Mr. Erratum

Chapter Ninety-Three

It was almost as if he couldn't breathe, Erratum realized after a moment.

He stared into the endless night of Outertale- or was it the void that he was staring at? As Erratum looked straight on, it was unclear where the starry night of Outertale ended, and the sucking emptiness of the void began. It wasn't a clear cut off, with stars and planets falling into the void itself, as if even they couldn't handle staying back from the void's pull.

Erratum hummed to himself. He should go back soon, before Error and the others wake up. He wouldn't want to worry them.

Footsteps were heard behind him- slow and calculated, as if the person wasn't sure they should be there. They wouldn't leave though, Erratum knew. Pigment never left, and never would leave. 

Pigment finally appeared in his vision, as the skeleton stood beside him. He was far too close to the void for Erratum's comfort, his feet barely a step away from falling into it's inky endlessness. Perhaps it said something about him, that Erratum didn't feel the same worry for himself, despite standing just as close.

Pigment didn't say anything, which was both just as surprising as it was unsurprising to Erratum. The Creator's eyes were firmly held onto him, unlike Erratum, who kept his gaze on the sight of Outertale's most dazzling feature. That, also, was not surprising. Pigment never had as a strong of an appreciation for views like this. Not in the way Erratum did, anyway.

Eventually, it was Pigment who spoke. "What are you doing here?" He asked, his words, although slightly curious, held more wariness and tension than anything else. 

Erratum looked up, and let out a sigh. As soon as it left his mouth, Erratum had to hold back a flinch, as it made him realize just how tired he felt about everything. "areN'T i aLlOwEd TO eNjOy A viEW?" He questioned back, keenly aware that he wasn't answering the skeleton's question. 

"Not this one" Pigment instantly responded with. After a moment, Erratum finally looked over to his right, his eyes immediately locking on Pigment's own blue and yellow ones. Pigment didn't look pleased- in fact, Erratum would've called the emotions on his face more frightened than anything. 

It shocked Erratum. It shouldn't of- Erratum should've had more faith in Pigment, after everything that has happened- but a small part of him still expected Pigment to look back at what had happened with joy. 

Instead, Pigment looked extremely uncomfortable. Clear guilt swam through Pigment's now green and red eyes, and although Erratum knew the emotion wasn't real like his own were, it still made something deep within him relax- something that had been left to stir for a long time.

"MaYBe NoT" He finally agreed, turning away from the view of endless darkness and to a intimately familiar landscape. A rocky and deserted land stood in front of them both, a land that, even after all this time, Erratum and Pigment still remembered.

They were standing in the place they had tried to kill each other.

Dust no longer was scattered through the air. The dust which, at one point, made it hard to see, was no where to be found, as if it was never there in the first place. The thought brought a strange sense of comfort, though Erratum knew it would be unwise to depend on it. It was never a good thing to pretend something didn't happen.

Erratum didn't know why his feet brought him here. To Outertale. To the place they fought. To the void that had consumed him. Pigment didn't either, if his words were anything to go by, even if Erratum could see the same confused understanding in his eyes that Erratum felt.

"pARt oF mE ThOuGHt yOu'D bE aBLe TO teLl wHat HapPenED HerE" He admitted to the paler skeleton, staring forward. It felt strange, that such a monumental thing in Erratum's life no longer had proof it happened. It felt frightening, in a way, that it only took three years to completely erase something that felt so large, and from Pigment's nod, he obviously agreed.