A Tiny Error

Chapter 21

Error woke up the next morning, feeling warm and safe. He opened his eyes to see Ink still sleeping soundly, his arms wrapped around Error's body securely. Error sighed and snuggled closer, smiling contentedly.

Light began creeping in from the window, showing that it was about six or seven in the morning. Error didn't want to get up, so he pressed his head to Ink's chest, listening to the creator's soul beat. After awhile, Error opened his eyesockets again and looked around. He froze and his eyelights shrunk when he saw a figure standing above them.

Fresh.

The Virus' sinister smile widened as he knelt down, and Error began shaking. Fresh put a finger to his mouth, silently telling Error to stay quiet, and summoned a sharp, daggerlike bone. Error watched in unbridled terror as the Virus slowly raised the bone, positioning it to strike.

"NO!!!" Error struggled out of Ink's grip, then shot some bones at Fresh. The Virus teleported away, and the bones missed their mark, instead shattering the window. That woke everyone up, and Error pulled his knees to his chest, shaking in fear.

"What the shitballs?!" Dust cried, bolting up from his sleeping bag with a groggy Horror rubbing his tired eyes.

"What happened...?" Horror mumbled, still trying to wake himself up.

Cross jumped up, his knife at the ready, and turned in every direction to identify the threat. Finding none, he groaned and sat down, laying his knife across his lap and resting his chin in his hands.
"I didn't ask for an alarm...."

Dream and Blueberry screamed as they woke up, clinging to each other in fear. Nightmare and Killer did too, and the couples smirked at one another in amusement.

Ink was the last one up, feeling almost hungover from last night. He sat up and stretched, rubbing the back of his neck to work out the knots from sleeping on the floor. He gasped when he saw the state Error was in, and crawled over to him.

"Error! What's wrong? What happened?" he asked, keeping his voice lowered almost to a whisper to avoid upsetting him further. Error just curled in on himself more, beginning to mutter to himself.
"He knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows, he knows-"

Ink carefully pulled Error towards him, resting the glitchy skeleton's head on his shoulder and slowly rubbing his shoulder to soothe him.
"It's ok, it's ok, shh shh shh, it's alright. You're ok. You're safe...."

Error's breath hitched, and he hid his face in Ink's chest. Ink hugged him close, rocking him gently and humming a soft, familiar tune. After a few minutes, he spoke.

"Can you tell me what's wrong, Error?"

Error breathed in shakily, then looked up at Ink. The creator smiled reassuringly, and Error looked down.

"I-I.... I saw Fresh.... Here...."

Nightmare scoffed when he heard that.
"Yeah right! He's never come here, not even to find you, so what makes you think he'd dare set foot in my castle?"

Ink glared at him.
"Let Error explain. I'm sure he has good reason to believe it was Fresh."

Error began shaking again. How did Fresh even know he was here?! How did he know how to get here in the first place?! How did he know to look here??!!!

The questions swirled around in his skull, giving him a headache. Finally, he looked up, and everyone was staring at him. He had started to glitch out, and Ink held him closer to him to try and break him out of a potential panic attack. Error sighed, then sat up.

"S-sorry for waking you all up. I... I must've been seeing things...."

IT'S OK, FRIEND ERROR!" Blueberry said cheerfully, bouncing to his feet and running off to the kitchen. "THE MAGNIFICENT SANS SHALL MAKE BREAKFAST BURRITOS FOR EVERYONE!"