unexpected drop off, from the strings of mercy, six skeleton brothers found themselves in another Underground unlike any of theirs. Three of them had gotten into a shouting match with each other and the rest had remained silent, finding places to sit down and take in the situation. Once everyone had calmed down the Undertale Sans thought it would be the best time to get answers.

“ok, so if all of you are calm, i think we can try to make out what happened.”

“an’ how do you suppose we do that, me?”

“i was thinking we all tell our stories of what had happened to us today to the point where we all get here.”

“its as good a place to start as any, lazy version of my brother.”

“you're lazy too.”

“but i’m not my brother.”

“... i’ll ignore that and start us off. so my papyrus was making spaghetti in the kitchen and i was lazing on the couch, then the strings of mercy dropped off a couple of pouches with dolls of us in them. they both seem handmade and are a lot like the ones gom gave to the kids. a few minutes after that, you all fell into our living room from nowhere and you all seem to have similar dolls.”

“GOM IS YOUR GOD OF MERCY TOO?”
“GOM IS YOUR GOD OF MERCY TOO?”

The two non-lazy versions of Sans looked at each other with confusion.

“HAVE YOU ALSO BEEN GRANTED MERCY FROM GOM?”

“YES, AND IT SEEMS YOU HAVE TOO.”

“IT SEEMS THAT ALL OF US HAVE GOM GRANTING US MERCY. MY BROTHER AND I HAVE ALSO SEEN THEIR STRINGS OF MERCY.”

Everyone turned to the other pair of edge brothers.

“yeah, they appeared in a reset out of the ‘blue’ and promised to help us.”

“are you telling us that gom has actually spoken to you? ‘cause that’s hard to believe, when they appeared in my underground, they just made the human dance and gave their soul for us to shatter.”

“PAPY IS RIGHT! GOM NEVER SAID ANYTHING TO US, THEY-...WAIT, DID YOU MAKE A PUN?!”

“got a problem with that, other me?”

“HOW CAN YOU LIKE PUNS? YOUR ME!”

“I HAVE TO AGREE WITH OUR OTHER SELF, PUNS ARE ANNOYING.”

“GLAD I’M NOT THE ONLY SKELETON WHO THINKS THAT. MY BROTHER COULD LEARN FROM YOU TWO.”

“WOWIE, NOT ONLY IS THEIR ANOTHER ME THAT HATES PUNS BUT ALSO TWO OTHER SANS’ AS WELL!”

“bro, i’m happy for ya, but i think we need to get back to what’s hap-pun-ed here.”

“oh, you’re a pun-ny guy too.”

“PAPY NO!”

“watch out, we might get pun-ished.”

“SANS DON’T YOU DARE!”

“ok, ok, let's save the pun war for later. who wants to go next?”

“OH, I WILL! SO PAPY AND I WERE JUST CLEANING UP AFTER LUNCH WHEN GOM DROPPED TWO POUCHES ON OUR TABLE. WE OPENED THEM AND FOUND DOLLS OF US. A BIT AFTER, GOM HAD GRABBED US WITH THEIR STRINGS AND WE ENDED UP HERE. NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT, THEIR STRINGS FELT REALLY SAFE, I THOUGHT I HEARD A SOUND LIKE…… LIKE STATIC IN DEAD SILENCE.”

“YOU FELT THAT AS WELL, OTHER VERSION OF MY BROTHER?”

“I DID AS WELL, IT WAS WEIRD BUT REASSURING.”

“well, my bro and i had just gotten home when we saw gom’s strings drop off the pouches. we took the dolls out and tried to figure out why they gave ‘em to us, but we got brought here a few minutes after.”

“I HAD ALSO JUST ARRIVED HOME AND WAS PREPARING TO MAKE MY SUBLIME BURRITOS WHEN THE POUCHES CAME. NOT LONG AFTER WE HAD OPENED THEM, GOM BROUGHT US HERE.”

“so, unless i’m mistaken, we had all gotten pouches from gom roughly the same time and also were brought here shortly after opening them.”

“IT SEEMS THAT WAY, LAZY ME.”

“okay, this ‘other me’ stuff is not cutting it. it’s just getting confusing.”

“... so nicknames are in order. what do you suggest lazy sans?”

Everyone turned to where the Swapfell Papyrus was sitting. He had not said a word since arriving so it was a surprise to them all.

“well, if you want to know my two g, i think we already have nicknames.”

Everyone turned to the Undertale Sans confused.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BROTHER?”

“just look at the front of your pouches.”

All the skeletons were puzzled for a second, then reached for their respective pouches.

“are ya suggestin’ that these are our nicknames?”

“yup, whatever gom planned, they must have known how confusing things would get if we all got together. so i think these dolls and pouches were their way of helping us with this little problem. and who knows, if gom protects all of us, then these might even be the names they call us.”

“SO THAT MEANS MY NICKNAME IS PAPI!”

“and i’m classic.”

“AND MINE IS BLUE!”

“guess i’m orange now.”

“looks like ’m fell.”

“RUS IS ACCEPTABLE.”

“MAUVE... IT WILL DO.”

“... so i’m vermillion.”

“BUT, I AM STILL CONFUSED. WHY WOULD GOM BRING US TOGETHER?”

“don’ know bro, but ‘orange’ you glad to be here?”

“NO! BROTHER STOP!”

“careful orange, you’ll make him feel ‘blue’.” Fell said with a cheeky grin.

“wow, that's a ‘classic’ fell.”

“BROTHER, NO!”

The purple skeleton tiredly rubbed his face. “GETTING UP THIS MORNING WAS A MISTAKE.”

“I AGREE, MAUVE.” Rus said as he laid a hand on his shoulder sympathetically.

“i have a feeling things might work out.”

Unknown to them, silver eye lights gazed over the written scene. They think the same, for a different reason.

Chapter Text

Third person P.O.V. in Undertale 56

“so, gom used the human to talk to you, and they made a promise that things would change.”

“yeah, that didn’t happen to ya?” Fell looked at Orange questionably.

“fell, me and papi didn’t get to talk to gom either. it’s a bit strange that you got to.”

“THEY ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES. MY BROTHER AND I HAVE ALSO TALKED TO GOM, BUT ONLY WHEN THEY FIRST APPEARED.”

“SO IT SEEMS THAT MYSELF, FELL, MAUVE, AND VERMILLION HAVE ALL SPOKEN TO GOM.”

“but why? what’s so special about you four? and how come classic, papi, blue, and i only got a puppet show?”

“... for mauve and i, before gom came, our underground was ‘kill or be killed’. no monster in their right mind would help another back then.”

“heh, you guys too?” The small edgy skeleton turned to Vermillion sympathetically.

“WE ALSO HAD THAT RULE. BUT AFTER THE KING CONFRONTED GOM’S STRINGS HIMSELF, HE RENOUNCED IT AND THINGS HAVE BEEN GETTING BETTER.”

“THE KING DID NOT DISAPPEAR IN YOUR WORLD? FOR US IT WAS THE QUEEN WHO ANNOUNCED THE RENOUNCEMENT.”

“...... gom had also mentioned ‘others’ they had helped.” Vermillion said quietly.

“they said that to us too. maybe they were talking ‘bout this world and the colors’.”

“which colors? there are four of us.” Orange asked cheekily.

“you and blue, obviously.”

Over the next couple of hours, give or take a few minutes, all eight skeletons exchanged details of their encounters with Gom and the differences of their worlds. While the more energetic brothers would get along well with each other, the lazy half of the group took a while to break the ice. Sometime after the arrival, the more hostile skeletons had calmed down once they realized that there was no immediate danger. Most of their conversation was about their separate encounters with Gom, the loud brothers would compare battles while the quiet ones would tell of the events after shattering the human soul.

Everyone joined in…

“so ver’, you ever gonna join or what?” Fell asked, facing the silent skeleton.

… everyone except Vermillion, who was sitting farthest from the group but close enough to Mauve.

“I’M AFRAID MY BROTHER DOES NOT LIKE TALKING ABOUT GOM MUCH. YOU SEE, EVER SINCE THEY HAVE APPEARED… HE HAS BEEN UNABLE TO TRUST THEM.”

“NYEH?!”
“MWEH?!”
“NYEH?!”

“huh?”
“wha?”
“come again?”

All eyes were on Vermillion now, who had his head down refusing to look at any of them.

“...... i just don’t understand them. there’s so little known about them.”

“BUT, SURELY THEY HAVE SHOWN HOW GOOD OF A PERSON THEY ARE OVER THE RESETS. HAVE THEY NOT, MAUVE?”

“THEY HAVE, PAPI. BUT THE QUESTIONS MY BROTHER HAS CAN NOT BE ANSWERED.”

Three judges gave each other knowing looks before slightly nodding their skulls.

“hey bro, why don’t you show our new friends around snowdin? you could even compare puzzles.”

“WHAT A MARVELOUS IDEA! AND I CAN INTRODUCE YOU ALL TO UNDYNE AFTER! SHE WILL BE THRILLED TO MEET YOU ALL!”

“IF SHE IS LIKE MY UNDYNE, I’M SURE WE’LL GET ALONG GREAT!”

“I GUESS I CAN MEET MY SECOND IN COMMAND’S COUNTERPART.”

“MY UNDYNE IS THE ROYAL SCIENTIST. ALPHYS IS SECOND IN COMMAND.”

“UNDYNE IS NOT THE CAPTAIN IN YOUR WORLD?”
“ALPHYS IS NOT THE CAPTAIN IN YOUR WORLD?”

“wow, seems like you all have a lot to compare. us lazy ‘bones’ will hang back here. this couch is almost as comfy as mine back home.” The tall, hooded skeleton said as he sank into the couch.

“i agree wit’ orange here. don’ think i’ll be leaving anytime soon.” Fell winked at Orange and Classic with a grin.

“OH MY GOM, YOU ARE ALL THE SAME AS SANS!”

Mauve looked over the scene with a calculating look before turning to Vermillion. “BROTHER, YOU STAY HERE. IT SEEMS YOU’LL FIT IN FINE WITH THEM.”

“yes, sans.”

Half of the skeletons left the house shortly after, leaving four judges to talk things out.

“... think they’re out of hearin’ range now.”

“thanks fell. now then, we can talk freely.” Classic said while sitting up.

Orange looked skeptically at Classic, “you sure it’s a good idea to have them running around? things could get confusing for your world.”

“once pap tells people that gom’s involved, they’ll back off on questions. right now though, we should probably focus on ver’s problem.”

“heh, my brother likely knew you sent them all away on purpose. he’s also tried to get me to trust gom, but there’s just so much that i don’t know.”

All three skeletons looked at Vermillion sympathetically at his response. “believe me, when they first showed up here, i didn’t want to trust them either. i bet none of you could find anything in the old archives about gods either, huh?”

“oh, classic you have no idea how many sleepless nights i had searching for answers after gom showed up. i’d even drink myself to sleep over the stress.”

“geez fell, i searched like crazy too but, i didn’t get drunk over it. as tempting as drinking that much honey is, it would have worried sans.”

“honey? no way, mustard is the way to go.”

“in my opinion ketchup is the best, but we’re off track.”

Vermillion turned to face them with a blank expression. “if you all found nothing as well, how did you learn to trust them? you didn’t have any luck finding answers, so how?”

The other three skeletons glanced at each other, then Classic faced Vermillion with a knowing smile.

“it was hard having found nothing about gods, other than some tall tales from old storybooks. really, it took dozens of resets before pap finally talked to me about it. to be honest, i really had to open my eyes, i was just so used to looking into someone before trusting them, finding out everything i could before letting them in. but, with gom, i couldn’t do that. there was no soul to check, no history, gom was the first person i had nothing on. pap had to give me a wake-up call, he pointed out everything that gom had done for us. tibia honest, that’s when i found out the most important thing about being a judge, it’s not about where someone comes from, or who raised them, or even their past. what matters is what they do now. and ever since they came, gom has been nothing but kind and merciful, we judge on the here and now, the rest is really just history.”

Orange and Fell nodded their heads in agreement to Classic.

“classic’s right. ver, me and you come from pretty much the same livin’ hell. if ya keep asking questions now, you’re gonna miss a lot of the good things that are comin’ from this. some things don’ have to be questioned, take the gift you’re given now and embrace it. gom is what everyone was practically begging for after the rule of ‘kill or be killed’. ya know the sayin’ ‘look before you leap’? welp, if you’ve been looking for so long an’ can’t find a flaw, then it’s time to take the leap.”

Orange chuckled, “you know, i kept asking questions for the longest time. trying to judge someone i thought i knew nothing about. but, like my brother said, actions sometimes speak louder than words. and everything that gom does tells of the kind person they are. gom hasn’t done one thing that renders them dangerous so it’s ok to accept them as they are.”

Vermillion listened to each word his fellow judges said, studied their faces, looking for any sign of lies or uncertainty of what they were saying. He found none, only finding honesty, sincerity, and experience.

Vermillion thought for a long moment, considered everything Classic, Fell, and Orange said, before laughing slightly in amusement.

“man, i really was over thinking this.”

“i think it’s safe to say that we all did at one point.” Classic said with a relieved smile on his face.

“but, seriously, bar-b-q sauce is the best. bar none.”

“no way!”
”just a sec there!”
”oh boy.”

Chapter Text

Third person P.O.V. in Undertale 56

The rest of the day went ok for the four pairs of brothers.

After the guard squad returned from an intense training session and cooking lesson with Undyne, they found two of the four lazy brothers smoking outside the Undertale brothers’ house and the other two sleeping on the coach. All eight of them spent hours talking; comparing puzzles and traps, special dishes, battle techniques, history, and just about everything about themselves and their worlds.

Around dinner time the chefs had agreed to share the kitchen and try each other’s favorite foods. As anyone could have expected, the kitchen became a mess, so after dinner was eaten the clean freaks spent a lot of time making the kitchen sparkle while their ‘numbskull’ brothers sat in the living room drinking their favorite condiments.

Once the kitchen was spotless Papi introduced his fellow TV celebrity passionate skeletons to his Mettaton. Who just so happened to be running a marathon that day. All throughout the marathon, the energetic skeletons would compare their favorite robot TV celebrities while their brothers would support them of their opinions.

At one point the two tall swap skeletons went back out for a smoke break. A few minutes after they went out, Mauve came too.

“I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK TO MY BROTHER, ALONE.”

Orange make no comment or complaint, put out his cigarette, and went back inside. The two Swapfell brothers were silent for a few seconds before Mauve spoke.

“SO, HOW DID YOUR TALK WITH THEM GO?”

Vermillion exhaled a small cloud of smoke and chuckled.

“you were right. i was just making things harder for myself. i’ll be more open minded from now on. it’s going to be weird, but i’ll do my best to trust gom.”

They were silent again for a few more seconds, then Mauve let out a little smile. Vermillion’s brows shot up a bit at the gesture. He found his brother hugging him not moment later, accidentally losing his cigarette in the process.

“I’M GLAD.” Mauve said simply while he held Vermillion in his arms. Vermillion was stiff for a minute before returning the hug.

“sorry for worrying you.”

The two stayed like that for a while, holding each other in reassurance. After a few more minutes, they released the hug and headed back inside.

The other skeletons were still watching the Mettaton marathon and the Swapfell brothers rejoined them. It was another two hours later that someone, Fell, decided to voice their little problem.

“um, not that i don’ like this place, but how are we gettin’ home?”

“THAT IS AN EXCELLENT QUESTION BROTHER.”

“I WAS STARTING TO WORRY ABOUT THE SAME THING. OUR FRIENDS MUST BE MISSING US BY NOW.”

“well, gom brought us here, so maybe they’ll take us back.”

“do you have some kind of contact with them orange?”

“of course not, ver. what i’m saying is that they might take us back soon.”

“SO THERE IS NO TELLING WHEN GOM TAKES US BACK AND THE BEST WE CAN DO IS WAIT?”

“seems that way, mauve.”

“AND HOW LONG WILL THAT TAKE? YOU MAY BE ME, BUT I CAN NOT STAY IN ONE PLACE DOING NOTHING. UNLIKE YOU, I ACTUALLY WORK.”

Classic chose then to wake up from his nap and step in. “come on, rus. it’s like you all got a little vacation. if i was in your place, i’d take all the free time that is given to me.”

“WHICH YOU WOULD SPEND MOST OF THE TIME SLEEPING, BROTHER.”

“guilty as charged.” Classic said as he lazily smiled to Papi.

It was then that blue strings dangled from the ceiling out of nowhere. All the skeletons stared at them until a few strands went to Blue and wrapped around his wrist. The strings tugged slightly as the skeletons got Gom’s message.

“welp, time to go home. it was nice meeting you all.” Orange said as he lazily waved.

“YES! I HOPE WE CAN SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN ONE DAY!”

More blue strings wrapped around the Underswap, Underfell, and Swapfell brothers as they said their goodbyes.

“OH! PERHAPS NEXT TIME WE WILL VISIT ONE OF YOUR WORLDS!”

“yeah, it’d be interesting to see where you all come from. i definitely wouldn’t mind a trip to another world.”

“classic, the past me would’ve told you ta stay away from my world. but, with gom around, it might actually be ok.”

“I AGREE WITH MY BROTHER.”

“SAME GOES FOR VERMILLION AND I.”

“thank you all, for everything.”

Shortly after, six skeletons disappeared from the Undertale brothers’ living room, as well as the strings that came to get them.

“SANS, DO YOU THINK WE WILL SEE THEM AGAIN?”

