My Friend Over the Phone

Chapter 44

    Error's eye sockets shot open. There were small beads of sweat accumulating on his skull, his breath coming out in short, ragged breaths as though he'd just ran a marathon. Looking back on it, in a way, he had. He wondered if Ink was doing alright, wherever he woke up.

    He sat up, surveying his surroundings. His back hurt like hell after sleeping on the floor. Blue has spoiled him, making him sleep in a bed every night like a civilized person up until now.

    It was so odd to look around and see the whiteness of the Anti-Void again. The emptiness wasn't welcoming anymore; it was just creepy and a reminder of the person he used to be, the person who was banished here in the first place. He wanted nothing more than to go back to his and Blue's home.

    ...But it was gone now, wasn't it? How could he forget seeing (almost) everything he cared about being taken away from him? But now he knows that it wasn't Ink, not fully. Fate had influenced him into all of this, but even then, the deity had to have a reasonable motive for all of this. They have to be trying to do something to help the Multiverse, right? After all, why would they suddenly want to destroy everything they helped to create?

    Horror and Blue were both laying on the ground nearby, probably resting, but still giving him enough space to feel comfortable. He had just barely gotten used to touching others too, but after getting himself deleted twice, he's back at square one. He thumbed at his scarf, staring at the once soft and fluffy knitted polyester that now sported numbers and the all too familiar eye-bleeding lights of 404 windows and bluescreens. His vision was all the more obscured after the second deletion, the errors never quite leaving his vision. Everything in his sight distorted and copied over itself before disappearing and reappearing again. It wasn't overly noticeable at the moment, since everything was blank, until he set his eye lights on Blue and Horror. He's definitely not going to enjoy getting back to the Multiverse with his messed up vision, but it'll still be good to see the sun again.

    After his conversation with Ink and getting back to the material world, his memory of the last days in the Multiverse has returned to him. He didn't realize something was wrong to begin with until he considered exactly how he got himself deleted a second time. He sighed, irked at the thought. He was going to have a few choice words with Nightmare once he saw him again.

    Nightmare. He contributed to the spell that they used to "kill" Ink to begin with. He wondered if the Guardian was alright. Oh stars, what if he wasn't? What if he was dead?

    "Error?" The word distorted in his ear ducts. He turned to his right, slowly removing his hands from where his phalanges were digging into his skull. Blue looked back at him with worry. He raised his hand towards Error's shoulder in an attempt of comfort, before remembering to pull his hand back. Blue's frown deepened for a moment as he did so, likely just as disappointed as Error that his haphephobia resurfaced.

    "I," he huffed, out of breath, "okay. I'm okay. What's wrong?"

    "Nothing," Blue replied, his voice unlike what Error was used to hearing. "You just.. looked like you were having an episode. Are you sure you're alright?"

"I was just thinking about the others. If they're alright, I mean. Things were pretty bad when I..."

    Blue nodded, understanding. "We'll get back to them soon, though! We just have to keep looking, we can't be far from reality now."

    Error hummed in agreement. He didn't really know if they were close to getting out, but being around Blue has made him a more hopeful person. His talk with Ink certainly helped him to be more determined to get out of the Anti-Void, knowing that he was able to talk. That everything had a chance of not being back to the way it was before, but possibly better. Peaceful. For everyone.