Becoming Error, The Forced God Of Destruction

Chapter 10: New Recruit

"Found them!" I say while hopping off the couch. I open a portal to Dreamtale and pull Geno inside without warning. "Guys!" I shout once the portal closes. Geno falls face first onto the floor. He rubs his forehead.

"Error!" The gang shouts in unison. I stop just in front of Horror. He grins while munching on...I'm not sure...

"You're safe! I thought something bad happened. The house was a complete mess when I came back, what happened?" I ask, although already knowing somewhat.

"Ink happened." Dust states, grumpily. "The bastard came and attacked us after finding us inside the home. Boss fend off his attacks and made a portal for us to escape to. And now, here we are."

"Is Nightmare, okay?" I ask, looking around for him.

"Boss is inside his new room. Come, we should tell him you're here." Killer says.

I hear Horror chuckle somewhat. I glance behind me and see him staring at Geno. Geno seems on edge. Oh, I should probably introduce him to the gang to calm his nerves.

"Wait a moment." I tug on Geno's sleeve. The others hum when they spot Geno. I smile. "Meet Geno! He's a new member of the gang."

I can feel Geno tense up when they observe him deeply.

"He looks weak."

"He should eat more."

"I'm surprised he hasn't dusted."

The gang says, overlapping each other's comments. I frown somewhat. Then, the sound of someone walking downstairs catches our attention. We all look up and see Nightmare observing the situation. He relaxes somewhat when he sees me.

"A new recruit?" Nightmare asks. Geno stares at him in shock. I'm not sure why though... Then, he glances at me. "So...this is why you took longer than usual?"

I gulp, clutching the toy rabbit. Guess I must have worried him... I lower my head, as if saying 'sorry'. We all stand in silence. With the only sound being the munching coming from Horror as he eats. I can feel him staring at me.

"...How'd you two meet?" He asks, breaking the silence.

I quickly explain what took place inside Geno's au. The others listen in as Geno looks down. His thoughts, unknown... And when I brought up the fact that he is an original who had his au erased by me, the others seemed thoughtful about something.

Nightmare hums. "...So, it is possible to destroy original au's without killing copies. So long as the Sans of that au lives...interesting..."

I blink at that, not really understanding what that has to do with anything. But I quickly corrected him.

"Wrong. The original Sans and Papyrus must live for their copy au's to not collapse. The only reason I could leave Geno's Papyrus dead was because Geno alone changed his fate."

The others turn towards me, surprised. But they motion for me to continue.

"See, originals work like this...each au is coded with a beginning, middle, and end to a story. The beginning being when the human falls into the underground, the middle being what path they chose which can be either mercy, genocide, or neutral, and the end being the consequences of their actions."

Geno stares at me in confusion at this. "Wait, then shouldn't the human be needed instead of us Sanses? I mean, they have control of the timeline..." I sigh at that.

"I was wondering that too. Because, with how powerful the human's determination is, you'd think they'd be needed to live for their au to not collapse. And, in a way, you're not wrong." Nightmare frowns at this. "As you all know, I am the destroyer of au's. So, I've seen many human souls."

"After destroying their au, I'd take the human's soul into my anti-void to stop them from resetting inside their broken au. They alone are the last fragment of their destroyed timeline. I once tested what would happen if I left the human there to die alongside their collapsing au. Not only did they reset, but the world became bugged too."

They look at me, curious by what a 'bugged' is. So, I clarify.

"Their au, as if on repeat, would continue to collapse over and over again. It would not allow the human to true reset or restart at the beginning. They are forever stuck in one spot, forever unable to die until they give up."

Geno looks horrified at this. The others, just grinning. As if thinking 'that's what they get'.

"But that also brings up the question, 'why are only Sans and Papyrus needed to keep their au from collapsing?' It's a lot simpler than you may think. The human's soul role is to choose the path they will walk down while Sans and Papyrus play a different role."

They calm down to listen well.

"Papyrus is a key player to an au. He solidifies if the human will be doing a mercy or genocide path. He's the 'no turning back' if I may clarify. And although it's rare for a Papyrus to remember or become aware of resets, it isn't unheard of."

All but Nightmare freeze up at this. I guess it's to be expected. If you were told that your brother is aware of dying every timeline and yet still chooses to 'believe in the human', you'd wonder what goes around inside his head. And what makes him so forgiving. I continue with the explanation.

"While we Sans have a different role. We are the consequence. Have you ever wondered why there are so many 'Sans' in the first place? Killer and Dust are just possible outcomes to an average Sans's timeline. We are the 'what ifs' to the ending of a story. The last chain of events for humans to toy with."

I adjust my glasses. Geno subconsciously touches his scar while the others grow still. If this is toying, then murder is child's play...

"...But what about copy au's?" Geno asks. I sadden at this. Because, in my opinion, they were just unlucky. But I quickly cover it up with a grin.

"Now then, let's go to copy au's. They are not much different between the beginning, middle, and end of their stories. In fact, they all resemble their originals. But what sets them apart from their originals is the time of creation. The first ever created becomes the original while the others become copies. That alone allows for them to be forgotten; cased away. Because there are many others waiting to take their place."

It is a harsh, but true situation...They never asked to be this way. Heck, no-one asked to be this way. We can't all be first at everything, but that shouldn't mean we're inferior to others. I clutch my palm, trying to push back those thoughts. Right now, we have a bigger problem to deal with. I'll worry about myself another time.