What it takes to be an AU Destroyer

Lesson 5 : Constant work is the key

2 months later...

The large blasters all shot simultaneously in various directions. As Frisk was free-falling, they took advantage of the table sent towards them by Error. They pushed it away with their feet, and the object struck a blaster, which tilted its ray that destroyed two of the other skulls before turning off. They then quickly dashed through three other rays at the point where they were the closest to each other, but could not dodge the skull hidden behind them, which instead of firing, simply advanced at great speed and sent them flying away with its forehead. Seeing the Anti-Void's ground approaching, they prepared another dash which, while it did not stop the pain from the harsh landing, protected them from a big share of it. They were exhausted, but knew Error wasn't done yet.

"Again."

Red bones encircled them, but they were expecting it. The more time it had been since Error had summoned a bone, the less the bone would glow. Of course, the difference would be imperceptible to a normal eye, at least before an hour or so, but to Frisk it was as clear as crystal. And Error had a tendency to always prioritize the ones summoned first. One by one the projectiles were launched, in the order they expected. They dodged the first ones, and when the attacks become too numerous, grabbed two of the biggest ones to block the rest. As the final bone arrived, they knocked it out of its track, and it went... right towards Error, who simply tilted his head to the right to avoid his attack. He seemed very satisfied. 

"...Remarkable. Your tactics aren't any less disappointingly predictable, however."

Ever since they had made this deathly deal (Deathly for Frisk obviously), days had flown by, animated by the frequent trainings and studies the two of them did. Frisk had gotten use to this routine, and slowly but surely, each one had accommodated themself to the other. Frisk had learnt to be patient and obedient with Error's unpredictable temper, and Error had been more lax over what Frisk was allowed to do, and often brought things from AUs to improve their comfort. Still, he kept refusing to take them with him outside of the Anti-Void.

Ignoring their teacher's remarks, Frisk sighed with satisfaction and sat down, inspecting their clothes. After all of this harsh treatment, their sweater and pants tended to often be damaged, but it seemed like the clothes regenerated themselves with time, and after some sleep, Frisk would find them as good as new. 

You ask Error if there is anything more planned for today. 

"No, we're done for the moment. Go do some of the exercises I gave you, I've got something to do myself."

You ask Error if this has anything to do with the fact that Undernovela is beginning in 2 minutes.

"Bold guess, smarthead." He ironized, as he sat down into his beanbag and opened his portal-TV. 

As the soap-opera's guitar opening started being heard, Frisk walked away towards one of their portals while stretching their arm. Another notifiable change was that, since Frisk spent so much time in Error's Anti-Void, many of their stuff had been left in it, and a few portals linking this one with theirs were permanently opened. Frisk's Anti-Void had also changed, in a way. They had now constructed a large structure of piled furniture with thick blankets covering them, like a giant pillow fort, which they more or less used as a bedroom. In this permanently white realm, having a darker place to rest pleased them.

They pushed away a corner of one of the blankets, and entered the "room". The inside was not totally dark, lit up by mostly weak and colored sources of brightness, like lava lamps, and the floor was littered with Frisk's toys and "homework". In fact of exercises, Error would often give them various tasks or little quizzes on sheets of paper, when it was not directly puzzles taken from other AUs, like Junior Jumble. Ignoring them, Frisk walked over to a pillow, and lifted it to find what they were looking for : A few various notebooks. They grabbed the biggest and opened it. It was filled with various prompts and notes, with occasional scribbles that looked more or less familiar.

They flipped the pages and stopped on one that had a succession of dashes, 67 it seemed. After grabbing a neon green marker on the nearby floor, Frisk started writing on it :

"Great performance I think, but E unsatisfied.

Predictable ???

Worried ??"

"I must keep improving", you think. "This is my only chance to see the Multiverse. I am  dying to see what it looks like..."

Days kept passing, and every time they had the impression they were progressing forward, their teacher's pessimism and temper (who was just as bad, if not worse than usual) cut it short and pushed them two steps back. No matter how hard they trained, whether it was in front of him or in secret, it just never seemed to be enough. For the first time, they doubted they would ever be able to be a fit apprentice to someone as powerful and unstable as Error.

...

No...

There IS a way to prove him that you're ready.

It was extremely risky, but it seemed worth it for what was on the line. As Frisk got up and exited their cabin, they realized just how dedicated they had become to being the apprentice Error trained them to be, to the point of forgetting their real goal of escaping the Anti-Void. But now it didn't matter. They were going to attempt the impossible, and open a portal out of it, to the Multiverse. Sure, it seemed impossible at first, and because of the string on their soul, it would not mean they'd be free from Error, but still. With such an achievement, it would surely bring great progress to their formation, which meant getting one step closer to freedom.

They raised their hands, closed their eyes, and concentrated as hard as they could. They didn't know much about how things were outside the Anti-Void, but they had an idea of it. They had seen drawings, pictures, photos even sometimes, so they envisioned them as hard as they could, trying to open a portal the further away from this place as possible. What felt like minutes passed, but they remained steady, afraid that the moment they broke their concentration, everything would be lost. Suddenly, with a glitchy opening sound, the portal appeared. Frisk opened their eyes, ready to see what could be on the other side...

And immediately was filled with despair. This portal was just another typical one to the white realm they knew all too well. Mimicking Error's attitude, they squealed a swear and hit the ground with their feet, enraged. Feeling tears of frustration coming to their eyes, they quickly held them back, ran to their cabin, and hid under it. After doing their best to stop themself from crashing, and taking a large, deep breath, they feel in a light slumber, which lasted a bit until they felt someone enter their Anti-Void.

Error.

As a dark hand lifted one of the sheets, they popped their head out of it to face their master.

"Hey, you done with your stuff yet ?" he asked, "I think we could have another go. Whadya say ?"

They hesitated a bit.

Sounds good to you.

Error seemed satisfied by the answer, and opened a portal to his Anti-Void.

"Then, shall we ?"

As the gate closed after the passage of the two, the one Frisk had opened earlier remained, still waiting to be shut down. Error hadn't seemed to notice it. But he should have felt its opening, since this portal conducted right to his own Anti-Void, right ?

Unless...