“don’t know bro. but somethings telling me that we might.”

In Underswap, Orange and Blue landed in their kitchen with ease and watched the strings vanish from sight.

“welp, i’m off to bed.”

“WILL WE REALLY MEET AGAIN, PAPY?”

“is gom short for god of mercy?”

“YOU’RE RIGHT. WE WILL SEE THEM AGAIN!”

In Underfell, Fell was plopped on the coach and Rus landed skillfully back in their home.

“there really is no place like home.”

“I AGREE. HOWEVER, I WOULD NOT REALLY MIND ANOTHER TRIP ONE DAY.”

“yeah, but another time, i’m beat.”

“YOU AND THE OTHER LAZY BONES’ HARDLY DID ANYTHING!”

In Swapfell, Mauve and Vermillion found themselves back in their kitchen. The shorter of the two began to put away all the ingredients left on the counters while the other sat in a kitchen chair.

“THAT WAS UNEXPECTED BUT NICE.”

“yes, it was sans. i guess miracles really do happen.”

“AS WELL AS WISHES.”

All eight skeletons went to bed not long after the departure.

P.O.V.- Error from the anti-void

Error smiled as closed his portals after seeing all the skeletons fall asleep. His plan had worked, Vermillion was willing to trust him and that meant a lot to Error.

Well, that was a bit much but, Vermillion can trust you now.

The plan was a success. And you now know that you can bring others through your portals.

They seemed pretty accepting to each other. I honestly expected a fight.

“tHeY dID dO wELl wIth tHEIr alTERnaTES. mAYbE i sHOUld ArRaNgE aNOTher LIttlE gET toGEtheR.”

No, no, no, no, NO! N-O spells NO! This is too much! You can’t do whatever you want!

“aND Why NoT? thIS isN’T eFFecTinG aNYthINg, anD nO oNe kNowS.”

Yet~

“yET. bUt it’S fINe.”

It is, but for how long?

“aS lONg As i LIve.”

In another place, someone was putting away a book. Someone who knew they would not have to interfere now.

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Error from the Anti-void

Error was finishing the last of his ‘renovations’, as humans called it, to his string house. His house was twice its past height now, the living room filled the whole bottom floor. He relocated his bedroom to a loft he had made making a staircase with a built-in shelf that held some books and a few trinkets. The railing for the loft and staircase was the same as the railing for the outside floor, with black poles with yellow rope standing out in the surrounding blue. Error’s black hammock hung in the right back corner, the window was still above it with its curtains. The staircase was placed along the left wall, allowing the shelves to show the AUs small trinkets like trophies. With more space for the living room, Error had made two more beanbags; one was black with a red string design, the other was yellow with a blue string design. The new beanbags were placed on opposite sides of a large window that faced the stairs to the tapestry hall with red curtains that had a yellow string design. The coffee table and original bean bag remained where they were.

Error had also made some wall art to add more color to his home. His favorite was the god’s eye, a wall hanging made of string that some humans begin making at a young age. The center strings were his signature blue, it symbolized the core of himself, the next strings were black, the color of his given role, yellow strings followed after black, the bright color symbolized his newfound hope after helping AUs, the last strings were red, they represented his strength. The god’s eye was at least three feet tall and wide, so Error placed it on the wall next to the staircase.

The books filling the stair’s built-in shelves were mostly about string-related things; like stitching, crochet, sewing patterns, embroidery, etc. But a small amount of them were also about string instruments and their music.

For a while, Error had been getting into new hobbies and found an interest in string instruments like the violin and guitar. He had even peeked into different AUs and found instruments that no one had wanted and taken them. He now had a black violin with blue and red strings painted on, a blue cello with a yellow wrapping string design, and a red guitar with a blue neck and a yellow headstock. Error had found it soothing to play music and often found himself playing during his free time. He had taken the instruments and cared for them properly, keeping them in their black and blue cases and being careful to examine them for any damages.

You know, I think interacting with those AUs helped you become more civilized.

Upon seeing how a normal monster acts and lives every day, their influence has helped change how you yourself and go about your days.

I like how you kept your theme, it just screams you!

Error had to agree with the voices, ever since he had become the ‘God of Mercy’, the monsters of HIS Undergrounds had really rubbed off on him.

So, are you about to take another?

“yEAh, I thiNk iTs tIme tO bRinG dANceTaLe 50 uNder My proTecTioN.”

Fitting, considering that you’ve developed your own taste in music now.

“iT’ll alSo cOme iN haNDy wheN gaINinG thE saNs’ TruSt.”

How?

“JusT waTch~”

Error then opened a portal to Dancetale 50, revealing Papyrus posing nervously in front of the eighth human. Sans could be seen further into the woods, his hood covering his face’s blank, emotionless look.

Stop! Enough! You have four already! This isn’t how things are supposed to be!

He ignored that voice, instead, he focused on the human. They began to attack. Even from his portal, Error could hear the child’s song, hearing it made Error think of death. He remembered the many times he had to kill. To eradicate an AU from existence.

Erro heard the sound of the human’s knife, he saw the child rush through the dance toward Papyrus, his own stance welcoming while the human came closer to him with the intent to kill.

Just as the human was two feet in front of Papyrus, Error sent his blue strings to trap the child in one place. Freezing them before they could dust the skeleton. The music of their soul stopping completely.

Confused and paralyzed, the child inwardly struggled, to no avail. Any caught by Error’s strings were at his mercy, with no escape.

Sans had teleported in front of his brother, then moved them farther away from the captured human.

Papyrus stared at the scene before speaking.

“UH, SANS? WHAT ARE THOSE STRINGS DOING TO THE HUMAN?”

“i don’ know, but it might be a good idea to stay back.”

Having expected their behavior, Error made the human drop their knife to calm the confused skeletons. With the brothers now watching the human and the strings, Error focused on his soul’s magic.

His strings pulsed with his soul, echoing its beat, his soul’s song could be heard. The music was like a slightly glitched remix with a robotic repetition of rhythm. The song told of his sadness, pain, and desire to protect.

Sans and Papyrus grew still as they heard the song, quickly discovering that it did not belong to the human. Their own souls repeated the rhythming pulse that echoed through the strings. They soon relaxed, realizing that they were safe from harm. Sans was even taping his foot to the beat as it played. This was not a battle, but an introduction.

Error’s strings then moved the human like a marionette, lifting their hands in a series of robotic dance movements before cupping their hands below their chest. More strings reached for the red soul and levitated it above the human’s cupped hands.

Sans and Papyrus were once more still as they saw the red soul pulse in a resistant way, as though it was fighting the strings that held it captive. The strings themselves kept pulsing to Error’s song as they gently guided the red soul to the brothers.

They looked surprised and confused at the gesture.

“SANS, ARE THE STRINGS, GIVING US THE HUMAN’S SOUL?”

“looks that way bro.”

The blue threads bobbed the soul up and down to confirm Papyrus’ question.

“welp, now we know.”

“BUT, BROTHER! THE HUMAN MIGHT CHANGE! IF WE GIVE THEM A CHAN-”

The red soul cracked slightly as Error’s strings tightened around it, regaining the skeleton brothers’ attention and ending Papyrus’ argument on the matter.

“sorry, bro, but this song and dance has to stop.”

The younger brother said nothing more as Sans raised his hand to summon a gaster blaster. In a flash, a beam of energy vaporized the soul, leaving nothing but the strings behind.

After the soul was destroyed, the strings put the human down and disappeared from the skeleton brothers’ sight.

“BROTHER, WHO CONTROLLED THOSE MAGIC BLUE STRINGS?”

“i don’ know bro. i really don’ know.”

The world then reset, bringing the human back to the ruins and the brothers to their respective positions.

Error had one portal watching the human and another watching the skeleton brothers as he sat in his new black beanbag.

What was that?

How did you do that? The… song thing… just started playing through the strings!

How did you even know you could do that? We have watched you constantly and never once saw you practice that.

“maGIc iS aLL AboUT InteNT. IF i FocUS mY MAgiC, I cAn mAKe My stRinGs dO WHatEveR I wiSH. iTs Not tHat CompLICatEd.”

Facinating~

So now you think you can do anything with your magic? This is getting out of hand! You have your place, they have theirs! If you interact with them, you have to DESTROY them, not SAVE them!!

“So WhAT iF i ClaiM a feW AUs? LikE i SaiD beFore, aS lONg aS i MainTAin tHe baLaNCE, EVeryTHinG WiLL bE FinE. My AuS Are nEW anD weLL spREAd ouT, tHEy woN’t iNTerFerE wiTh tHE bALancE aT All.”

The voices knew Error was right, the AUs with accepting codes were perfect. They had decent spacing for growth, far from the originals, and still in development. With the AUs so far on the edge of the multiverse, Error could do whatever he wanted to them. The changes being made to them so early were not affecting them negatively and with the Star Sans’ and Nightmare’s gang so preoccupied with their war, the chances of anyone finding out about these altered AUs was less than 20%.

Let’s just hope this doesn’t backfire and cause any problems.

“oH, iF It DoeS, I’m sTiLL goInG tO PRoteCT thEM. NothING iS GOinG To hURt THem. ThEY’rE MINe NoW.”

In an unknown location, a silver-covered figure placed Error’s book on a pile of other Sans’ books. They smiled as they reached for a silver teacup, still smiling as they sipped warm Earl Grey tea and planned for the next phase.

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Sans from Dancetale 50

Things were very different now. Like, extremely different. After Sans destroyed the human’s soul, he woke up to Papyrus knocking on his door, asking if he too remembered the blue strings. And when the human’s genocide run began again, the strings interfered with the battles. They moved the monsters, tripped the human, and altered the monsters attacks, all while their strange song could be heard for all to hear. After the human reset, the monsters remembered the last timeline. The catch was they only remembered the moments the blue strings were in. Anything before or after the strings was pure deja vu.

Reset after reset, the monsters remembered the human, the strings, and the song. People who encountered the blue strings said the magic they sensed from them seemed even more powerful than a boss monster. The music that was heard from the strings was always protective and sad, sometimes painful too. Word quickly spread about the strings and the song, soon every monster in the Underground was talking about them. About how blue magical strings that played music were showing mercy to monsters. Eventually, monsters started calling the person controlling the strings SOM; short for Strings Of Mercy.

It was so strange, the blue threads just appeared out of nowhere. The person behind them was clearly strong but was only assisting the monsters, not taking on the human themselves. Why? Some people searched for answers and discovered old tales from long ago about beings with magic far more powerful than anyone. These beings were called gods. Then monsters started thinking that Som was a god, a god of mercy that was sparing them and saving them from the murderous human.

When the human was not starting a genocide, Som would play with the children and put on puppet shows for them with dolls and toys. Sometimes it helped the kids get candy they could not reach or help them hide when they were about to get into trouble for their mischief. Som even played pranks, moving objects from one spot and making the owners look for them, or placing a stick for someone to trip on and making them fall face first into a snow pile.

It was not long before people started leaving ‘offerings’ out for Som to take overnight, like food and handmade trinkets. By morning, only empty dishes remained were the offerings once were. Monsters kept believing in Gom, their new God Of Mercy. Some monsters even came up with the idea of dancing to Gom’s song, as a way of showing their gratitude. Every time the strings could be seen in a large area, monsters nearby would listen to the song and attempt to dance to the melody.

But Sans had his doubts, there was next to nothing about Gom. no matter where he looked, no book or record held any information on gods, only stories from before the war hinted at their power and origins, but nothing to identify anyone with.

Even after Gom showed the kids their large bear playmate and passed out little dolls to the kids, he still could not completely trust them. There was so much mystery to Gom, who were they? What were they? How are they so strong? Where did they come from? What were they hoping to accomplish?

So many questions, so little answers, and so much stress Sans was putting on himself.

It was not until Papyrus talked to him that he even started to calm down.

“SANS! YOU’RE NOT EATING AGAIN!”

“sorry, bro. i’m not all that hungry right now.”

“...... ARE YOU STILL ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT GOM?”

“......”

“SANS… YOU ARE MY BROTHER AND I CARE ABOUT YOU, BUT IT HURTS ME TO SEE YOU LIKE THIS. CAN YOU NOT JUST GIVE THEM A CHANCE?”

“it’s hard to pap. we know nothing about them. literally, all we have are old bedtime stories about gods and nothing on a person of their level. a person that strong could be dangerous. what if they have LV and EXP? what if they aren’t as nice as they’re acting?”

“SANS, I TOO DID MY OWN RESEARCH ON GODS, BUT UNLIKE YOU I READ THE BOOKS ON MYTH MORE THAN THE TALES.”

“myths? like, stuff that can’t be proven?”

“YES, WHILE IT MAY BE AN UNRELIABLE SOURCE, IT DID LINE UP TO GOM’S ACTIONS. YOU SEE LONG AGO, GODS TOOK THE FORMS OF HUMANS AND MONSTERS. THEY LIVED ON THE SURFACE JUST LIKE ANY CREATURE BACK THEN, BUT MORTALS, THOSE WHO KNEW OF THE POWER GODS POSSESSED, CAME SEEKING THEIR POWER AND ASKING FOR IT. THEY BECAME GREEDY WHEN THE GODS CLAIMED THAT THERE WERE LIMITS TO THEIR POWER AND WERE ANGERED. BATTLES WERE FOUGHT AND THE GODS DECIDED TO LEAVE THE MORTAL REALM FOREVER. BUT IT IS SAID THAT THERE WERE THOSE WHO STILL WANTED TO HELP THE MORTALS DESPITE THEIR GREED. THOSE WHO GO AGAINST THE LAW OF GODS AND STILL HELP MONSTERS AND HUMANS, AGAINST THE RULES OF THEIR OWN KIND. DON’T YOU SEE? GOM IS ONE OF THE GODS THAT WANTS TO HELP. THEY MAY EVEN BE GOING AGAINST NATURAL LAWS TO HELP US. THE FACT THAT EVERYONE REMEMBERS THE RESETS NOW PROVES THAT MUCH.”

Sans had taken a moment that day to think over what his brother said. It did seem true, the past rules of resets no longer applied, Gom only ever helped, and their song always sounded so sad, like they had been mourning for a long time. While there was no soul to check, a soul’s song reflected a person. Gom’s song was clear and unwavering, everything they did was genuine and truthful.

“... ok, i’ll try, bro.”

“THANK YOU SANS.”

Over a few days, Sans began to see the person behind the strings instead of the power. Now, he left a bottle of ketchup by Papyrus’ master spaghetti. Sans finally was content with the changes made.

P.O.V.- Error from the Anti-Void

Error sent his strings to gather all of his offerings, hastily eating items that would spoil, leaving goodies on his coffee tables, and storing trinkets in various places. After returning dishes to their rightful owners, he got back to his current project.

His tears became strings that piled around him as he weaved every stitch to the perfect place and changed to the perfect color.

He had to destroy another one. Underfell copy 29 this time. The kid was in a pacifist run. They had reached Asgore. They were so close to their happy ending, but also too close to a brand-new unnamed AU. The Underfell copy had to be the one to go.

So many souls; adult and child alike. The six different soul colored strings were already made into lamps, they hung over Error’s head as he weaved the tapestry. Frisk’s red soul was safely secured into their own lamp among the others.

Error kept crying, reliving the moment he killed each monster. When he finished, he would dress for tapestry hall and add the new tapestry to the others, he will walk up and down that hall again, see all the other AUs he murdered, and be punished for his sins by the crushing guilt he felt.

He kept working, he refused to stop until the last stitch was complete.

P.O.V- ?????? ????? from ---------tale

A silver figure was frowning upon a page in a magical book. They were reading Error’s current misfortune. They sighed as they closed the book, ‘Errortale’ written clearly on the cover.

Another person’s call could be heard echoing a place of book-filled shelves.

“---SA! If you’re here, you had better not be going through my books!”

Gasping in fear, they quickly reshelved Error’s book and another book with a title that said ‘Dancetale 50’.

The silver, mysterious person fled the room, disappearing among the maze of shelves to their escape.

When the second figure arrived at the location the silver one once was, he huffed in annoyance.

“I know you were here. You better hope I don’t catch you sneaking in here without telling me again.”

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Error from the Anti-Void

Error was finishing the final touch on his newest dolls, Dancetale Sans and Papyrus’. The pouches that were made to go with them said; Danz and Salsa.

When do you plan to give them those?

Are you gonna let them meet your other AUs?

“weLL, I wAs plANniNG tO SaVe tHeM fOR wHEN I BRinG tHEM To MeEt ThE oTHerS. bUT tHAt’LL bE AftER I’M fiNIshED wITh OuTerTaLE 70.”

That’s the final AU with the special coding, isn’t it?

“yUp, aND sOOn, It’LL Be UnDer mY pROteCtioN.”

This whole thing is a mistake. You’re not meant to do this! Why can’t you just accept what you are and stop reaching for things you shouldn’t have?!

“maYBe i Don’T DEServE thIS, BuT i’M nOt GOnNa sIT bAcK anD wAtCH thEM sUFfeR aN eaRLy geNOciDe.”

Placing the now completed dolls down, Error opened a portal to Outertale 70, revealing Frisk covered in dust and heading down to Papyrus’ path.

And now, the god of mercy shall act~

The human stood across from Papyrus, knife in hand, while the skeleton spoke nervously.

“HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, MUST ASK YOU TOO STOP HERE. FOR YOU SEE, I CAN TELL YOU HAVE MADE SOME… BAD DECISIONS. BUT! I AM SURE I CAN REACH YOU AND HELP YOU MAKE A GOOD DECISION INSTEAD!”

