Of Soulmates and Bonds - Errorink

7. Change of plans

"So let me get this straight."
Sans and Error were walking around another AU, Underfell, to find a way to enter the Heart of the Multiverse. Sans wasn't aware of anything while he was under Nightmare's control, and when he had lifted his magic, Error was quick to open a glitchy portal and get them both out of the Omega Timeline. He explained everything while they were walking around the Ruins. The monsters there glared at them, but didn't try anything; Sans suspected Nightmare was responsible.

"We're looking for the Heart of the Multiverse, to find the Creator and bring them back to Nightmare, just so he can help you free your Antivoid, which is full of refugees in the first place because he destroyed their homes for his personal gain, is that about right?" He was a bit sassy, sue him, he was angry! That tends to happen when your new friend is collaborating with an evil dictator.

Error just shrugged, focusing on the blue screen in front of him. "ᵖяＥtt𝕪 爪𝕌𝓬𝓱.(Pretty much.)" The glitch had tried to explain what he was doing, but Sans only understood that the Destroyer was using the "code window" (whatever that was) as a divining rod.

"Error!" Sans waved his hand in front of his friend's skull. Error glared at him.
"𝕎𝓱Ａt?!(What?!)"
"We can't do that! If you bring the Creator to Nightmare, they'll get hurt, or worse!" Who knew what evil plans Nightmare had in store? Considering how many AUs the Guardian had destroyed, someone called "the Creator" wasn't safe in Nightmare's clutches.

"ａŇ𝓭 ι ş𝓱σ𝕌𝔩𝓭 𝓬ＡяＥ Ⓦ𝓱𝕪?(And I should care why?)" Unfortunately for Sans, Error was disinterested in the whole thing. "ａ𝔩𝔩 ι ⓌＡŇt 𝐢ş 爪𝕪 ａŇt𝐢Ѷσ𝐢𝓭 ᵇＡ𝓬𝕂 t𝓱Ｅ ⓌＡ𝕪 𝐢t ⓌＡş.(All I want is my Antivoid back the way it was)" Unfortunately for Error, Sans was very stubborn.
"First of all, because it's the right thing to do! Also, because the Creator can help you get everyone out!"
"t𝓱Ｅ𝕪 𝓬ＡŇ?(They can?)"
"Yes!" Sans started to talk faster, excited "If what you told me is right, then Nightmare didn't actually kill anyone, he just erased their AUs, and the people who lived there are still in your Antivoid, we just haven't found them yet! Maybe, the Creator can rebuild our universes, or even make us new ones! We could-"
"ภσ.(No.)" The glitch was tense, not looking him in the eye.
"No?"
"ภσ!(No!)" Error blew up, and his eyes became clouded by glitches for a few seconds "ι ⓌσŇ't 𝓱Ｅ𝔩ｐ 𝕪σ𝕌 Ⓦ𝐢t𝓱 𝕪σ𝕌я şt𝕌ｐ𝐢𝓭 ｐ𝔩ＡŇ! ι tσ𝔩𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌 𝓭Ｅştяσ𝕪𝐢ŇＧ ａ𝓾ş 𝐢ş ŇＥ𝓬ＥşşＡя𝕪, ι ⓌσŇ't ｐ𝕌t t𝓱Ｅ 𝓂𝕌𝔩t𝐢ѶＥяşＥ Ａt я𝐢ş𝕂 נ𝕌şt ᵇＥ𝓬Ａ𝕌şＥ 𝕪σ𝕌 Ａᵇσ爪𝐢ŇＡt𝐢σŇş ＡяＥ şＡ𝓭! t𝓱𝐢ş 𝐢ş Ａ Ｇσσ𝓭 t𝓱𝐢ŇＧ!(I won't help you with your stupid plan! I told you destroying AUs is necessary, I won't put the Multiverse at risk just because you abominations are sad! This is a good thing!)"

Sans opened his mouth, but then thought better of it. Error wasn't the type of person to care about others or their feeling, he just did whatever he wanted: he had told Sans that he would still kill him, even if he thought the two of them as friends now, because he was convinced he was right. He wasn't going to change in a day.

He had, however, said that he would kill him for last, and that was Error's way of saying that he cared. Sans just had to explain it to him in a way he'd understand.

The Royal Guard trainee fell deep in thought, while Error turned back to his screen.

After a few minutes, he had a realization.

"What if it wasn't?"
"𝕎𝓱Ａt 𝓭𝐢𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌 şＡ𝕪?(What did you say?)"
"What if Nightmare destroying all of those AUs wasn't a good thing?"
"𝕎𝓱Ａt ＡяＥ 𝕪σ𝕌, şt𝕌ｐ𝐢𝓭? ι tσ𝔩𝓭 𝕪σ𝕌-(What are you, stupid? I told you-)"
"I know what you told me, but I think you're missing something!" The glitch was about to respond, but Sans cut him off. "The Multiverse can't handle too many AUs, but who says the right thing to do is to erase them all? It's not all or nothing, you can clean a room without throwing everything away. There are two Guardians of Emotions, and Dream keeps saying that Nightmare is not behaving as he should, that they should maintain a balance of sort, together. You're the Destroyer and they are the Creator, maybe it's the same for you two! You know, glass half empty, glass half full."
"t𝓱Ａt'ş Ňσt Ⓦ𝓱Ａt t𝓱Ａt şＡ𝕪𝐢ŇＧ 爪ＥＡŇş!(That's not what that saying means!)" Error managed to interject, but he seemed hesitant, and a bit lost; a few glitches started appearing on him. Sans was getting through to him!

"Still, it would make sense! And if you didn't know about them, they probably don't know about you either. Maybe they didn't know they shouldn't create so much, and you can explain everything to them."

Glitches started multiplying over Error's body, and he gripped his knees, exhaling shakingly. Maybe what Sans said was too much to process for him. The blue clad skeleton feared that he'd do the same thing he did in the Antivoid, when he just froze and wouldn't respond, and felt extremely guilty. However, his friend managed to calm himself down. He looked exhausted though.

"I'm sorry. Do you need to sit down?" Error shook his skull "I didn't mean to..." Sans softened his approach. "Look, all I'm saying is we shouldn't rush to conclusions. Just promise me you'll try to reason with them before deciding what to do." And let's hope you make the right choice.
The glitch fiddled with his sleeves a bit, then glanced at Sans and quietly said: "ᗝ𝕂Ａ𝕪.(Okay.)"
Sans smiled warmly.

==========

Unbeknownst to the both of them, Nightmare was watching them through a one-way window. He wasn't a fool, and only a fool would assign such an important task to someone he just met and not monitor them.

He wasn't very surprised by the fact that the Destroyer (Error?) had betrayed him: he had guessed, correctly, that the skeleton was very impulsive and easily angered, and allying themselves with someone that volatile and powerful was just asking for trouble.
What did surprise him, however, was the bond between him and the other skeleton, Blue; Nightmare recognized him from a few of his spying sessions on his brother (who had managed to escape in the confusion of the attack, damn him), since the disgustingly positive Underswap was one of the AUs Dream visited more frequently. He was pretty sure Blue and Dream were "best friends", and he could see why: the two were very similar.

It seemed even the Destroyer himself wasn't immune to their particular brand of friendship: he didn't think much of it when Error tried to protect Blue during their negotiations, but after recognizing him the Guardian was extremely intrigued by the respect and care the glitch showed the other.

It was something that could be used.

For now, though, Nightmare would wait and watch: they'd enter the Heart, and lure the Creator out, and if they still wanted to betray him...
He'd act.