Work Text:
It was a frosty autumn morning.
With the first rays of the sun in SeptemberTale, the first birds began to sing and the last flowers of the year began to bloom. Just as it had happened 823 times before.
It so happened that this world was created by an author who enjoyed autumnal melancholy. Thus, they gifted the world with several thematic autumn illustrations.
The familiar corners of the ruins were, for some reason, strewn with fallen leaves, and any human who fell into the Underground invariably stayed with Toriel for a cup of cocoa with marshmallows. In an infinitely repeating autumn day.
And the butterscotch-cinnamon pie was a pumpkin pie.
This was precisely why, having torn reality with lines of static and emerged from a portal right in the middle of the living room by the warm fireplace, Error did not hesitate. He was confident in the necessity of his work.
Frisk and Toriel jumped from their armchairs, feeling an oncoming wave of panic. The next moment, Error snapped his fingers with an almost bored expression, Toriel and Frisk fell to the ground like marionettes with their strings cut.
[Puppet_Strings_Cut]
A black, bony hand, in the next instant, with a deft movement, ripped the still-living human soul from its body. His movements were precise, like a machine's.
Before his eyes, invisible to the rest of the world, rows of symbols flashed.
[CHARACTER_ENTITY "Autumn!Frisk" ABANDONED. DELETING.]
In the pre-dawn silence, the sound of keyboard clicks seemed to echo in the air.
[INITIATING REALITY_ABANDONMENT PROTOCOL. WORLD_ID: "SeptemberTale_Abandoned_1b."]
As if reporting to someone invisible, Error spoke.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND A THING, ANON. IT HAD TO BE DELETED TO MAKE ROOM FOR OTHERS. THE AUTHOR ABANDONED THIS WORLD THREE YEARS AGO. IT'S DEAD WEIGHT. THIS IS... INEFFICIENT".
On the last word, the world around Error seemed to glitch; the crisp graphics became covered in hundreds of pixels and black squares. Until the world was deleted and the surrounding landscape changed to the familiar Anti-Void.
Matter-of-factly, as if he'd just stepped out for a morning coffee, Error returned to his workplace, a small island of blankets and pillows amidst the endless void.
Before his eyes flashed a list of daily tasks - the deletion queue.
[Task Done: UnderFresh34 - Corrupted with a virus]
[Task Done: UnderSwap09 - detected rabbit hole, corruption intensified]
[Task Done: UnderAlchemy - Broken artifacts, danger to realiity]
[Task in progress : SeptemberTale_Abandoned_1b]
With a sense of weariness, Error leaned back onto the floor, contemplating what he had seen. Mentally, he marked the last task as completed.
[SYSTEM_ANALYSIS_IN_PROGRESS]
[TASK_QUEUE : 14 from 233]
"At this rate, my work will never be finished. I'm already hopelessly behind schedule," he said with a sigh, like a burnt-out office worker.
His gaze fell once again on the most annoying target on the list. It had been on the deletion list for over a year.
"[WORLD_ID: "Gravity_Falls_Anomalous." STATUS: PERSISTENT. CORRUPTION_LEVEL: 27.3%. CAUSE: UNKNOWN. MULTIPLE [PLOT_HOLE] DETECTED.]"
"THIS PLACE AGAIN. IT'S LIKE A WEED. IT KEEPS COMING BACK INTO THE CLEANUP QUEUE."
"WILL HAVE TO RESORT TO [brute force]"
[WARNING: MULTIPLE DELETION ATTEMPTS FAILED. SUGGESTION: APPLY OVERRIDE_PROTOCOL? Y/N]
Irritated, Error gives permission for the world override. [OVERRIDE. ADMIN_PRIVILEGES_CONFIRMED.]
TIME TO PUT AN END TO THIS GLITCH.
Unlike a standard deletion, a forced override requires Error to concentrate almost all of his power.
Through an invisible console, blue code focuses all its might into a single point, into a blue vortex.
Suddenly, a golden ripple ran across the terminal.
[ERROR! EXTERNAL_INTERVENTION DETECTED!]
[PORTAL_HIJACKED!]
Error screamed with pure rage - [WHO DARES?!]
But it was too late. A moment, and he was pulled into the vortex he created, which was now controlled by someone else.
Surprisingly, the last thing that caught his eye was not the familiar blue pixels, but a mocking golden triangle that flashed within the portal's distortions.
[CAUSE_OF_ERROR: "BILL_CIPHER"].
...
[INITIATING_STORY.EXE...]