Error could see Sans off to the side, watching the event in front of him. Sans had probably seen this many times already, watching every second that passed before his brother became dust. Error wanted to help this Sans, to save him from this curse called reset.

Papyrus’ battle with the human went on, the determined soul effortlessly dodged all of the skeleton’s attacks and Papyrus kept trying to land a hit on the human, to no avail.

The fight kept going, Papyrus grew tired and soon the end of the fight drew near.

“HUMAN, I THINK YOU ARE JUST SCARED AND LONELY. SO I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, OFFER YOU MY FRIENDSHIP AND WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS.”

As Papyrus opened his arms in a welcoming hug, the human raised their knife for their final attack.

It was then that Error finally made his move. He sent his strings to reach out and capture the human before the blow hit Papyrus. The red soul was paralyzed, internally, they attempted to struggle against the foreign magic with little success. They were caught like a fly in a spider’s web.

Papyrus made a small gasp in surprise at the new development, Sans teleported to him a second after, moving them away from the human and blue strings.

“SANS? WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN?”

“don’t know, bro. but i think it’s a good idea if we stay away.”

The space-themed skeletons looked wearily at the strange blue threads that seemed to be coming from nowhere. Error took this opportunity to act. He made the human drop the dusty knife, causing the skeletons to flinch at the sound. With all eye sockets on Error’s new puppet, he put on a show to ease the brothers’ tension. The human did a small ballet dance, make some funny faces, and pretty much acted like a clown under Error’s control. The two brothers relaxed after a few minutes, laughing at the human a few times during the performance.

Once Error saw they were calm, he stopped the human and sent strings to take their soul. The skeletons watched in shock as the thin blue magic pulled the glowing red soul out for all to see. The strings carefully guided the soul to Sans and held it firmly in front of him.

“BROTHER? WHAT ARE THE STRINGS DOING?”

“if i had to guess, i’d say they're offering us the human’s soul.”

The strings bobbed the soul up and down like a head nod to confirm Sans’ hypothesis.

“welp, now we know.”

“BUT, SANS! THE HUMAN CAN CHANGE! I’M SURE I CAN REACH THEM IF-”

The loud sound of cracking interrupted Papyrus, both skeletons looked at the soul, noting the strings had tightened and caused the surface to crack slightly.

“they have to go.”

The taller skeleton said nothing more. Sans summoned a sharp bone, aiming for the red soul wrapped in blue strings. His eye socket was lit with a blue and yellow flame as he plunged the bone through the soul. The red pieces scattered before vanishing, leaving the body trapped in Error’s threads momentarily.

The blue strings placed the human down, lingered for a moment, then vanished. The brothers stared at the lifeless human for a minute before the younger brother broke the silence.

“WHAT JUST HAPPENED, BROTHER?”

“i have no idea bro. but it was not natural.”

The world then reset, returning things to how they were before. Error walked out of his house, a portal on his left eyeing the human, taking in everything he had done.

This AU was the final one. He now had all AUs with codes of acceptance under his protection from the genocides. Error, a god of destruction, had six AUs under his mercy. He was their god of mercy. He would protect them, watch over them, care for them. Everything Error was told he would not and could not ever do to others, he can now do to these special AUs. They were HIS and he was THEIRS.

Error smiled as he turned around to gaze at his house. Thinking over the time spent and the changes he went through. In the beginning, he was by himself, living in a box with just the voices and the multiverse to entertain him. Now, he had a real two-story house, with a living room, books, instruments, and trinkets. He had a regular schedule for meals, eating on a daily basis whereas, in the past, he never ate. He had decorations; wall hangings, bobbles, handmade objects, and even flowers sitting in pots ranging in colors blue, red, black, and yellow outside his home. For once, Error felt like he had really accomplished something. He felt deeply satisfied with his work and wanted to continue it.

Error knew this was just the beginning of something far greater than anything he ever imagined.

P.O.V.- Chronicle in Chronicletale (aka Chronicle!Sans’ Library/The Bookstacks Sphere)

‘This is what? The twentieth time? How many more times do I have to repeat myself?’

Chronicle was marching through his library. He had just finished the last page of a book when he noticed the presence of that person again.

‘Over, and over, and over again… how does one skeleton get into my library without my notice?’

He reached the bottom of a staircase, noticing some books piled on a desk that were not there before. To the right was a silver teapot and cup, emptied of what smelled like Lady Grey tea.

“Ah! Missed again.”

He gazed over the books, the two books on top were actually the ones that caught his eye sockets; Errortale and Outertale 70.

Chronicle sighed and grabbed the books, walking over to one of the many bookshelves and placing each book where it belonged.

“If you're gonna make yourself comfortable here, you could at least put the books up after you mess around with them. And put away your dishes!” Chronicle said mostly to himself.

He looked back to the tea set, light reflected off of it, making it sparkle like glitter. The teacup plate was round with a silver calla lily shaped flower imprinted in the center. The wide rim had a pattern of silver leaves, their ends pointed northwest, circling counter clockwise. The cup’s handle was more like a silver vine, its side had another silver calla lily flower printed on. The pot’s handle was more like a branch, the spout’s end looked like three petals while the body also had a silver calla lily shaped flower on both its left and right side.

Chronicle huffed as he put the tea set away, “That skeleton and her tea.”

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Sans from Outertale copy 70

Sans was conflicted, to say the least. Once the reset came into effect after the strings appeared, things were never the same. For one, his brother remembered the strings and asked him that morning if he remembered. For the rest of that reset, the strings kept appearing, helping monsters and assisting with their attacks. Once the human reset after that, all the monsters that encountered the strings remembered. No matter how many times the human reset, if the strings were involved, every monster remembered.

It went against everything Sans had ever known. Before he was the only one who knew about resets, now he was not alone when he relived the same day over again. But it did not make any sense at all. In the past resets, everything followed a pattern, a set of rules, a certain way and only that way. However, it now seemed like every reset was different from the last, the pattern was broken. The residence did not seem to care, they adapted to the change and followed a new set of rules, accepted the different conditions they faced, even though it clearly went against everything they ever knew before. There was no longer any science to explain what was happening, only that it was happening and they should just accept it.

People even started calling the person behind the strings a god. Like they were some divine being of immortality and unlimited power. People even left offerings over ‘night’ and whenever they woke up the next ‘morning’ the stuff was gone. It was unbelievable to Sans. There were so many questions of how and why, but the only answers he could find was; because they could.

The honorary Gom, the God Of Mercy, appeared at least twice in every reset. Whenever there were no genocide runs, they pranked monsters, played with the kids, and even kept people from floating away into space when they got too close to the edges. They even used a giant teddy bear as a stand-in for the kids and played with them for hours on end. Then they had the giant toy hand out dolls to the kids it was playing with, and all of them were perfect replicas of the children down to a T.

There was no way to check Gom’s soul, their stats, or even know if they had LV. Sans had talked to Alphys before, but neither of them could find any way to figure out who was pulling the blue strings. It was considered one of the mysteries of the universe now.

Sans could not accept that, he kept looking for real answers. All he found were books for kids telling stories of gods in fairy tales. He worked himself exhausted every time he tried to figure Gom out. It was not until Papyrus decided to take action and talk to his brother that Sans even considered stopping his search.

Papyrus knocked timidly on Sans’ door, “BROTHER, DO YOU HAVE A MOMENT?”

“ya, in a minute paps.”

“SANS, WE NEED TO TALK NOW.”

“in a little bit.”

“SANS!”

There was a defining silence before Sans opened his door. There were dark circles under his eye sockets, indicating he had not slept in ages.

“... BROTHER, I THINK YOU’RE TAKING YOUR RESEARCH A BIT TOO FAR. YOU HARDLY
EVER DO ANYTHING ELSE AND YOU KEEP MISSING OUT ON MY SPAGHETTI.”

“i know. i’m sorry bro, but i need to-”

“NO. YOU DON’T. SANS, WHY CAN’T YOU JUST ACCEPT THINGS AS THEY ARE?”

“... because there aren’t any answers. because nothing makes sense. how can you just go with everything once it all turns upside down?”

“SIMPLE! YOU ALSO TURN AROUND SO EVERYTHING LOOKS RIGHT SIDE UP!”

Sans blinked in confusion, “what?”

“BROTHER, SURELY YOU’VE HEARD THE SAYING ‘IF YOU CAN’T BEAT THEM, JOIN THEM’, OUR SITUATION WORKS THE SAME WAY! INSTEAD OF FIGHTING WHAT IS HAPPENING, WE SHOULD JUST ACCEPT IT AND EVERYTHING ELSE WILL FALL INTO PLACE! WE DON’T NEED ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WE CAN’T SOLVE WHEN THERE IS NOTHING BUT GOOD THINGS HAPPENING BECAUSE OF IT!”

The shorter skeleton thought over what his brother said. Things had changed and everything changed with it. Nothing bad had happened since Gom had appeared and that was more than Sans could have ever hoped for. His brother and all the others were alive, he was no longer the only person to remember resets, and everyone was filled with new hope. Maybe that was the best way to accept Gom. ‘Innocent until proven guilty’ as they say.

“heh, i guess i can try to see it that way.”

“NYEH, HEH, HEH, HEH! I KNEW YOU COULD! NOW COME! THE SPAGHETTI WILL GET COLD!”

After dinner that night, the two skeleton brothers set out their offerings for the mysterious Gom. The next morning, the dishes were empty.

P.O.V.- Error from the Anti-Void

Error had so many offerings now that he had to get more coffee tables. Luckily he came across another two exactly like his in copies of Undertale. Said tables were placed in front of each beanbag chair he owned. All of them were filled with offerings from all of his AUs. He snacked on them as he worked on two more skeleton dolls; his Outertale skeletons’ dolls. Both of them were perfect mini versions of Sans and Papyrus from Outertale copy 70. The pouches they came with had Error’s chosen nicknames for them; Cosmic for Sans and Pluto for Papyrus.

So, now all six are yours. And there appear to be no consequences for interfering with their timelines.

Those AUs accepted you pretty well. I expected the Sans’ to be more resistant toward you.

The god of mercy has succeeded~

“YeAH, ThIngS weNT WeLL… PerFEcT EvEn.”

Error was grateful that he now had these six AUs to care for. His life seemed a lot less dark and cold when he watched those worlds go about their lives, knowing that he was protecting them. They truly were HIS.

They wouldn’t be so accepting if they knew what you really do. You’re just a murderer, no matter what you do to other AUs, your sole purpose is to destroy them.

“teLL Me sOMetHInG i dON’t kNOw. LoOk, i sTiLL deSTRoY AuS, i ADmiT thAT, BuT WIth TheM, I cAn BE mySElf. REaLLy, HOw maNY TiMeS dO I hAVe tO tELL yoU tHIs?”

Oh~ they’re just old fashioned. The rest of us are totally on board with this reality.

“reALiTY? whAT ArE yoU tALkinG aBOUt?”

Reality, like this particular way of life in this multiverse. There are many other realities as there are AUs. In other multiverses you can exit the anti-void and fight Ink, or you’re created by Fate itself, or you have a love affair with another Sans, or you kidnap Blueberry the Underswap!Sans, the list goes on.

“sO… thIS iS liKe, oNe tiMEliNE iN An INFiniNt nUMBeR oF POsSiBiliTiES?”

Basically, yes. But few can travel to other multiverses or realities, so it really is pointless to think about it. You reside in this multiverse and this reality has things a certain way. Especially since you have an effect on the multiverse directly instead of just one AU, the possibilities are truly immeasurable.

“HuH...”

Error could not say he never expected that, after all, with so many AUs created where people were different, it made sense that there could be alternate multiverses where he was different as well.

So, all that aside, what are you gonna do now that they’re all yours?

“fiRST, i’M GOnnA plAN aNoTHeR liTTle GeT tOgeTHeR. aFtER tHat? WhO KnoWS?”

P.O.V.- ?????? ??nsa from The Bookstacks Sphere

The silver mysterious figure moved about the long aisles of books, stopping at one to put away a large book with the title Outertale 70.

“There, perfect.” The skeleton said to herself quietly.

As she walked away, she thought over her plan. The yins and yangs to the balance now were almost perfect, they were just a bit off. If the next phases worked, the balance could return to its proper level, it could-

“--NSA! I know you’re here!”

Startled, the skeleton gasped at the sound of the library’s keeper. Rushing, she headed for a corner nearby. Closing her eye sockets, she concentrated her magic and in a burst of flashing silver, she vanished. Teleporting to safety before Chronicle reached her location.

“Not again!” The bookkeeper shouted in frustration as he stared at the empty corner.

“Ahhhhh!! You can’t hide forever!” Chronicle shouted, his words echoed through the many bookshelves, searching for the one they were addressed too. But she was no longer there.

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Nightmare from the Hideout

Nightmare was sitting in his office, the paperwork had been piling for a bit and he wanted it done before the next mission. No, scratch that, he wanted it done before dinner. Horror and his brother, Blood, were cooking tonight and Nightmare refused to skip this meal.

‘Just my luck, the same day I want this stuff done is the same day the Horrortale brothers are cooking. Just great… ’

It was well known among the Dark Sans’ that the brothers from Horrortale had become amazing chefs. After Nightmare took them in, they had more than enough food and eventually became addicted to cooking it. Horror was even helping, mostly because he liked seeing Blood so happy.

But, whenever there was good food, they could expect a certain someone to try to swipe a snack before the meal. Said someone was Cross, the youngest of the family. Cross was a bit energetic, especially after Nightmare saved him from his blank world. He had devoted his loyalty to his new family of Dark Sans’, helping in every way he could. Shortly after, he became a spy because of his ninja-like hiding skills. Often eavesdropping on Light Sans’ conversations in different AUs.

Of course, Cross’s energy was nothing compared to Fresh’s unlimited amount. After accepting Nightmare’s offer of joining the Dark Sans’, he had become unbelievably happy. Fresh could be seen hanging out with anyone, Cross, Horror and Blood, Nightmare, even the knife twins, who would insist on a sparring match; Fresh against the two of them and Fresh would be asked to not hold back. Said match would always end up with Fresh as the victor and the twins beaten to exhaustion.

The knife twins were Dust and Killer. Since the two of them had such similar backgrounds, it was easy for them to get along. They both understood each other more than anyone else did. Ever since they met, they were inseparable, sharing almost everything: especially their love for their chosen weapons. If Killer was watching a movie, Dust would be watching too. If Dust was widdling with his knife, Killer would join and do the same. They hardly were ever seen apart. They often called themselves ‘a match made in hell’ because the killing nature of their work kept them from ‘heaven’.

Nightmare cared about his little group, it took him a while to figure it out, but he did. He was not as completely heartless as he or anyone else had thought. His positive emotions were just overpowered by the negative ones. Nightmare could feel positive feelings, just not as strong as the average person. Being around his little gang helped him recover his feelings of care and love. He would do anything for his boys.

“DONE! Finally!”

Nightmare had finished the paperwork and was now leaning against his chair, absolutely exhausted.

“If I see another pile of paperwork, it’ll be too soon.”

“DINNER!!”

Nightmare quickly got out of his chair and headed downstairs to the dining room at Blood’s message to the hideout. After all, he deserved a good meal after finishing the devil’s punishment known as paperwork.

At the bottom of the stairs was the living room, the walls were covered in photos that Fresh and Cross mostly took. A few were taken by the others, but the two most energetic of the group took the liberty of carrying cameras on their person. If any of the Light Sans’ saw how happy the gang was in those photos, they would think the pictures were photoshopped.

The knife twins were coming out of the basement, which was their training room. Just as the three of them came into the dining room, Blood and Horror were already serving plates to Cross and Fresh. Everyone took their respective seats and thanked the Horrortale brothers for the food.

Dinner was not quiet, with seven skeletons in one place anyone could have expected the continuous talking over the meal.

“Hey, do any of you know what happened to Outertale copy 30? The Light Sans’ said it’s been destroyed.”

That caught everyone’s attention, Cross now had all eye sockets on him.

“we haven’t taken an outertale in ages. nightmare, got any ideas?”

It was common for Horror to ask Nightmare the hard questions, especially if they involved missing AUs.

“You know as well as I do that sometimes AUs just go missing. And before you ask, I still don’t know what is happening to those AUs. They just vanish and it’s not because of me. Even though Ink and my brother say it is.”

Nightmare mumbled that last part to himself, but everyone heard it. They all knew that Nightmare had a hard time with Ink and Dream. Whenever things went wrong in the multiverse, they always point the finger at Nightmare. It was unfair in the gang’s opinion, but there was nothing they could do about it.

“So, the un-fresh freshness of this repeatin’ destruction can’t be figured out, Nighty?”

“Yes, Fresh. I’m still looking into what the cause is, but so far, I come up empty each time.”

“BUT I’M SURE YOU’LL FIGURE IT OUT! YOU ALWAYS GET THINGS DONE, NIGHTMARE, AND YOU DON’T GIVE UP. IT’S ONE OF YOUR GREATEST STRENGTHS!”

Nightmare smiled at Blood’s kind words of encouragement.

“Thanks, Blood.”

Killer changed the subject after that, mentioning that he and Dust had been working on some new moves in the basement, and the table went back to being loud again. But Nightmare was still thinking about the disappearing AUs.

‘AUs have been destroyed for seemingly no reason for as long as I can remember. I’m not doing it and it seems the Star Sans’ council has no idea either. Not only that, but there’s a shift in the balance around the edge of the multiverse. Negativity is being shifted to positivity sooner; like the genocides are stopping almost completely. What is going on?’

