A Shadow of the Past

Say Goodbye

Error sighed. Yeah, Nightmare's gang is one closely-knit family, but they still took him in when he needed a place to rest. They were a pretty fun group when they weren't at each other's throats about something. Sans looked at Error with confusion and concern.

"What's so funny?"

"It'S nOtHiNg, ReAlLy. YoU jUsT rEmInD mE oF sOmEoNe, ThAt'S aLl."

"Are they a good someone?"

"DePeNdS oN hIs MoOd. He CaN bE aLmOsT kInD sOmE dAyS, aNd OtHeR dAyS hE gEtS cLoSe To RiPpInG tHe HeAd OfF wHoEvEr Is UnFoRtUnAtE eNoUgH tO cRoSs HiS pAtH. YoU jUsT hAvE tO kNoW hOw To CaLm HiM dOwN. Or, Y'kNoW, rUn AwAy FaSt!"

He paused and put a hand to his head, the pounding making it hard to focus. This AU had to be destroyed, now, or things would start to glitch out.

"Is something wrong, Error?"

"ArE yOu SuRe EvErYoNe'S bEeN eVaCuAtEd?"

"I hope so. Dream said he'd go with Ink and Papy to the castle when they got everyone out. But, I'm not sure, completely sure, if there's no one left. Why?"

"If ThErE's No OnE lEfT, i CaN dEsTrOy ThIs Au AnD wE cAn GeT oUt Of HeRe."

"...What about my brother?"

Error thought for a moment. He's destroyed many an AU where Ink is still inside, and the artist always manages to escape before the AU is gone completely.

"If He'S wItH iNk, I tHiNk He'Ll Be FiNe. BuT..." Error walked up to Sans, tentatively reaching out his hand, but pulled it back. He didn't want to repeat the earlier incident. "If He... If ThEy DoN't MaKe It OuT, i... I'm SoRrY."

He didn't know what else to say. He certainly didn't want to give him false hope, but it's hard giving people as sweet as Sans bad news.

"Sans..."

For the first time in his memory, Error's voice stopped glitching. Sans seemed to notice, too.

"Yes, Error?"

"...We've got to leave. I know I said I'd help you find your brother, but we've got bigger problems, right now. I can't guarantee you'll see him again, but I didn't lie when I said I would help you find him. For now, you just have to hope Ink and Dream are smart enough to get out before... before it's too late."

Sans smiled and nodded. "Of course. I guess there's no sense in staying, then. I... just hope Papy gets out alright..."

Error nodded, then pulled up the code of the AU. Just as he suspected, another AU's code was corrupting this one. No wonder he was seeing a few out-of-place trees. Sans' post, too, had been affected; instead of reading "the magnificent Sans," it now read "the great Papyrus." He looked up and noticed that the "ceiling" was more... starry than it should've been.

Outertale.

That's the AU responsible for the corruption. It's as if Outertale's code is trying to replicate itself using this weak Underswap copy as a blueprint. This causes black holes to pop up in both AUs, sucking in monsters and transporting them to the adjacent AU. In some, very rare cases, he's had to destroy both AUs to stop the corruption, but not this time.

Not if he could help it.

He wrapped his strings around the AU's code, which resembled a piece of paper, and ripped it apart. All around the two skeletons, decomposing code rained down in the form of large, sharp stalactites breaking off from the ceiling. Error opened a portal and gestured for Sans to follow. And just like that, they were gone.

Meanwhile, Ink was starting to get restless. Where was Error? Did something happen? What's taking him so long? Had he decided to leave the AU alone? Dream noticed his agitation and tried to calm him down.