The Path We Walk

Ch.21 Reveals and Ships

  Dust activated a shield around it to make sure we didn't cause collateral damage. Last time I fought, I may have sent a blast through the wall. It's fixed now, but it was pretty big. We stand at opposite ends. I keep myself relaxed with both hands in my pockets. Dust does the same. We stand there a few minutes waiting for the other to make the first move. It was clear that Dust would wait me out, so without warning I shortcut behind him. I then proceed to kick him sending him flying forward. He manages to flip around midair and land on his feet facing me. "Well now, that's just cheating." Dust says. I summon a sharpened bones in each hand.

  "Nothing's off the table in a fight. Learned that from the old turtle Judge himself. That lesson was definitely beaten into me. Now, let's begin." I say, summoning bone attacks all around me. I charge.

  The battle was intense. Beams were shooting. Bones constantly flying. We danced around eachother on foot or by teleport. By the time Dust had been exhausted, he was littered in cut and burns. I stood across from him a bit ruffled up and just starting to sweat. "Alright, I tap out." Dust says and falls back onto the ground groaning.

  I make my way over and sit next to him. "Really appreciate the fight. I was getting a bit out of practice. But, why did you want to fight me exactly? You saw what happened to Cross and Killer. I could have hurt you a lot worse if I wasn't trying to hold back so much." I ask him.

  "I wanted to fight someone who could push me to my limits. You saw how I ended up in a draw with Horror. Nightmare doesn't have a lot of time to spar. You also need someone to fight you that wouldn't be embarrassed to get their nonexistent ass whooped by the new girl. Us chicks gotta stick together and all that shit." Dust says to me.

  "Oh, so you decided on your gender? Have you told anyone else?" I ask happy for them.

  "Ya, decided on female. Just told my boyfriend and Nightmare so far. I'm still keeping my name, but changing my pronouns to she/her." Dust told me.

  "Well, good for you. Speaking of boyfriend, I heard you bring up you had one, but not who. Is it some secret?" I say to her.

  "No. It just a habit to not say his name, because we got together in secret. Nightmare was pissed when he eventually found out, but Error backed us up. It's understandable since Blue is on the Star Sans side. Though, he's really more neutral all things considered." Dust explains.

  "You and Blue. That's adorable. The cool and calm Dust with the hyper and peppy Blue. Definitely ship it. How'd your brother take it?" I say.

  "Ugh, another shipper. Remind me to keep you, Cross, and Blue from joining forces. Spirit wasn't happy about it at first, but he warmed up to Blue after a while. Blue's only partly glitched from his time in the Anti-Void, so he can't always see or hear Spirit like Error can. He does talk to him though. Spirit appreciates the sentiment." Dust said to me.

  "Speaking of Error, where's he been? I last saw him at the party, but not since." I ask curiously.

  "Well last thing I heard, Ink went on a huge creation spree and Error had to deal with it. You heard about the balances right?" Dust questions.

  "Ya. Creation and Destruction. Positivity and Negativity. Life and Death. Order and Chaos. Finally, Good and Evil. Can't have it tip too much towards one side or it could cause problems for the multiverse. Frisks and Charas balance good and evil respectively. Nightmare is negativity for the balance of emotions and Error is destruction to balance creation." I recall.

  "Exactly. Ink, the bastard, doesn't believe in the balance. He just goes off and creates as much as he wants, leaving Error to clean up his mess. I know Blue and even Dream have tried to convince him to stop, but he doesn't listen. The whole counsel listens to Ink, so Error is made out to be the insane destroyer. I don't even think they know or believe just what would happen if Error didn't do his job." Dust rants to me. I nod in agreement.

  "That's awful. Error does the hard job and saves the multiverse from overfilling and being destroyed. While, Ink is made out to be the hero. I know if I ever get the chance, I would teach the soulless stain a thing or two. Maybe if I can drill it in into his skull hard enough he'll actually remember." I say. Dust looks at me confused.

  "What do you mean soulless?" Dust asks me.

  "Exactly what I said. The skeleton doesn't have a soul. I could feel just how artificial his emotions were with my empathy when he showed up in my Au. He should have had at least some genuine feeling coming from him, but it was like they were just a coat he was wearing rather than they actually coming from him. Kinda like cloths he can put some on and change them as he pleases. That's not how real emotions work. They flow and fluctuate. He was clearly showing he was experiencing something similar, but they were at a constant level. Flowey was pretty similar. Being soulless he couldn't really feel anything, he just faked emotions. He experienced attachments, but he could take no joy or regret from anything. Just try to cure his boredom. His DETERMINATION is the only reason he wasn't completely apathetic to everything." I explain.

  "That definitely explains a lot of things. I wonder if the boss and Error know. Boss might because of the sensing emotions thing and Error has been fighting Ink for ages." Dust says in thought.

  "Well I'm sure we can check. I've been getting a bit bored of staying in the castle the whole time, so I wanted to see if Nightmare had a mission to give me." I tell her.

  "Alright. Let's go after we get a bite to eat. That workout made me hungry." Dust tells me. I nod in agreement.

  We get up and start heading down to the kitchen. Just as we reach the living room a portal opens up and a figure falls forward out onto the floor as it closes behind them. Red liquid and dust seem to be coming out of their many wounds. It was Error. Dust and I run over to him. "Shit!" Dust exclaims.