Nightmare also thought it was strange how newer AUs were getting happy all of a sudden. It had started happening long after the AUs started disappearing, but his instincts told him that the two were somehow connected.

‘It seems an investigation is in order.’

As the night went on, Nightmare planned his investigation of the outer most of the multiverse.

P.O.V.- The Bookstacks Sphere

Sparkling, silver eye lights gazed over the books in the Bookstacks Sphere, which could also be called Chronicle’s Library. In the silver gloved hands of the mysterious skeleton was Nightmare’s book.

“Let’s see… Ah! Here you go.”

As the skeleton returned the book to its proper place, steps could be heard coming closer.

“SANSA! You had better not be messing with my books again!”

At Chronicle’s furious voice, Sansa tuned in the direction the library’s keeper was coming from.

The caught skeleton’s face had a silver shine that stood out. The silver eye lights were like small spheres of sparkling, silver glitter. Just below the corner of the skeleton’s left eye socket was a small yin-yang circle that could be mistaken as a mole in the distance. Dark silver swirls started at the top of the eye sockets, expanding along the sides of her skull, mimicking long, curled eyelashes.

Sansa was wearing a long silver dress that stopped just above the top of her feet. The dress was thin but it was covered with little grey flowers embroidered from top to bottom. The long hanging sleeves were made of sheer silver fabric, they dangled from the elbows and went down to her ankles. Her silk silver gloves glistened in the light, they counseled her hands and arms completely, showing no bones. A sheer, silver, hooded veil cape, covered in little flower designs, hid Sansa’s two small, curled horns which resembled hair buns that were placed where her ears would be; if she had any.

Chronicle was now in front of Sansa, his face showed his annoyance and anger as she stood like a dignified lady; shoulders squared, chin leveled to the floor, spine straight as an arrow, left hand over the right, fingertips pointed down.

Chronicle crossed his arms and looked at Sansa in frustration.

“I thought I told you before not to come in here and do as you please.”

“I put the books back properly this time, Chronicle.” Sansa said with only a hint of a plea in her voice.

“Sylvia Sansa Serif Font! You know that’s not the issue! I’ve told you many times before to stay out of my books and you keep coming in here, without my permission and notice, and do as you wish like you own the place!”

Chronicle had just about enough of Sansa’s behavior over the last few weeks.

“Oh Chronicle… please understand. I have no other way of checking the progress of the balance. Until my own world is complete, I must use the Bookstacks Sphere, it ‘tis the only way.”

Sansa spoke in a gentle voice, laced with pleading as she folded her hands over her chest.

Chronicle’s own unique eye lights stared into Sansa’s silver ones. A long silence enveloped them as Chronicle thought things over. He eventually sighed and came to a decision.

“Alright, you can use my library. But! You have to let me know when you’re here and if you use the books, put them back properly. All of them! You’re not the only one who needs them you know.”

Sansa clapped her hands just below her chin in her happiness.

“Joy, perhaps we can even talk over a lovely cup of Lady Grey.”

Chronicle rubbed a hand down his face at Sansa’s reply, “You and your grey teas.”

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Error from the Anti-Void

Error tightened the last pouch’s drawstring, securing the handcrafted doll inside. Placing it on one of his coffee tables with the three others, he looked them over.

Danz’s pouch matched the doll’s small blue sweater, Salsa’s pouch was white to match his doll’s shirt, Cosmic’s pouch was yellow which matched the strips and sleeves of the doll’s jacket, and Pluto’s was a dark blue exactly like his scarf.

Today’s the day.

The newbies will meet the original four AU skeletons!

Which AU will you be sending them to?

“wEll, siNCe I hAve An ouTERtaLE, i fIGUreD iT wOuLD bE beST tO SeND THeM thERE.”

So, you’re giving them a small taste of freedom from the Underground.

That’s not how it should go! The monsters underground have to feel trapped until they break their barrier!

“hEY! THey’Re mINE NoW. anD thEY DEServE tO sEE tHe sTArS AFter GoINg tHRouGH All thOSE gEnOCIdeS.”

This is also a good way to seal the deal and prove to Cosmic that you are a good guy~

“i GuEsS… bUT I mOStlY jUSt waNT tHEm tO hAVe A gOOd TimE.”

Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get this party started!

Not wasting another second, Error opened six portals to his AUs. The Undertale, Underswap, Dancetale, and Outertale AU skeletons had all finished their lunch, while Swapfell and Underfell had just gotten home from their rounds.

Taking the four pouches off the coffee table, Error used his strings to send them to their respective skeletons.

When the Dancetale brothers noticed the strings placing the pouches on their table, the skeletons took them with little hesitation and loosened the drawstrings. Once Salsa saw his miniature self he smiled like a mad man while his brother stared at his own doll in awe and confusion.

“BROTHER! GOM HAS BESTOWED UPON US A GIFT! I THOUGHT THEY ONLY GAVE DOLLS TO CHILDREN, BUT I WAS WRONG!”

“ya, bro. i’m sure gom wanted you to know how great you are.”

“NYEH, HEH, HEH!”

Danz glanced at the pouches for a brief moment, wondering what the names on them could have meant.

When the Outertale brothers got their pouches, Cosmic was a bit hesitant to approach them while his brother was more willing. After Pluto opened the blue pouch, revealing his small gift, Cosmic immediately opened the yellow one, speechless as he looked over every detail of the toy.

“SANS, IT APPEARS WE HAVE BEEN GRANTED DOLLS FROM GOM!”

“ya, looks like we have.”

“NYEH, HEH, HEH!”

Cosmic’s attention, however, was more focused on the pouches and the peculiar names written on them.

With the delivery complete, Error opened more portals, connecting them all to Outertale 70. Focusing his magic, he sent his strings to grab all the skeletons except the Outertale brothers. Eight of the skeletons were more relaxed and excited once the strings were securely wrapped around them. Danz and Salsa, on the other hand, were a bit more startled and nervous.

“OH, SANS! I APPEARS WE WILL BE GOING TO ANOTHER WORLD, JUST LIKE HOW OUR FRIENDS CAME TO OURS!”

“yeah, looks like we’re takin’ a little trip.”

“PAPY! WE’RE GOING TO MEET OUR OTHER WORLDLY FRIENDS AGAIN!”

“seems that way, bro.”

“NYEH, SEEMS THAT VISIT HAS FINALLY COME.”

“yeah, bro. wonder where we’re goin’ now?”

“MWEH, HEH, HEH! SO IT BEGINS AGAIN.”

“yes, sans.”

“BROTHER, WHAT IS HAPPENING?”

“i dunno, bro.”

Error focused his magic, securing the skeletons for the trip. Then he pulled the strings, dragging all of them into Outertale 70. Just like last time, they all ended up piled onto each other in the living room. Cosmic and Pluto stared at the unexpected company with confusion, fascination, and wonder.

“BROTHER, ALL THESE NEW SKELETONS IN OUR HOUSE LOOK LIKE US!”

“WOWIE! IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN! THOUGH, WE MIGHT WANT WORK ON THE LANDING.”

“BLUE! RUS! MAUVE! IT HAS BEEN SO LONG! BUT, CAN WE GET UP? THIS PILE UP IS JUST AS UNCOMFORTABLE AS IT SEEMED WHEN YOU ALL CAME TO MY WORLD.”

“WELL, NOW YOU KNOW HOW WE FELT WHEN WE FIRST MET. BUT, IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN, PAPI.”

“RUS, REMOVE YOUR LEG FROM MY SPINE! BLUE, GET OFF! AND WHOEVER’S GOT THEIR ARM LOCKED WITH MINE, RELEASE ME!”

“SORRY, EDGY BROTHER LOOK-ALIKE! THAT'S MY ARM AND I AM EXTREMELY CONFUSED. DO YOU ALL KNOW EACH OTHER? AND, WHAT JUST HAPPENED?”

“yeah, can anyone explain, please?”

“i’d also like to know how you all got into our house.”

“welp, looks like we got newbies.”

“ya don’t say, classic~?”

“easy, fell. don’t get mad yet, we’re almost off ya.”

“hey, orange. ya feel like a smoke?”

“in a bit, ver.”

Error closed all his portals but one, moving over to his red beanbag, he watched the skeletons from his AUs interact. His newest AUs’ skeletons were obviously confused, but the others were quick to start explaining what had happened. Taking some candy from his many offerings lined on the coffee tables, he sat and observed their time together with a smile on his face. His AUs’ skeletons would be fine and he could not wait to see the looks on their faces when they figured out where they where.

P.O.V.- Sylvia Sansa from Chronicle’s Library/The Bookstacks Sphere

Sylvia read over the page in Error’s book, grinning at the funny little interaction the skeletons first had. Closing the book, she placed it in a pile of other AU books, all of which were under Error’s protection.

“Everything going according to your plans?”

Sansa turned to face the bookkeeper in front of a shelf, he had piles of books surrounding him, writing in one he had open in his hands.

“Yes, although I am curious as to why you care.” She responded, sitting in a desk’s chair and reaching for a teacup of Lady Grey.

“I can’t fully understand you. Your book has appeared but for some reason it’s blank, your world and story have not been made yet, and here you are doing your ‘job’ before you even have all the means to do it. Whatever you ‘job’ may be as you refuse to tell me what it is.”

The female skeleton sipped her drink before speaking, “Early bird gets the worm as they say. But, the main reason would have to be; this is the beginning of my story, in this multiverse at least.”

Chronicle finished writing and placed the book down as he looked over at Sylvia, “Does all of this have anything to do with the fact your creator’s powers seem weaker than others?”

Sansa closed her eye sockets and smiled sadly, “Yes, they are limited in their capabilities compared to other creators. I am hoping that the interaction and changes I am making in this reality will give them the extra push they need.”

“So they lack motivation.”

“Well, motivation and power. They have everything planned and thought out, but when it comes to bringing their creations to life? There is little they can do to achieve what they want.”

Chronicle looked confusingly to Sylvia, “So, something is blocking them from fully bringing you into the multiverse?”

“... yes. But enough about that, have some tea.You’ve been writing in that book for hours.”

Chronicle gave her a blank look before sighing, “I still do not understand your obsession with tea.”

Chapter Text

Third-person P.O.V. in Outertale copy 70

After the skeleton pile was dismantled, old friends reacquainted themselves while explaining the situation to the four new skeletons. Unsurprisingly, Danz and Cosmic had more questions than their brothers. They were the judges after all and it is a judge’s job to get the full story.

Once all the questions we answered, the room calmed down a bit. The original skeleton group of eight talked, discussing events that had happened in their own worlds and then roping their new alternates into their conversations. That is after the newbies got over their shock; meeting other versions of yourself -most of which already know each other- is a bit much to take in.

“OH! I ALMOST FORGOT TO ASK YOUR NAMES! WHAT NAMES DID YOU RECEIVE FROM GOM?” Papi asked a few minutes into their group conversation.

The four newbies looked at Papi confused. Salsa being the one to voice their question, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

Blue, hyped up with excitement, quickly explained, “WHAT WE MEANT TO ASK IS, WHAT ARE THE NAMES ON YOUR DOLLS’ POUCHES? THAT IS HOW WE GAIN OUR NICKNAMES, GOM SEWS THEM ON THE POUCHES THAT HOLD THE DOLLS THEY GIVE US. SEE?! HERE’S MINE!”

Blue pulled out his doll with its pouch and the others were quick to follow his example, each of them pulling out their representative dolls safely secure in their pouches. After they returned to their worlds from the first visit, each of them decided to keep Gom’s gift on their person, for sentimental reasons.

Understanding, the four newest skeletons pulled out their recent gifts and examined the names embroidered on the pouches. Danz and Cosmic, finally understanding the meaning behind them, gazed at the names with smiles on their skulls. While their brothers, Salsa and Pluto, practically beamed with joy.

“SO GOM HAS GRANTED ME A NICKNAME?! THEN I SHALL HEREBY BE CALLED PLUTO!!”

“AND I SHALL BE KNOWN AS SALSA!”

“guess i’m danz now.”

“cosmic, not a bad nickname.”

Another conversation broke out between the twelve skeletons. At first, it was about their nicknames, then it shifted to the differences in their worlds, then they talked about their own experiences with Gom, then they compared their friends, and about three hours later they were still talking. With six different versions of their worlds and each other, they never seemed to run short on topics to discuss. Even the lazy bones found something to talk about with their counterparts; mainly puns.

It was Mauve who diverted their attention, “SAY, WHY IS YOUR UNDERGROUND SO BRIGHT?”

Every skeleton turned their skull to the living room window, where they saw colorful lights brighten a dark background.

“oh, guess i forgot to mention,” Cosmic began to explain as the others stared out the window in awe, “in our world, monsters didn’t get sealed under a mountain. we were banished to space and made our kingdom in the asteroid belt. we live in stardin, just outside the ruins.”

“wait, so… those are real stars?” Classic asked in a low voice, completely focused on the view they all saw through the window.

“WHY YES, CLASSIC. YOU CAN SEE THOUSANDS TO MILLIONS OF STARS ALL OVER THE KINGDOM.” Pluto stated with a smile.

“c-can we… ya know… walk around a bit?” Fell asked with hesitance.

Pluto got excited at the request and beamed, “OF COURSE! MY BROTHER AND I SHALL GIVE YOU THE FULL TOUR OF OUR KINGDOM! COME! THERE IS MUCH TO SEE!”

And so the great skeleton tour began, lead by Outertale Papyrus and Sans. Throughout the tour, all the lazy bones were actually energized for once, often asking questions and taking pictures. Along the way, a lot of monsters asked about the sudden increase of skeleton brothers. In which they were quick to look over once they heard that they came through the power of Gom, or something similar. Eventually, Outertale Undyne ran into the skeletons on her rounds and, as anyone could have expected, she challenged the royal guard skeletons while their brothers cheered them on.

The rest of the visit went about as well as one could expect. The lazy brothers punned away, the ‘guard squad’ challenged each other once every hour, cooking sessions did not end in flames thankfully; mainly because Rus and Mauve were able to stop the more enthusiastic skeletons before they blew something up. All the judges did visit Grillby’s and had time to talk freely without their brothers listening.

Every other hour, some of the visiting skeletons could be found outside gazing up at the stars. They relished their momentary ‘freedom’ as much as they could, often whispering to themselves small gratitudes to Gom, where ever they may be. Later into the ‘night’, or what counted as ‘night’ in space, all the skeletons gathered into the living room for Outertale’s Mettaton Marathon. The enthusiastic skeletons compared their own TV celebrities and, expectedly, argued which was the better robot.

The visit dragged on longer than the last visit in Undertale, which the skeletons were quick to explain to the newbies that Gom would likely send them home; like last time. The lazy brothers hypothesized that it may have been because of time differences between their worlds. Their brothers guessed that it might have been because Gom wanted them to hang out longer, or they might have been busy with something. The skeletons were fine with staying longer, they wanted to saver their time in Outertale, wanting to stay technically ‘free’ from their Undergrounds for a few moments longer.

Eventually, all the skeleton brothers fell asleep in the living room, even the most active ones, and slept there until ‘morning’. Or the more accurate way of putting it; the skeletons passed out in a pile of bones, all in utterly uncomfortable positions, and were shocked awake by Pluto’s blaring bedroom alarm, causing half the brothers to jump two feet in the air and the rest to shout their discomfort (mainly Rus and Mauve).

It was after their surprising and unwanted method of waking up that Gom’s blue stings appeared hanging from the ceiling.

“oh, now they show up!” Vermillion shouted sarcastically while rubbing his skull tiredly.

“I DO NOT THINK IT WAS SO BAD. WE ALL GOT A SLEEPOVER! THOUGH, NEXT TIME, WE BEST PREPARE FOR LONGER STAYS IN THE FUTURE.” Salsa recommended as the blue threads wrapped around the skeletons, securing them for the trip back to their worlds.

“OH! MAYBE NEXT TIME YOU CAN ALL VISIT OUR WORLD!” Blue smiled with glee next to his brother.

“THAT WOULD BE NICE. HOPEFULLY NEXT TIME WE CAN STICK THE LANDING.” Papi said as the strings lightly tugged, testing their grip on the skeletons.

“YES, WE DO NEED TO WORK ON THAT.” Rus stood next to his brother as the strings began to pull harder, their final signal.

“WELL, IT WAS NICE TO MEET ALL OF YOU! UNTIL WE SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN, GOOD-BYE!” Pluto waved to his visitors as they were pulled by Gom’s strings and vanished.

Cosmic stared at the ceiling where his and his brother’s counterparts seemingly disappeared, “other worlds, alternate versions of us. i never thought i’d see proof of the multiverse theory like this.”

“NYEH, HEH, HEH! I PERSONALLY CAN NOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT VISIT! PERHAPS WE SHOULD HAVE SUITCASES ON HAND IN CASE WE DO HAVE ANOTHER SLEEPOVER.” Pluto suggested before he noticed the time, “OH! LOOK AT THE TIME! COME ON, BROTHER! WE DON’T WANT TO BE LATE FOR WORK!”

Arriving in their homes, each pair of skeleton brothers stood in their own living rooms.

“welp, that was fun, but i’m bone tired.” Classic said as he sat on the couch.

“YOU CAN’T NAP NOW BROTHER! IT’S ALMOST TIME FOR WORK!” Papi exclaimed as he grabbed his brother and headed out the door.

Fell was about to sit on his own couch when Rus grabbed his hood the second he saw the time, “WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE!” Rus then ran out of their house in record speed, dragging Fell behind him.

Mauve and Vermillion were no different, though there was a trail in the snow-covered ground from Mauve dragging Vermillion to his scenery station. That, and there was a faint sound of; “saaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnssssssss!!!!”

Blue and Orange actually had some spare time and walked to their Alphys’ house to tell her of their latest adventure.

Danz and Salsa also got a few minutes to prepare for their day and pack ‘alternate universe traveling bags’ for their next trip.

All things considered, the visit turned out well, but little did they know, such good times were numbered.

P.O.V.- Dream from the Doodle sphere

Dream was sorting through papers piled on a desk in his office, which was hidden in the doodle sphere, close to the meeting room. The Star Sans’ and the Council had been planning and working non-stop for weeks on end. Ink had assigned him to find suitable comrades to recruit from ones the Creator had chosen from the Multiverse. They were all skeletons from younger AUs, and in all honesty, Dream suspected Ink just took half of all the newer AUs and handed him the papers.

Dream sighed, sometimes Ink could be such a child when it came to new people. He suspected if Ink was ever introduced to a rock, the Protector would be overjoyed to meet it. Still, that left Dream with over a thousand different Sans’ to look over, adding their brothers, and choosing suitable ones that could help them in this war.

The war between the Light Sans’ and the Dark Sans’ had been going on for years, sometimes it even felt like an eternity. Dream remembered simpler times, back when he and Nightmare were best friends; brothers and protectors of the Tree. To this day, he still longed to have his brother back, wishing they could go back to old times and forget this war ever started. But Nightmare was too far gone, he was corrupted from all the black apples he had eaten on that dreadful day. Dream still did not understand why his brother had done such a thing, he thought Nightmare was happy.

Shaking his skull, Dream returned to his work, ‘I need to stop thinking about such things. The past is the past, there are people counting on me. We have to win this war, or else thousands of positive feelings, hopes, and dreams will be lost to Nightmare's negativity.’

His focus now on the mountain of paperwork on his desk, Dream stacked all eligible skeletons’ files to one side while putting the rest on the other. The Star Sans’ were looking for people with more HoPe, people who could help and contribute to the war. While all of the files on his desk were from newer AUs and most had not experienced full genocides, they needed those with skill and motivation. Finding such help in the multiverse was like separating the color indigo from the rainbow, it was hard to see the potential people from such a wide range of unique individuals.

Reading over almost half of the files, Dream stumbled upon something strange. In was a file of an Undertale Sans, everything was just as any average Undertale Sans’ file would be; smart, good at dodging, experience with science and engineering, karmic retribution, and so on. But it was the Sans’ experience with his human’s runs that caught his attention: incomplete genocide, completed neutral, continuous pacifist.

‘That’s strange… since when is there a continuation of pacifist timelines in an Undertale AU this young? Not only that… but when did pacifist timelines continue without a complete genocide?’

All of the Undertale timelines followed a similar pattern in their early stages; first was the completion of pacifist runs, then the neutrals, and finally the genocides were finished. After that, the humans would mix up their runs however they pleased and each AU would have the slightest differences in the Sans’ personalities; if the AU did not go through a drastic change like in Aftertale or ‘The Thought’ AUs.

For an AU to have incomplete genocide and continuous pacifist timelines this early was unheard of. And if that was not enough, there was a note in the file that said ‘he has accepted the help of another without judgment’.

‘Okay, that is not normal,’ Dream thought.

After all, if a Sans was to receive help from another, the Sans would always judge them, that was simply their nature. And who was the one this Sans had gotten help from? Dream and Ink avoided new AUs in their early stages so it could not have been them. The AU was happy so there was no way Nightmare and his gang helped. If anything, this Undertale AU was happy far too soon, the genocide was never completed and the pacifist was continued. The file said that the monsters of this AU were still in the Underground and the Sans was apparently okay with it.

Deciding to talk to Ink about the AU when he was finished, Dream placed the Undertale AU copy to a corner on his desk with the Sans’ brother. But when Dream grabbed the next file, he could not believe his eye sockets.

It was an Underfell Sans with the same timeline experience as the Undertale Sans he had set aside. This Underfell Sans was also still underground, perfectly fine with it, and had a similar note on the file; ‘he has accepted help from another without further need for judgment.’

Dream took the Underfell AU copy’s Sans and Papyrus files with the strange Undertale AU’s skeletons and reached for the next file. Again, the file was off! It was an Underswap AU’s Papyrus, same timeline difference, still underground, happy, and the note said ‘he accepted the help from another with no judgment’.

‘What is going on?!’ Dream was beyond confused, how are three different AUs so similar?

Once more, he placed the strange Underswap AU’s skeletons with the two other odd AU’s. Reaching for the stack of papers, Dream pulled the next two AU’s skeleton brothers, hoping to not find another unusual AU. But nope! In his left hand were the skeleton brothers of a Swapfell AU and in his right were the skeleton brothers of a Dancetale AU. The judges of both AUs were happy despite still living in the Underground, the genocide was incomplete, and their notes were similar to the other three!

Placing both AUs’ skeleton brothers in the strange AUs pile, Dream grabbed the next two AUs’ skeleton brother files. Thankfully, only the Outertale in his left hand was different, the Dancefell in his right was fine. Putting the Dancefell AU files back in the stack it came from, Dream laid out all the strange AUs’ skeleton brothers files on his desk.

Undertale AU- copy 56
Underfell AU- copy 66
Underswap AU- copy 92
Swapfell AU- copy 99
Dancetale AU- copy 50
Outertale AU- copy 70

Six AUs that had incomplete genocides, judges that were happy in the Underground, and all the judges’ files had similar notes saying that they had accepted someone’s help without judging them.

‘I have to talk to Ink about this, one weird AU is enough but SIX? There has to be something going on.’

Taking the files in his arms, Dream headed out of his office in search of the creator. This was absolutely no coincidence, they had to investigate this anomaly.

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Fresh from Nightmare’s Hideout

Fresh was having a normal day so far, Horror and Blood were in the kitchen making lunch, Killer and Dust were sparring in the basement, and Cross was sitting with him on the living room sofa watching TV. All that was missing was Nightmare, who was in his office working on something.

The colorful skeleton knew when something was wrong with one of the gang, after all, he was pretty good at reading people and Fresh had been living with these skeleton for a while now. Fresh would always be grateful that he was welcomed and treated like family in Nightmare’s gang. It was nice to have others that care about him than having run from place to place because people were afraid of him.

Ever since Fresh was young, he had unusual eye-lights. One was normal but the other was shaped like a monster soul, which was the cause of the multiverse’s fear of him. In Fresh’s AU, he was picked on as a kid for his eyes and as he grew up, the bullying got worse and rumors started to spread. Monsters claimed that Fresh ate other’s souls and killed people for fun, some even claimed he was emotionless and could not feel anything. None of which was true, Fresh was like any other Sans, he just had a different appearance. It all went downhill when Ink visited his world and talked to the locals, the creator believed the rumors and lies. Soon after, Ink attacked Fresh: forcing him to live his life on the run, fleeing from Ink and the bullies of his AU. Fresh tried to make friends, laugh, and have some fun to counter the weight of what happened, but Ink would always find him or someone would see his eyes and freak out.

Fresh became lonely and distrusting of others over time, it was only when Nightmare found him that he began to open up once more. Everyone in Nightmare’s gang was an outcast one way or another. Horror and Blood were treated poorly because they had to eat humans in their AU to survive, Killer and Dust were driven to insanity by their humans’ constant genocides, and Cross was the only survivor of his AU and was left alone in an empty world for a long time. Nightmare took all of them in some time after he left his home, finding them all through their negative emotions and offering them a place where they could live and be themselves without judgment. The King of Negativity had found Fresh when he was at one of his lowest points and said that if he ever needed a place to stay Fresh was welcome to the hideout. It took some time for Fresh to be comfortable around others again, but all of the gang were patient and helped him overcome any fears he had.

If the Light Sans’ ever bothered to get to know the Dark Sans’, they would see that there was hardly anything different between them besides history and appearance. Killer and Dust were like brothers to each other and were inseparable, they even had a talent for widdling and were pretty good at making little wooden statues. Horror and Blood were expert cooks at this point, each meal they served was irresistible by smell alone, heavenly by taste. Cross was an energetic child; fun, caring, and a ball of smiles and laughter, he was always happy. Nightmare was like the ‘father figure’ of their family, even if he was busy he would drop everything to help the others if they were in distress.

They were all outcasts but they were happy to have each other, that’s why Fresh took any opportunity he had to thank Nightmare for accepting him into the family. Fresh took it upon himself to handle any arguments that broke out between them, spar with the knife twins, and keep everyone in check; especially when Nightmare had a lot of work to get done and needed time to finish it.

But today, Fresh knew Nightmare had gotten his paperwork done, so whatever the gang leader was working on for the last few days was either a surprise for the gang or something he was stumped on. And considering that Gyftmas was too far away and there were no special occasions coming up, it had to be the latter. Wanting to help, Fresh decided to talk to Nightmare.

“Hey, Cross bra, I’m gonna talk to Nighty. Ya be ok without me?” Fresh asked as he got up from the couch.

“Yeah, the commercials are gonna be on for a while, so I was gonna head down to the basement to train with Dust and Killer.” Cross responded as he turned off the television.

Cross walked off to the basement as Fresh headed for Nightmare’s office. The colorful skeleton paused at the door and knocked twice.

“Come in.” Nightmare responded in a tired voice.

Fresh entered the room and closed the door behind him. Getting a good look at Nightmare, Fresh noticed that the leader was clearly lacking proper sleep. On Nightmare’s desk were stacks of paper and Nightmare seemed to be going over every single sheet.

“Yo, Nighty, what’s got you so stumped, bra?”

“... I’m trying to find the reason why some AUs just disappear. It’s not me corrupting them but Ink and Dream like to blame me. The thing is… ” Nightmare paused in thought as Fresh moved closer to the desk, getting a good look at the papers which were all old files of AUs that had disappeared for seemingly no reason.

“I can’t find anything that might have caused it. Other than the fact that all the AUs that vanish are copies, there is nothing else they have in common. The timelines weren’t the same, they all had one of the three types: some were pacifist, some neutral, and some genocide. There was nothing special about any of the AUs, each one was just as a copy should be. And the most frustrating thing is: there’s nothing else!”

Nightmare rubbed his face in exhaustion, clearly at a loss. Fresh could see why Nightmare was lost, something was not adding up. All the AUs were fine, they were all just copies, and for some reason, they all disappeared without a trace.

“Well, ya got any suspicions?” Fresh and the others in Nightmare’s gang knew that if Nightmare had a suspicion, more often than not, his suspicion was right.

Nightmare hesitated before he opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a folder with six separate files.

“For some reason, my gut’s telling me that these have something to do with it.” Nightmare said as he laid out the files on his desk.

Each file belonged to a judge from six different AUs: Undertale, Underswap, Underfell, Swapfell, Dancetale, and Outertale. Fresh took the file of the Swapfell Papyrus and read over it. He saw what was off about it, having helped Nightmare with his paperwork before, Fresh knew what the files of judges should be like, but this file was different. The Swapfell Papyrus’ AU did not have a complete genocide, which was normal for young AUs, however, the pacifist was continued.

Fresh also read the note on the file: he has acquired help from another without judgment. Now that set off the red flags.

“Is this file for real Nighty?” Fresh asked, glancing at Nightmare over the paper, “Cause, I don’t mean ta question ya fresh and radical info, but this can’t be possible. It takes a long time fo’ judges from alternate universes to be fine wit’ help and that’s wit’ judgment.”

Nightmare sighed, “It’s legit, Fresh. The same applies to the other ones as well. For some reason, all of these judges have accepted help from another with no judgment. Not only that, but their AUs have all started continuous pacifist timelines even though their genocides haven’t been completed. That’s not even adding the fact that the AUs' emotions have shifted to happy and hopeful despite still being trapped. And all of them seem perfectly content being stuck in their Undergrounds too.”

Now that set off major red flags and alarms in Fresh’s skull. How was it possible for the judges of these AUs to be fine with staying trapped in the Underground? Normally monsters trapped underground would fight tooth and nail to get out to the surface.

“So, ya think all the disappearing AUs got somethin’ ta do wit’ these?”

While it did seem strange for the two to be connected, if Nightmare suspected they were, then he was most likely right.

“Yeah, I’m not sure how, but my instincts keep telling me they do. I’ve tried to find some kind of connection between them, but as you can see,” Nightmare gestured the stacks of papers on his desk, “I can’t find anything.”

Fresh glanced at all the papers on Nightmare’s desk before looking at Nightmare. “Then how about a direct investigation?”

Nightmare quickly turned his skull to face Fresh, “With AUs this young? Fresh, I may as well send a letter to my brother asking him to meet me there with an invite for Ink. And there is no way I am putting any of you in danger intentionally.”

Fresh shrugged, “True, but if we’re careful we can be in and outta there without Inky or Dream ever knowing. Don’t forget, we can hold our own in a fight wit’ them if we have to.”

Nightmare hesitated for a moment before sighing in defeat, aware that when Fresh wanted to help, nothing could stop him. There was no arguing with the colorful skeleton when he wanted to help.

“Okay. But! If Inky or my brother show up for any reason, even if they don’t see you, you will be calling me immediately. No exceptions!”

Fresh chuckled slightly, having already guessed that Nightmare would say that.

“Alrighty, Nighty. I’ll tell the others an’ we can get started on planning fo’ this investigation.”

Fresh headed back to tell the rest of Nightmare’s gang of the investigation, unaware that once they all got involved with these worlds, there was no going back.

P.O.V.- Blueberry from the Doodle sphere

“Well, they certainly are odd, Dream.” Ink said in a more curious voice than a concerned one.

“They are, Ink, and that’s what worries me. This kind of thing shouldn’t even be possible.” Dream spoke, trying to make Ink see his concerns.

Blueberry and Dream were in Ink’s office. Blueberry had been telling Ink that some of the council members would be bringing their brothers for the next meeting. Then Dream had walked in with a handful of files just minutes ago, placing them an Ink’s desk and pointing out their strangeness.

Dream had specifically said that all of them had the same differences despite being different worlds. And Blueberry had to admit that a version of his brother accepting help from another without ever judging them was hard to believe. But the files did not lie, and each judge of every AU had a similar note. Not to mention that the unusual timeline pattern they all followed was unheard of.

Of course, Ink being Ink, the creator saw the AUs’ odd repeating differences as something to be excited about rather than finding them concerning. Dream should have expected this, but like always, the Protector of Dreams still struggled to reason his concerns to the Guardian of the Multiverse.

“I know!” Ink said with a skull-cracking grin, “That’s what makes them so interesting!”

Both Blueberry and Dream sighed, typical Ink.

“I THINK WHAT DREAM IS TRYING TO SAY INK,” Blueberry started, attempting to reason with the creator, “IS THAT THERE MIGHT BE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THESE AUS. MAYBE WE SHOULD VISIT THEM WHILE WE MEET ALL THE NEW ALTERNATES WE’LL BE RECRUITING?”

Ink’s response came with a blank look as he tilted his head, “Do we really need to be worried so much about this?”

Both the blue and yellow colored skeletons hung their skulls and resisted the urge to face-palm.

“Yes, Ink. This is something we need to be worried about.” Dream sounded like he was hanging at the end of his rope. To be fair, Blueberry could not blame Dream, Ink was incredibly and childishly stubborn sometimes.

“Okay, then. When we start recruiting all the new Sans’ and Papyrus’, we’ll stop by these AUs and have a little peek at how they’re doing.” Ink smiled happily, oblivious to any concerns his friends had.

P.O.V.- The Bookstacks Sphere

Sylvia Sansa grinned as she placed the original Underswap’s book back on its proper shelf.

“And now, it ‘tis only a matter of time.”

“A matter of time for what?”

The silver skeleton turned and looked up, seeing the library’s keeper walking down from a staircase.

“Just what are you planning? You’ve barely even hinted at what all of this is about. All I really know is that you somehow altered six AUs’ codes slightly, somehow got the Star Sans’ and Dark Sans’ to want to investigate those six AUs, and somehow it’s all going as you planned. What is all of this for?”

Chronicle’s curiosity was killing him at this point, most of what Sansa was doing was not making any sense at all. Even though for the most part she would just read about what was going on in different AUs. Everything that was happening was, apparently, expected.

A low giggle stopped Chronicle’s thoughts, having reached the bottom of the staircase, he stared at Sansa with a confused expression.

“Oh, Chronicle, this is just what I was designed for,” Sylvia Sansa Serif Font began, “these little changes? They’re all to tip the balance as it should be.”

That just made Chronicle more confused, “What are you talking about?”

“You will find out in do time. For now though, how about a nice hot cup of Lady Grey? I will even make some madeleines.” She offered with a smile, completely ignoring his question.

Knowing he was not going to get any more information, Chronicle gave in and sighed, “Alright, I’ll join you for tea. Though I still don’t understand your obsession with it.”

Chapter Text

Time moved both slowly and quickly in the multiverse. As the Star Sans’ and Dark Sans’ planned for their upcoming battle, Error watched and guarded his special AUs with care and consideration.

Error made sure to let his skeleton brothers meet up at least once a month, or as close to a ‘month’ he could manage as the Anti-void had no means of measuring time. Instead, he settled for counting his ‘night’ offerings as a way of knowing when he set up another ‘get-together’ or ‘alternate-world-sleepover’ Papi and Blue called them.

Once every 29-31 nightly offerings, Error would send his strings to collect the skeleton brothers of his AUs and their pre-packed bags and send them all to one of his AUs. Thanks to the brothers’ foresight of keeping packed bags of items in their living rooms, Error could let them stay in one AU overnight and even well into the next day before returning them to their respective homes.

A few sleepovers ago, Classic voiced to the fellow judges that he wanted to repay Gom with more than just offerings. All of them brought it up to their brothers at dinner that same day and they all agreed that they wanted to do more for Gom to repay his kindness and mercy. Eventually, they came up with an idea to show Gom their appreciation for all that was done; build shrines in honor of him.

At first, Error thought the idea was silly. He had more than enough as it was with all the offerings from various worlds, but seeing his AUs’ skeletons get so interested and excited about the gift, he held back on denying it.

With the help of their Alphys’ and Undynes’ expertise on ‘human culture’, the monsters of the Undergrounds decided on a ‘wayside shrine’, which was perfect for monsters passing by or to give their gratitude. The shrine was ‘Japanese’ style as the Alphys’ had described it. In the end, they ended up looking like really small houses with five stone steps leading up to an empty room with one wall having a message painted on it: Our Eternal Thanks to Gom, our God Of Mercy.

The words were painted in blue, the stone the shrines were made out of was actually a dark grey but it could easily pass as black. The small double doors were painted red with bright yellow hinges and knobs. The small space inside the shrines was lit with a single bulb that gave them a bit of a golden glow. The roofs had eye-catching yellow shingles outlined in red. All in all, they looked amazing. Now some people left offerings inside the shrines and by morning they were gone.

Error ended up liking the shrines a lot. A good portion of the monsters of the Undergrounds switched from leaving their offerings in their houses to leaving them inside and around the shrines. Which, in all honesty, made getting all his offerings at once much easier. Still, some monsters, including the skeletons, left their offerings in their houses anyway. Apparently, they came to the belief that when the offerings were gone, it was a sign that Gom would always protect them.

Error kind of laughed at that belief, he thought it was obvious enough that he would protect them. They were HIS, he was THEIRS. They would always be under his protection, he would even give his life to protect them. They had become so much to him, they were the source of true happiness in his dark existence.

Error still hated it when he had to destroy other AUs. Over and over again, he would have to wipe out more copies just to give the AUs room to grow and avoid coming into contact. He dreaded the fact that at any moment, two AUs could just barely touch and destroy each other, causing more to collapse and be demolished.

The God of Destruction tried to avoid these thoughts as best he could, focusing on his duties as a God of Mercy. He assisted monsters with their work, played with the children, helped sad monsters laugh when they were down, and always helped them learn to protect themselves when the humans would leave the Ruins.

Luckily, the humans of his AUs had calmed down some. They were becoming more content to living in the Ruins, ultimately deciding that living there was better than dealing with his strings. They occasionally tried to be nice to the monsters beyond the Ruins, but it was hard for them since everyone had at least one memory of their genocide runs.

To Error, everything was perfect. He would not change things from as they were for anything.

Little did he know: things were bound to change far more than he ever thought.

P.O.V.- Ink from the Doodle Sphere

Various skeletons from alternate AUs stood in a large room talking amongst themselves as Ink used his Broomie to create many portals that led to other AUs.

Ink finished creating the last portal and wiped his brow with a huff. Then, the guardian turned to face the alternate versions of Sans and Papyrus, each unique from the others in their own ways.

“Alright! Everyone has their assignments! You all know what your missions are!” Ink announced, causing all the skeletons to cease their talking and face him. Blueberry and Dream moved to stand on either side of Ink, as their original team.

Dream began to speak, “Our objective is to gather willing allies to help us in our battle against the Dark Sans’. Do not leave out any details as you tell them of our war and make sure they know the stakes of joining.”

“AND REMEMBER TO MAKE FRIENDS! NO MATTER HOW THEIR AUS ARE, THEY ALL DESERVE TO BE TREATED WITH KINDNESS!” Blueberry finished with a grin a mile wide.

With each alternate skeleton nodding their skull at their own pace, one by one all of them left through one of the portals. Soon, it was just the Star Sans’ left in the room.

Dream walked up to one of the three portals closest to them, “Okay, now we just have to figure out what’s wrong with these AUs. I’ll take the Underfell one, my powers will keep me safe from harm while I try to gather details.”

Blueberry nodded, “AND I SHALL TAKE THE UNDERSWAP AU. WHO BETTER TO TALK TO AN ALTERNATE VERSION OF MY BROTHER THAN MYSELF?” He asked with a smile.

“That leaves the Undertale AU to me then. This will be so interesting, and fun!” Ink smiled as his eye lights changed to show his excitement and joy.

Dream sighed, “Remember: we have to find out why they’re different. Just gather information then come back. We’ll compare our findings, then check on the others. All right?”

“OKAY, DREAM!” Blueberry saluted, still smiling.

“Don’t worry! I won’t forget.” Ink smiled, ‘Maybe’ he thought to himself.

Dream sighed as if knowing what Ink thought. Which he probably did considering how long Dream has known him.

“Let’s go!” Blueberry hopped through his chosen portal and disappeared into the AU.

Dream locked eye sockets with Ink, nodded, then turned to his portal and stepped through it.

Ink, being the last to leave, looked over the now empty room before walking up to his portal. He took a deep breath as he stopped just a couple feet in front of it.

‘I really do hope Dream’s worries are for nothing,’ Ink thought to himself.

While he may sometimes act like a child, it was really his way of covering his nervousness and fears. He knew these strange AUs were beyond anything he had seen before in the multiverse. And he created the multiverse, so it was concerning that his AUs had turned out like this.

‘Still, if there is something wrong, I will fix it. They are MY creations after all.’

With that thought, Ink stepped through the portal to Undertale copy 56. Not knowing just what awaited him on the other side.

P.O.V.- Sylvia Sansa in the Bookstacks Sphere

Chronicle was looking over her shoulder as she chuckled knowingly at the page in Ink’s book.

“All proceeding to plan, I assume?” Chronicle asked, raising a brow.

"You assume correctly, my dear Chronicle,” Sylvia replied as she closed the book, “and they do not even know it in the slightest.”

“You sound like a villain when you say it like that.” Chronicle stated as he took the book from Sansa’s gloved hands and returned it to its proper place among the many shelves surrounding them.

She just smiled and shrugged her shoulders slightly, “Perhaps I am a villain in this story. Perhaps I am a heroine in disguise. How others classify me in this story does not matter. I will do what must be done, regardless of what that may bring.”

Chronicle paused and looked over to Sylvia as she reached for her pot of Lady Grey tea and poured two cups.

“You still haven’t told me what exactly it is you do,” he said slowly as he walked over to the table and sat down, “are you ever going to tell me what your purpose is?”

Sylvia Sansa looked up at Chronicle and sighed contentedly, “There is no need for me to tell you. Very soon, you will receive my book’s contents and all the answers you seek will be there.”

Chronicle stared at her as she kept her eye sockets closed with a small smile on her skull. Not a sound passed between them even as she sipped her silver cup of tea.

He sighed after a few minutes and took his own cup to drink.

“Well, at least I’ve figured out that grey tea is to you what ketchup is to an Undertale Sans and honey is to an Underswap Papyrus.”

The statement caught Sansa off guard and she started laughing, spilling her tea as she tried to put in on the table.

“It’s about time you figured that out!”

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Classic from Undertale copy 56

Classic smiled contently as he headed for his station. With Gom there was not really a need to keep a lookout for the human, but Papyrus insisted they continue going to work.

Today was going perfect so far, Gom had finished playing with the kids not too long ago with Merci, Papyrus was off training with Undyne, and everyone was happy in the Underground.

‘yup, this is the perfect day for a nap,’ Classic thought as he sat at his station and placed his skull comfortably on the surface.

Not ten minutes into his small trip to dreamland and he was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of fear.

Classic sat up from his seat immediately, scanning the area around himself for the source of the feeling. Strangely, the fear was not coming from around him, as nothing and no one was there. Instead, it seemed to be emanating from…

‘my coat?’ Classic wondered as he reached into his front coat pockets. Everything was there and fine at first; his bottle of ketchup, his keys, his comb, his phone, and-

‘gom’s doll.’

As Classic’s hand surrounded the pouch that covered the small gift, the fear he was sensing seemed to connect to his emotions.

Fear. Dread. Worry. Danger.

Those were the emotions Classic was feeling as he firmly gripped his doll.

‘what’s going on? why is this happening? what is happening?’ Thousands of questions swarmed his skull as he lifted the pouch from his pocket and examined it. Oddly, the embroidered nickname was slightly glowing with magic.

‘what is this? is there something going on?’

Concerned, Classic teleported to the Ruins door, but he found it still sealed shut with no signs of it ever opening. Leaning his skull to the door, he could not hear any sounds of battling, so the human could not have been trying to leave.

‘okay, so what could be wrong?’

The emotions coming from the doll did not cease, they seemed to increase every minute that passed.

Getting worried, he pocketed his doll again and started teleporting along the path.

Every puzzle had been just as it was before, every sentry had been at their posts, nothing had been triggered or out of place. However, the fear and sense of danger coming from his gift still grew. Classic finally teleported to Snowdin, where he did find one out of place thing, or rather, an out of place person.

Standing by the tall tree in the square of the town was another skeleton. He was slightly shorter than Classic with a brown scarf, a stain on his cheek, and a large paintbrush on his back. His clothes ranged from brown, black, and white with a blue jacket tied around his waist and a sash with a rainbow of colors attached to it. His eye lights seemed to change every time he blinked and the oddest thing was, this strange skeleton looked a lot like a Sans.

This new skeleton was talking with a bear and bunny monster and they seemed to be in a deep conversation. But just by seeing this new Sans made the dread and fear from the doll increase.

‘is this guy the reason gom’s doll is reacting like this?’

Classic decided to take cover between some buildings, keeping an eye socket on this new Sans while trying to find the reason behind the sense of danger coming from his doll.

From the corner of his eye socket, Classic saw that some kids were also hiding while gazing at the new monster. Looking carefully, he could see each of them were gripping their own dolls tightly.

‘are they getting the same emotions from their dolls?’

That seemed to be the case as the kids were looking at the new skeleton with confusion and worry.

‘something’s not right here,’ Classic thought, ‘why are the dolls giving off these emotions? it’s like they-’ Classic froze, ‘... they’re connected to another’s feelings… they’re connected to gom’s feelings.’

All the dolls had been made by Gom, they were given considerable attention and not a single detail had been missed. They could have even been made with Gom’s magic, and if that was the case, then it would explain why they were reacting this way.

‘maybe gom knows something about this guy,’ Classic thought as he kept his sight on the skeleton, ‘maybe there’s something dangerous about him.’

However, the new skeleton looked completely harmless, he seemed more curious than dangerous. The monsters talking with him cracked jokes and he just laughed right along with them. Classic could not find a single sign in the skeleton’s composure that set off any red flags.

But the longer the new monster stayed, the more fear came off the doll. Classic was getting conflicted; on one hand, he trusted Gom, on the other, he trusted his own judgment.

‘welp,’ Classic thought as he started walking up to the new Sans, ‘guess the only thing to do is get right to the bottom of this. one way or another.’

P.O.V.- Fell from Underfell copy 66

Fell was walking around Snowdin after finishing his break. He was looking forward to his nap at his station, even knowing his bro would likely get onto him about sleeping on duty.

Just as he entered the square, the air seemed to snap around him. Alarms went off in his head, making him spin his skull around so fast he could have snapped it off.

He was not the only one reacting this way, his wide search of the area helped him see the kids that were playing had suddenly stopped and had done the same. The little monsters were huddling close and gripping their dolls as if their lives depended on it.

Taking a moment, Fell focused on what he was sensing: Fear. Horror. Terror. Danger.

Those were feelings Fell thought were long passed him. He hadn’t felt those emotions since before Gom appeared.

‘but, where’s it comin’ from?’

Fell tried to focus on where the emotions were emanating, finding the trail leading to his coat. Padding himself down Fell reached inside his front pockets, finding all of his usual stuff where it should be and-

Fell felt like he had been hit over the skull with the sheer weight of the emotions he was feeling as his phalanges brushed against the pouch that held his doll.

Steeling himself, he gripped his doll’s pouch tightly and pulled it out, finding his embroidered nickname glowing with magic.

‘the hell? what is all this?’

Fell could only wonder for a moment before the emotions suddenly increased, causing him to look around again and stop his search at something strange.

Walking into Snowdin was a skeleton, clearly a Sans by his size and shape, but he was not anyone Fell knew.

The new skeleton monster had some kind of ring around his skull, a bright yellow cape, a blue skirt and pants, and yellow boots. He carried some kind of staff and looked completely harmless as if he were a yellow version of Blue. Anyone could tell the guy was not from around here or anywhere in the Underground.

Glancing at the kids, he saw them gathered together in an alley and all of them were looking at the brightly clothed skeleton. As the newcomer walked farther into the town square, the fear kept growing.

Fell looked back at his doll, ‘what is- why?’

He looked over to the kids, then to his doll which was still in its pouch.

‘is this?... are these gom’s emotions?’

It made the most sense as the dolls had all been given to them by Gom. If they were made with magic then they could be connected to Gom. So…

‘this is like a warnin’. a sign that somethin’s not right.’

Fell looked back at the new skeleton, who was starting a conversation with a bunny monster. He seemed defenseless, innocent, and kind. But was that all he was?

‘this guy’s not supposed to be here.’

Fell returned his pouched doll to his pocket and started marching towards the skeleton in yellow.

‘i need ta get ta the bottom of this.’

P.O.V.- Orange from Underswap copy 92

Orange was walking back home with his brother who had finished all his rounds and wanted to hurry back to watch NTT.

Blue kept babbling on about how cool Napstaton was and how awesome it would be to meet him one day like he always did. The day was going by normally like any other day since Gom appeared. The kids had played with Gom’s giant bear, people left their offerings at the shrine, the occasional prank from Gom, and the happiness of every monster in the Underground was clear for everyone to see.

Just as they got to their house, both he and his brother were overwhelmed by a sudden wave of emotions that were not theirs. Fear. Alarm. Panic. Danger.

They glanced at each other for a minute before searching for the source of the sudden emotional warning.

Orange patted himself down once he sensed the sudden sensation was coming from him and his brother. Blue had just reached his pocket as Orange reached his, and both of them froze.

The feelings ranging from fear to danger nearly knocked them off their balance. Both of them had just barely touched their dolls, the gifts from Gom, and it was like the need to get away from something that was over-riding their own senses.

“P-Papy… ”

Orange looked at his brother, who was sharing his same expression of worry and concern.

“... Do-Do You Think These A-Are GOM’S Feelings?”

Orange’s eye sockets widened at the suggestion. It did seem possible, the dolls were from Gom, they could have some kind of connection to them. And if that was true, then something was extremely wrong. Something was so upsetting that it even scared their God Of Mercy, but what?

Before he could reply, the sensation of danger increased, alerting them of something.

“GREETINGS, FELLOW SKELETONS!”

Both Orange and Blue stilled at the voice they heard. The brothers glanced at each other once more before turning around completely. There, standing just five feet away from the mailbox was another skeleton: another skeleton that looked exactly like Blue.

While Blue stood with his jaw hanging at his doppelganger, Orange began putting the pieces together.

‘the emotions we’ve been getting started a bit before he showed up. and when he came up to us, they got stronger. is he the reason gom’s so scared?’

Orange looked over Blue’s twin, he seemed exactly like his brother in every way. From his attire to his smile, it was all a perfect replica of Blue’s.

Still, he learned a long time ago to not judge a book by its cover. He will learn why this other Blue is here and why he is causing Gom distress.

‘no matter what.’

Chapter Text

P.O.V.- Sylvia Sansa Font from Chronicle’s Library/The Bookstacks Sphere 

Sylvia Sansa was reading over the books for Undertale 56, Underswap 92, and Underfell 66 when an unexpected guest arrived. 

“what? where is this?” 

She looked up from one of the books to see a Sans standing in front of a bookshelf with his back turned to her. The skeleton’s jacket was mostly black with a purple hood that had a black directional pad on the right side. His shoes and shorts were black with white and purple coloring his outfit. As he turned around, she saw a simple white t-shirt helped bring out the white puzzle pieces on his jacket’s sleeves. His hands were covered with black fingerless gloves and in them was a colorful Rubix cube. 

Sansa knew just who he was immediately after seeing that cube, “Quintillion!Tale Sans, Gamer Sans, I believe you are called.” 

Gamer saw Sylvia and froze in shock, which she understood; it was rare to see a female Sans. 

Sansa gave Gamer a welcoming smile and put the books aside. Then she used her magic to bring her tea set over and placed a chair across the table she was seated at. 

“Please, do not be so surprised. A traveler who has seen so much must know by now that anything is possible in the multiverse.”  

She took the silver pot in her gloved hands and poured three cups of Earl Gray tea into the small matching cups. 

“h-how do you know about me?” Gamer asked, clearly nervous. 

Sylvia was about to speak but was interrupted by the sound of Chronicle walking down the nearby staircase. 

“Sansa, who’s that with you?” the library’s keeper asked from above. 

“No need to be alarmed, Chronicle,” Sylvia replied, gesturing an empty seat to Gamer, “we have an interdimensional traveling guest today. Come and join us for tea.”

Chronicle reached the bottom of the stairs and stood there, looking over Gamer Sans before giving a warm smile. 

“I cannot say I never expected you to find the Bookstacks Sphere,” Chronicle said as he walked to the table and took an empty seat next to Sansa, “but anything is possible in the multiverse.”  

Sylvia handed Chronicle a cup of tea before using her magic to bring a tray of sweets, ranging from scones, truffles, madeleines, and muffins. 

“Please, sit down, Gamer, and help yourself. You have found a very safe place to be, as few people even know of the Bookstacks Sphere.”

Gamer looked between the two of them skeptically before taking a seat. Sansa handed the third teacup to him, which he took slowly after putting away his cube. 

Sylvia took a tea plate and placed a madeleine and scone on it before handing it to Chronicle. The librarian smiled gratefully as he took the pastries and Sylvia took another plate to fill as she spoke again. 

“As you may have guessed, I am a female Sans. My full name is Sylvia Sansa Serif Font, but you may call me Sansa or Sylvia, whichever you prefer.”

Gamer nodded and took one of the madeleines, his eye sockets widening after he took a bite and relaxed slightly. 

Chronicle began his introduction once he saw Gamer was becoming less tense, “And I am Chronicle, keeper of the Bookstacks Sphere, I’m in charge of these books you see here.” 

Chronicle gestured a hand around them, signifying the many books that surrounded them. 

Gamer took a moment to look around, taking in every detail of the place he was in before returning his attention to Chronicle, “why do you need so many books?” 

Sylvia chuckled over her teacup as Chronicle bowed his head a bit and smiled, “The Bookstacks Sphere is where every event in the multiverse is recorded. Every universe’s story is written in a specific book here. I have the power to see the events of the multiverse and record them into the books. Your story is also a part of this library, Gamer.” 

Gamer’s eye sockets widened, “Could you tell me how to get to my world?” he asked hopefully. 

But Sylvia only returned a sad smile, “I am afraid not. You see, every event that happens must happen at a specified time and place. It is essential to the balance and for those who must learn on their own. You are one of those that must learn of yourself, by yourself. Do not worry though, for you are destined to find your world again. At the right time, you will know how to go home, but you must be patient.” 

Gamer gained a frown, disheartened that another chance to go home was dismissed. 

Sansa and Chronicle looked at Gamer apologetically. As much as they wanted to help, this Sans had to find his own way home. 

Sylvia straightened and pulled a Go board and stones from her inventory. The appearance of the wooden board game snapped Gamer out of his train of thought. He locked eyes with Sansa, who smiled competitively at the purple-clad skeleton. 

“Your book states that you are an excellent player. Have you by any chance heard of the game Go?” 

Gamer blinked and looked over the board before nodding his head, “heard of it, but never played before.” 

Sansa smirked and pulled a book from her inventory into her gloved hand and passed it to the confused skeleton. 

“This book explains the rules and history of Go. It will explain everything you need to know and give examples from various recorded games. This has been played by historical royal figures and even used by generals for battle strategies. I believe you will find this to be a most interesting game.” 

Gamer blinked again in interest before taking the book. As he began to read it, Chronicle eyed Sylvia with a knowing look. 

Sylvia simply returned his expression with a playful look of her own. As a Sans herself, she knew how easily it was to lose hope and feel defeated. A nice, long, and challenging game would help distract Gamer from his sadness of coming to, yet another, dead-end in his mission to find his home universe. 

Besides, it had been some time since she had last played with another; given that Chronicle was often busy or would nod off in the middle of a game. 

As Gamer read through the book, occasionally snacking on a pastry or sipping some tea, Chronicle began falling asleep again. Sylvia smiled when she noticed this and used her silvery magic to pull books from Nightmare’s gang and added them to the three around her. 

Things were just beginning, so she could play a game or two before Chronicle finished his nap and recording. She would read over the events later, after a few good rounds of Go. 

P.O.V.- Cross from Nightmare’s Hideout 

“So, just so I heard everything correctly,” Cross emotionlessly began as he gave a blank expression and spoke up, “we are going to go to young AUs, the kind of AUs Inky and Dream would skin us alive for if we had skin. Then we’re going to investigate their apparent anomalies in the hope that it may give us a lead to the disappearing AUs that Inky and Dream are blaming Nightmare for. To summarize: we’re going to put ourselves in possible danger that will get us dusted by Inky for good because we want Inky to stop blaming us for something he wants to dust us for. Did I miss anything?” 

All the Dark Sans’ looked shocked at Cross’ bluntness, some were even nervous, but they all gave tiny nods in confirmation. 

Sure, he was the child of the family most of the time, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be serious. He just reserved it for situations that could get them dusted, like this plan. 

“Are you serious, Nightmare?” Cross asked their leader, adding a raised bone-brow to his unnervingly blank expression. 

“Well… when you put it like that, it does sound crazy… ” 

‘You think?’ Cross sarcastically thought. 

Fresh backed up the goop covered skeleton, “Cross, ya know I don’t like gettin’ involved in unradical danger, ‘specially with Inky. But, bro, we gotta get this figured out. I mean, Nighty’s gut is tellin’ him these AUs are connected, an’ ya know what that means.” 

Cross did know, as all the Dark Sans’ knew, that Nightmare’s instincts were never wrong. When their leader followed his gut he always got them out of danger before it happened. If you ever went against it, you ended up in a pretty close call that nearly got you dusted. Some of them learned that fast, others learned the hard way. 

If Nightmare’s gut told him these strange young AUs were connected to the vanishing AUs, there was likely to be something to give them a clue. And following Nightmare’s gut only ever got them out of danger, never into it. 

“Look,” Fresh leaned forward, “it’s not like we’d be stayin’ long. Just a quick in an’ out. We’ll look around, visit a bit then come back. Inky an’ Dream won’t even know we was there.” 

Nightmare nodded, “Besides, we need to spread some negativity in the multiverse soon anyway. Once we’re done causing chaos and misery, we’ll stop by the AUs, get some information, and head home before Inky and Dream have time to catch us. They’ll be too busy helping out others after our outbreak and think we left for the hideout.”

Cross squinted a bit, then sighed, “Alright. Just visit. But you owe me a devil’s chocolate, chocolate chip cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles with a chocolate fudge center.” 

Nightmare sighed with a laugh, “When we’re done, I’ll get you two of those.” 

Cross beamed at the thought of two chocolate cake heavens, but the back of his skull kept nagging at him, telling him the plan was a bad idea. 

P.O.V.- Error from the Anti-Void 

He felt something, three somethings, enter HIS AUs. 

He knew what they were just by feeling them, sensing their power, their magic, their PURPOSES. 

He opened three portals for visuals and gasped at what he saw. 

His eye sockets locked onto those three that entered HIS worlds, HIS universes. 

He became scared, worried, terrified even. 

‘wHy?’ the destroyer thought as the voices suddenly sounded too distant to hear. His focus was stuck on the three trespassers. 

‘whY nOW? whAT’s goING oN?!’ 

Possibilities flashed across his mind faster than code. Everything that could happen, all his work, efforts, and help, could be for nothing now. 

Every possible bad outcome, every bond could be broken, every memory could mean nothing. 

For the first time in a long time, Error panicked. 

For the first time since he first came to the Anti-Void, Error glitched, BADLY. 

Chapter Text

Third person P.O.V. in Undertale 56

“heya, pal.” Classic greeted with his usual smile. 

Ink turned away from the monsters he was conversing with, looking over the Sans for any signs of difference. Seeing nothing, he hid his disappointment with a smile and stuck out his hand. 

“Hello! My name is Ink! You’re just the skeleton I needed to see!” 

“that so?” Classic asked, his suspicion rising, “why’s that?” 

Ink dropped his hand and turned back to the monsters he was talking to, “Thank you for talking with me. I need to talk to Sans here for a bit. Have a nice day!” 

He walked away with Classic following him and waved goodbye to the bear and bunny monsters. 

Once they were outside of the town, slightly within the tree line, Ink stopped and turned to face Classic. 

“Now that we’re away from town, allow me to properly introduce myself,” Ink grinned brightly and stood straighter, “my name is Ink!Sans. As you can probably guess, I’m a Sans, like you. But I’m also the God of Creation and Protector of the Multiverse! It’s my job to keep AUs like yours safe from evil! I, along with the other members of the Star Sans’ and the Council, have been battling Nightmare, the leader of the Dark Sans’, who wishes to control the Multiverse. At the moment, our main focus is recruiting new members, but my friend Dream also noticed your AU is a bit strange, along with others. So we, along with Blueberry, the final member of the Star Sans’, decided to look into your world and the others to find out what’s going on. Have you noticed anything weird lately?” 

At first, Classic blinked blankly and confusedly. Ink had spoken a bit fast and said some things that were difficult to wrap your head around, so the normal Sans was trying to process everything without freaking out. 

‘what in gom’s name?’ To Classic, a good portion of what Ink said blew his mind, ‘a god of creation? the protector of the multiverse? and dark sans’?’ 

The blue-coated skeleton took a deep breath, ‘get it together sans. one thing at a time. you’re a judge, and judges get the whole story. so, let’s get the entire story.’ 

“gotta say, i did not expect you ta say all that.” Classic gave the colorful skeleton a calm expression with a relaxed posture, but inside, he was stiff as a statue. It didn’t help that Gom’s doll was radiating worry and terror: as if the god had heard Ink as well. 

Ink sheepishly rubbed the back of his skull and leaned back a bit, “Yeah, sorry. I’ve been told by my friends that I tend to drop things on others a bit too quickly.” 

Classic forced a chuckle that sounded honestly amused, “welp, they’re right about that. so, you’re a god, huh?” 

Ink nodded with a grin, “Yup, Ink, the God of Creation, that’s me!” 

“heh, tibia completely honest,” Classic winked at the pun, “i never expected a god to look like me. if you’re a god of creation, does that indicate there are others?” 

Ink held his chin in thought, his eye lights changing to a triangle, and a question mark, “Well, Dream is considered a God of Positivity and Dreams. Nightmare, our enemy, is technically a God of Negativity and, well, Nightmares, but he considers himself the ‘King of Negativity’.” Ink added air quotes with an annoyed expression before switching to a look of thought again, “Death, the Sans from Reapertale, is the God of Death in his world and that seems to apply to other worlds too. I think Soul could be considered a god, but only because of his power. See, in his world, Sans got tired of the resets and decided to break the barrier himself and absorbed all the souls to do that. He doesn’t have a title or anything, so, I guess he’s just ‘god-like’, not a god.” 

Classic gave Ink an outer expression of a lazy listener while his thoughts raced in his head, ‘okay, there are other gods. should’ve expected as much… but he didn’t mention gom or a god of mercy.’ 

“anyone else?” he asked, adding a bit of interest and curiousness to his skull. 

Ink kept his chin in his hand for another minute before he grinned, “Nope! But then again, my memory isn’t always the best, so I may have forgotten someone. Dream would know, but he’s looking into one of your neighbors.” 

“neighbors?” Classic tilted his skull while his head screamed, ‘how can you forget a god?!’ 

“Yes!” Ink beamed, “There were five other worlds near you that also seemed strange. So Dream, Blueberry, and I decided to investigate!” 

‘wait, five? he couldn’t be talking about...’, Classic felt the fear from his doll increase tenfold as he said, “others huh? what kind of worlds?” 

“Well two of them were Fell worlds, that means they live by ‘kill or be killed’ rules. One’s a swapped version of your world. One’s a world where monsters battle by dancing. And the last is a world where monsters were banished into space. I think that’s it?” Ink’s eye sockets gained a question mark and a green star. “Yeah, that has to be it.” 

Classic smirked, “looks like you're a bit busy, huh?” Inside, he was thinking, ‘those match to the others’ worlds. could be a coincidence, but… ’ 

Worry , dread , and anxiety hit Classic hard. There was no doubt, Gom was hearing this and he was scared. Ink had to be talking about the worlds under their protection, but why be afraid? 

“Oh, yeah!” Ink childishly grinned, making Classic wonder, ‘is this guy really a god?’, “We’re in the process of another big step in winning the war against Nightmare! Gathering help can be a bit much but we’re doing good so far!” 

‘how long can i keep this up?’ Classic wondered, ‘this is like talking to a child. i need to get serious information out of him, but i need to be careful of what i say… or maybe i don’t. maybe i should ask...’ 

“so,” Classic spoke up, “what’s so special about this world that it attracts a god?” 

Ink paused, gaining a blank expression before thinking for a minute, “... Well, Dream and Blueberry find the fact that all monsters seem fine being underground is a bit weird. And that all the judges got help from someone but didn’t judge them.” 

The god of creation looked to Classic confusedly, “Who did you get help from anyway?” 

Classic looked at Ink wide-eyed, feeling the emotions from the doll spiraling: DANGER, TERROR, HORROR, FEAR. 

‘he has to be talking about gom. but that’s not a good thing if the doll’s telling me to run for my life. gotta get to the bottom of this. now. but how?’ 

Classic thought for a moment before deciding his next course of action. He smiled lazily to the colorful skeleton and stuck a hand out, “welp, i can tell ya, but not here. how’s about we go somewhere better?” 

“Oh!” Ink grinned, “Of course!” he grabbed Classic’s hand, knowing they were going to be shortcutting somewhere. 

Classic gripped Ink’s hand a bit tighter than needed and teleported. 

Once Classic reached their destination, Ink looked around confused and slightly startled. They were in Judgment Hall. 

“alright, pal,” Classic said, gripping Ink’s hand tighter, “you’re gonna need to explain a few things.” His eye sockets were void of light as his voice dropped to a cold, emotionless tone. 

Ink was confused and honestly scared as he tugged his hand back and jumped away to the opposite side of the hall. Ink began to sweat nervously and raised his hands in surrender, “Hey, hey, hey! No need to get angry! I wanted to talk anyway, there’s no need to start fighting.” 

‘i’ll be the judge of that.’ 

“so you say,” Classic evened his voice out, “but i’m getting seriously suspicious. so, here’s how this is gonna go. you know what i do here, right?” 

Ink nodded, sweating a bit more knowing what was likely to happen. 

“good, saves me time,” the judge lowered his head, “now, let’s start with something simple: what do you know of a god of mercy?” 

The creator just looked confused, “Uh, nothing? I’ve never heard of a god like that anywhere.” 

“really?” Classic questioned, one blue eye-light shining, “cause i find that hard to believe. you’re supposedly a god yourself and you claim to know other gods, but you don’t know about the god that watches over our worlds. so, either you’re playing dumb, or you’re just ignorant of what goes on in the multiverse you ‘protect’.” 

Ink blinked, “Worlds? Wait, you know about the other different ones? How?” 

“i’m asking the questions here,” Classic lowered his voice, adding a flash of yellow to his eye-light, “remember where you are.” 

Ink tensed and sweated a bit. This was the last thing he expected to happen. Well, he always expected to be brought to Judgment Hall by a Sans but never under this condition. ‘Maybe I should’ve sent Dream here instead. I could handle another Underfell, I can not handle this! Is it too late to leave?’ 

“you said ya came here because my world and the others are ‘different’,” Classic emphasized at ‘different’, “what’s wrong with different anyway?” 

“Nothing!” Ink shouted, “Nothing is wrong with being different! If anything, I love it when an AU is completely original! Honest! It’s just strange for your worlds because they’re copies!” 

Classic blinked, white eye-lights returning, then frowned his bone-brow, “what do you mean? copies?” 

Ink took a deep, shaky breath and lowered his hands, “There are two main categories of AUs. The first is Originals, which means that the AU was the first made. After that, there are Copies, which means they’re the copies of an original AU. Any AU can have more than one copy and some don’t have any copies yet.” Ink locked eyes with Classic, “When an AU is a copy of an original, they tend to follow an early pattern. The beginning, if you will. Then, a copy can be different from the original timeline depending on what the main characters decide to do after.” 

“main characters?” Classic lost the light in his eye sockets again, his voice getting quiet. 

Ink slowly nodded and continued, “Yeah. Important figures in the AU, like Frisk, Papyrus, Asgore, Toriel, even you.” 

“so what was so special about us?” Classic slowly asked. His mind raced with worry that was followed by Gom’s emotions pouring out of the doll in his hood. FEAR, TERROR, DANGER, DREAD.  

“Like I said,” Ink frowned, taking a step closer to Classic, “copies usually follow a strict beginning before changing things. But this world’s beginning, as well as the others, was slightly different. Dream stumbled upon them when we were looking into new recruits to help us in the war against Nightmare. He was concerned and so was Blueberry, so it was decided we would investigate.” 

Classic stayed silent for a minute processing this, ‘okay, so we’re a little bit weird in his books, apparently, and that’s likely due to gom helping out during the kid’s rampage. but still… something else doesn’t feel right. what’s he not telling me?’ 

An idea struck Classic suddenly and he asked, “what was our ‘beginning’ supposed to be like?” 

Ink started sweating again and Classic stared him down. 

‘Oh, boy. Oh, Toriel. Sweet Asgore. Angels above. I have never wanted to run for the hills this much in my life.’ 

The God of Creation knew the Sans judging him would not like the answer to that question, not one bit. And he was in Judgment Hall getting judged. Put those two things together and one of them was going to end up as dust. Most likely Ink. 

‘Dream~! Convenient timing would be nice right now! I’ll even take Nightmare barging in to kill me! Anything but this!’ 

Classic was growing impatient as his suspicions rose, “well, god of creation?” 

Ink nervously chuckled, “Well~... you see… the answer to that is a, uh… funny story really… ” he took a step back and Classic took a step forward. The air in the hall was getting tense, suffocating. 

“re~ally?” Classic sarcastically asked, “well, why don’t you try to tickle my funny bone, pal?” 

Ink gulped, suddenly finding it hard to breathe through his non-existing lungs. Oh, he was in for a bad time. 

‘Somebody save me!’ 

As if an answer to his begging prayers, one of Dream’s portals popped up behind him. Dream came through, panting with a wild look in his eyes as he faced Ink, panicking. 

“Ink! We need to get back to headquarters! Now! I don’t think we’re very much welcome to these AUs.” 

“get back here ya yellow freak!” 

“HOW DARE YOU RUN FROM BATTLE! COWARD! YOU ARE NO GOD!” 

‘fell and rus.’ Classic concluded, ‘we’re all gonna need ta talk about this later.’

“I can see that Dream!” Ink hurriedly turned around as Dream’s portal closed and the creator pulled out Broomy, raising it above his head. 

“where do ya think you’re going?!” Classic’s eye light glowed brightly in a swirl of blue and yellow as he raised a hand and activated his magic. The judge attempted to turn Ink’s soul blue, only to find no soul to grab. Classic gained a shocked and disbelieving expression as the realization hit him, ‘he doesn’t have a soul.’ 

Ink and Dream raced through the portal as Classic remained frozen at his spot, even as it closed behind the strange skeletons. 

After a few minutes, Classic texted Papi and teleported back to their house. They needed a group meeting. Hopefully, Gom would help them a bit. 

P.O.V.- The Doodle Sphere 

“What happened?!” Ink shouted as the portal closed. 

Dream took a moment to catch his breath before explaining, “I went to the Underfell AU and everything was wrong! The monsters were happy and apparently, the King revoked his ‘kill or be killed’ law a long time ago! Like a whole lot of resets ago! And that’s another weird thing! All the monsters remember their resets! Pacifist, neutral, and genocide! And they claimed it was because of some God of Mercy that helped them and protects them and-!” 

“Woah! Woah! Woah!” Ink placed his hands on Dream’s shoulders, “God of Mercy? Is that what the Sans said?” 

Dream nodded, “Yeah, the Sans and Papyrus called them Gom, the God of Mercy.” 

Ink blinked, “Get Blueberry, now. Then meet me in my office. We need to compare notes.” 

Dream nodded and turned around to open a portal to the Underswap their friend had gone to. Ink walked away and began marching to his office. 

‘Whatever is going on, we need to find out. Now.’ 

Chapter Text

Third person P.O.V. in Underfell 66 

“hey! yellow shorty!” Fell shouted, gaining the attention of the new out-of-place skeleton that entered Snowdin. 

Dream turned away from the monster he was talking to, who was looking at him suspiciously and confusedly. 

As Dream saw the red-eyed skeleton march over towards him, he took a deep breath and focused some of his magic to calm those around him. 

At first, it seemed to work. Both the bunny woman and the Underfell Sans subconsciously relaxed and were less tense. Then, Fell noticed his own guard going down without his notice, and instantly focused on staying on guard. 

Dream blinked at this but shrugged it off. This was not the first time a Fell-verse Sans noticed his magic working. Others he met did the same once they realized and often got mad and screamed at him for it. 

The bunny monster took note of Fell’s tenseness and guard, so she left without even saying good-bye to the newcomer. Everyone knew not to piss off one of the skeletons, especially since the new age of peace. 

Dream stood tall and braced himself for the likely growling questions that usually came with a Fell Sans noticing his magic. As Fell stopped a couple of feet away from him, he narrowed his eye-lights and quietly looked over Dream. 

The God of Positivity tensely waited, still expecting a lecture or argument of some kind from the skeleton before he was flabbergasted by the local Sans’ next words. 

“how did ya get here? ya ain’t from around these parts, anyone can tell that much.” 

That was the first question? Well, okay, it was a Sans-expected question, but a Fell-verse would always start with asking how Dream made their guard go down. The skeleton brothers would determine if he was a threat by his magic and honesty, then ask about his arrival, that’s how it always went. 

Dream blinked, putting these thoughts and questions away for now, “I came here through my portals. And you’re right, I’m not from here, or this universe.” 

“figured that much,” Fell mumbled at that last part, but Dream heard it. Before the yellow-clad skeleton could ask anything, Fell asked, “what’re ya doin’ here then?” 

Dream thought for a moment before slowly saying, “I came because I noticed your AU is a bit… different from normal Fell AUs.” Dream looked around and Fell did the same. As they gazed over Snowdin and its people, Dream said, “Your world seems a bit more… happy considering how you live.” 

Fell blinked at Dream in confusion, “what da ya mean ‘how we live’?” 

“I mean, the ‘kill or be killed’ law placed by King Asgore.” Dream explained, “Normal AUs under these conditions would be… edgier… meaner, colder… less… relaxed.” 

Fell blinked twice before narrowing his eye lights, “king asgore revoked that law a long time ago. practically more than a hundred resets ago. everyone knows that.” 

“What?!” Dream shouted, startling some of the passing monsters and the kids hiding between buildings, “How-? Wait- resets? But then, how-why-?! W-wait, EVERYONE?!!” 

“SANS! THERE YOU ARE! I’VE BEEN MESSAGING YOU FOR FIVE MINUTES! WHY DID YOU NOT ANSWER YOUR PHONE?!” 

Dream and Fell turned to see Rus coming back to Snowdin early from his rounds in Waterfall. Once Rus saw Dream, he immediately went full Captain Mode. 

“SANS. WHO IS THIS?” 

“don’ know, bro.” Fell replied, eyeing Dream as well, “we were just gettin’ ta that topic.” 

Dream instantly got the message, “My name is Dream. I’m the guardian of dreams and positive feelings. Some could call me God of Dreams and Positivity, but I prefer people to just know me as Dream Sans.” 

Dream subconsciously noted that he normally did not bring up his status to the multiverse right away like that in his usual introductions. But it was quickly ignored. 

Fell and Rus’ eye sockets widened at Dream’s statement, glancing at each other in confusion. The skeleton before them looked nothing like a god, but then again, they never saw what Gom looked like. Still, it was strange for a supposed god to appear like this. 

Rus grabbed Fell by the hood and turned towards the woods, “EXCUSE US, I NEED TO TALK TO MY BROTHER. IN PRIVATE.” 

Dream stayed where he was, quietly going through his thoughts as the two brothers got far enough away to talk without the ‘god’ hearing them. 

Rus dropped Fell in front of him and asked, “SANS, HAVE YOU BEEN SENSING ANYTHING FROM YOUR DOLL RECENTLY?” 

Fell nodded, “yeah, i noticed it. got ta town an’ found him wanderin’ around. the kids seem ta notice too, an’ the emotions i’m gettin’ change like crazy but get worse with him around.” 

Rus glanced back at Dream, “HE DOES NOT LOOK LIKE MUCH. HOWEVER, OUR TIME WITH OUR FRIENDS HAS SHOWN ME THAT APPEARANCES MEAN NOTHING WHEN IT COMES TO STRENGTH. THE REAL QUESTIONS ARE WHY HE’S HERE AND WHY GOM IS REACTING LIKE THIS.” 

“an’ if this guy means ta cause trouble.” Fell added darkly. 

Rus narrowed his eye sockets and nodded, “YES, THAT AS WELL.” 

Fell sighed, “so, how do we go about this?” 

“WE GET ANSWERS. GOD OR NOT, INTIMIDATION IS A SPECIALTY OF OURS.” 

Fell smirked, “so we go back to old habits.” 

“EXACTLY.” Rus smirked back then marched to Dream with Fell a step behind him. 

“ALRIGHT, ‘GOD OF DREAMS’,” Rus sarcastically addressed, “YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO STATE YOUR PURPOSE FOR BEING HERE BEFORE I TEST MY ATTACKS. ON YOU.” Rus made his eye lights glow darkly with a sinister grin. His brother copied the action, adding an air of danger around the yellow-dressed skeleton newbie. 

Dream gulped for a moment, steadying himself, “Why don’t we move this talk elsewhere? It’s not the best idea to speak of these things out in the open like this.” 

Rus glanced at Fell, who nodded and stepped forward, grabbing Dream’s shoulder roughly while Rus grabbed his arm. A second later, the three were in a clearing in the woods with no soul to witness or hear their conversation. 

“alright, pal,” Fell began, glowing his red eye light darkly, “start talkin’.” 

Dream glanced at both brothers, then took a deep breath and explained, “To start, I am part of a system of protectors of the multiverse, we call ourselves the Star Sans’ and Council. The Star Sans’ were founded by Ink, the protector of the multiverse and God of Creation, myself, and Blueberry, from the original Underswap.” 

‘original?’ Fell wondered as he furrowed his bone brows, ‘what the hell is goin’ on in the multiverse for him ta say that?’ 

‘STRANGE CHOICE OF WORDS,’ Rus thought, ‘HOW MUCH INFORMATION IS HE WITHHOLDING?’

“Our main enemy is Nightmare, the King or God of Negativity, and his gang of Dark Sans’,” Dream continued, “their main goal is to control the multiverse under complete darkness and negativity, destroying all hope. Once Ink, Blueberry, and I realized we could not fight them on our own, we formed the Council, which consists of every original universe’s judge. Together, we plan, strategize, and battle against the Dark Sans’ and keep universes safe from their clutches. Sometimes we’re too late though,” Dream gained a frown at the thought of all the universes destroyed under Nightmare’s corruption, “we are slowly losing the war and many have suffered.” 

“so,” Fell spoke up, tilting his skull, “ya goin’ around universes askin’ for help or somethin’?” 

Dream winced and rubbed the back of his skull, looking away from the Underfell brothers, “Yes and no.” 

“EXPLAIN.” Rus demanded. 

“The Council is gathering allies to help us, that’s the yes part,” Dream began rubbing his hands together, “I came here, to your world, because I noticed it, along with others, is a bit… different.” 

“how so?” 

Dream tilted his skull in thought, “Well when I was looking over universes’ skeleton brothers, in search of potential allies, I came across yours and five others.” 

The dolls the brothers carried sent waves of danger , worry , and fear into the skeletons. As if Gom was hearing everything. 

‘he must be talkin’ about the guys.’ 

‘HE SPEAKS OF OUR OTHER WORLD FRIENDS. I JUST KNOW IT.’ 

“Alternate Universes, or AUs as we call them, often follow patterns or follow certain… guidelines. When I came across yours, there was a big difference that isn’t, shouldn’t, be possible.” 

“and what would that be?” Fell asked, getting a bad feeling, the emotions pouring out of his doll only feeding his dread. 

Dream nervously thought, ‘If I tell them that the genocides are natural, they’re gonna dust me. Focus, Dream, half-truths are your friend here.’ He answered, “Your universe file stated that you accepted help from another… without judgment. As did the other brothers in your position. I can’t help but wonder… who?” 

Both brothers’ expressions unintentionally got surprised and nervous as DANGER, TERROR, HORROR, and FEAR consumed their souls in a whirlpool. 

Fell became worried, ‘does gom not want him to know about them helpin’ us? or is there somethin’ more here?’ 

Rus felt a need to protect Gom from this fear. They were a god that saved them from their own demise, yet this… yellow god was capable of installing panic into them? ‘WE NEED ANSWERS. AND THIS YELLOW DEITY NEEDS TO KNOW TRUE FEAR .’ 

Fell and Rus locked eye sockets, both having an invisible conversation before turning equally terrorizing gazes over to Dream, who squirmed under the pressure. 

‘What did I do?!’ Dream panicked mentally. 

“well, pal~ ” Fell spoke in his judge voice, “we can answer that fine. but, we got some questions of our own.” 

“YES,” Rus straightened and slowly walked towards the side, making Dream shake a bit, “YOU SEE, WE FIND IT ODD THAT YOU, A SUPPOSED GOD, WOULD NOT KNOW THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR WORLD’S CURRENT HAPPINESS AND CONTENTMENT. AFTER ALL, THEY ARE A FELLOW GOD, EQUAL IN STATUS TO YOURSELF.” 

Dream blinked, shocked, “W-What? A god? Who?” 

Fell smirked, his red eye light blazing in a flame alongside his skull, “yeah, gom, our god of mercy.” 

“NOT JUST OURS BROTHER,” Rus corrected, peering down at Dream as he stood behind him, “THEY ARE ALSO OUR FRIENDS’ GOD AS WELL, DO NOT FORGET.” 

Dream’s confused expression made Fell suspicious on the inside and pleased on the outside as his smirk lopsided, “yeah, bro, i didn’t forget. our fellow ex-’kill or be killed’ buddies, the four softies, the twinkle-toes, and the space-bros. who could forget?” 

Dream’s eye sockets widened, “You-You’re in contact with the other worlds different like your own? How? You shouldn’t be able to transport yourselves to alternate universes, you need a god-like person or a person of immeasurable power to do that for you!” 

At Fell’s wicked grin, Dream’s expression became horrified, “They already did that, didn’t they?” 

Rus smirked, “YES, THEY DID, AND STILL DO. JUST AS THEY STILL PROTECT US FROM THE HUMAN DURING THEIR DUSTING ROUNDS. HONESTLY, IF IT WEREN’T FOR GOM HELPING US RESETS AGO, WE MAY HAVE ALL STAYED DUSTED.” 

As Dream lowered his skull in fear and confusion, he tried to process all he was told, ‘Another god? But who? Ink and I didn’t do this. And I’ve never heard of a God of Mercy. Are they new? Or is something else going on? Ink… I’m starting to get a really really bad feeling.’ 

Fell thought as well, but more because a question was knocking on the back of his mind, ‘this yellow freak said our worlds usually follow a ‘guideline’. what exactly does that mean… for us?’ 

Getting curious and suspicious, Fell stepped forward a bit, catching Dream’s attention and locking eye lights with him, “ya said earlier that aus follow a pattern. what kind of pattern were ya talkin’ about?” 

Dream sweated, deading what could possibly happen within the next few minutes, ‘Of all the questions in the multiverse, why did it have to be that?! What possessed him to ask that, now of all times?!’ 

“Eh~, heh, heh, heh...” Dream nervously glanced around, now questioning why he asked they talk away from people and possibly safe places to hide in town, “... well, you see… that’s kinda… hard to explain?” 

Rus became suspicious with that answer, “REALLY? THAN PERHAPS YOU SHOULD TRY STARTING FROM THE BEGINNING?” 

The god of positivity sweated more, “Ummm~... Well, you see-…” Dream nervously locked eyes with Fell, who clearly wanted him to spill his non-existing guts. 

“The resets...” Dream began, looking for any sign of his upcoming death in Fell’s eye lights, slightly relieved and confused when he found none, “... worlds like yours follow a pattern of resets… the human completes pacifist, neutral, and-” Dream stopped gulping. 

“and?” Fell probed, gripping his doll as he felt he was not going to like the answer one bit. 

Dream took too long to answer as moments passed and his sweat increased. Rus finally snapped, “TELL US RIGHT NOW!” 

The yellow god was startled and accidentally blurted, “Genocide!” He quickly shit his jaw, realizing what came out, and became stone stiff. 

Fell’s eye lights went out, Rus’ eye sockets widened, and the forest became deadly silent. 

“... heya, pal ,” Fell began with an undertone of dark sarcasm, “are ya tellin’ me that kids goin’ round and killin’ all monsters is something ya let happen? to all worlds, even ones like ours was?” 

Dream stiffly glanced around, remaining silent and not trusting his voice but that was all the affirmative they needed. 

“WELL?!” Rus demanded, loud enough to shake the air around them. 

At that, Dream nodded his skull at record speed, “Y-Yes, yes! That’s wh-what naturally ha-happens to all AUs! An-and once the fallen child is do-done, then the AU changes depending on the choices of m-main characters.” 

Fell became stiff as stone… and angry, “so, ya let a kid, wit’ ta power ta turn back time on loop, kill everyone until ‘they’re done’. an’ ya don’t care about how that affects us? ya just… let it happen?” 

Dream sweated a storm, “W-Well, since it’s natural, and part of the codes, we, uh, didn’t think much about it?” 

Rus and Fell did not like that answer one bit. The proof was their flaming eye sockets, burning with magic that screamed ‘you are SO dust’. 

“IS THAT SO?” Rus sarcastically asked, his outrage taking over most of his voice. 

Without warning, Rus summoned one of his gaster blasters and Dream’s eye sockets became impossibly large with terror and fear. 

‘NOPE!’ was all that went off in Dream’s skull as he high-tailed it and ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could before the blaster could fry him. 

Not taking any chances, Dream focused on finding Ink, RIGHT NOW , and summoned a portal to the colorful skeleton’s location. 

Once the portal was formed, he leaped through without a second thought and rushed to Ink, barely taking notice of the skeleton at the other end of Judgement Hall. 

“Ink! We need to get back to headquarters! Now! I don’t think we’re very much welcome to these AUs.” the guardian of dreams hastily said as fast as he could, out of breath, and still terrified from what could have happened. 

“get back here ya yellow freak!” 

“HOW DARE YOU RUN FROM BATTLE! COWARD! YOU ARE NO GOD!” 

Dream quickly closed the portal in fear for his life as Ink opened their escape portal back to headquarters. 

The yellow and blue dressed skeleton would forever be haunted by Fell skeletons about to dust him. 

Despite that, the confusion of what was going on was swirling throughout his skull. Utterly clueless with more questions than answers, Dream only prayed nothing terrible would come from this.