Another Day, Another Bone

New Game - 1

Within a colorful area, filled with many different blotches and colors, is a Skeleton. It was wearing large green headphones, and its eyes were lower case white t's. It wore a large fluffy and baggy blue hoodie. It was the creator of the multiverse, Coder. Or as some would call him, Ink. But Coder is his chosen name.

A billion years ago he came into existence within a white void. Knowing nothing, and his universe being nothing but a blank canvas. Emotionless, unknowing. It took years before he started to actually create. To color. Originally he was a purely white skeleton, but now his bones were many different shades of colors. In some ways it was hard to look at. It is unknown when he first learned that he could make things, but when he did? He created aimlessly. No universes at the time, he just painted his universe, one color at a time. He learned on accident that when he ingested the paints that he made it allowed him to actually feel something.

Thus he began experimenting, and made himself a vial satchel, which he kept filled with paints. He had created everything so far with just intent. He was getting better at actually doing things. He made a mixture of paints that were perfect for him, one drop of red and blue, three drops of yellow, one drop pink and purple, His ability to actually feel was best when he used every color but had one dominating color. Thus the drops method. He used more yellow than any other color because it made him feel happier. But it didn't just bring happiness it had negative effects as well. They knew that. Which is why a balance had to be achieved.

This allowed him to center himself, he learned he had memory problems, so he made himself a pair of high-tech glasses that allowed him to take notes via just thinking about it. If he forgot something, it would appear in his vision. This allowed him to center himself. After the glasses, he made headphones, and then he made clothing. There wasn't much of a reason for it. But he had an idea of a look that popped into his mind. So he started working on it. A blue outfit, with green highlights was the end result. He planned on never taking his headphones or glasses off.

Then it happened. Coder had a burst of inspiration, and made his first universe. He had no clue where the inspiration had come from, but it was there. He called it Undertale. It was an amazing universe, it was small originally, so Coder made it larger. Turning a mere canvas into a full universe. It was fascinating to see everything play out. It was also Coder's first interaction with his creations. He met with a monster that called himself Gaster. Gaster was fascinating, a naturally occurring Skeleton Monster similar to himself!

Gaster could be called Coders first friend, and the one that taught them something about computing. It was unfortunate when Coder returned back home one day, and when he turned around Monster Kind was sealed underground. Gaster asked Coder to do something. So he did, he created a loop. A [RESET] Mechanic that would persist for a while, and eventually lead to the Monsters freedom. The reason for doing it this way? If he had just restored monsters, it would have reignited the spark of war. It was better to let tensions cool down. Gaster stopped speaking to Coder after that.

Coder didn't know if Gaster regretted cutting off contact with him or not. Because a few years later Gaster had just disappeared. This was the first time Coder had more than two drops of white ink added to his daily mixture. Regardless, a hundred years passed. Coder had only one universe that they were caring for, and expanding. Eventually the Monsters were free'd, and his promise was completed. It was then Coder discovered two skeletons, both with different traits of himself. His height and energy was present in Papyrus. While his power and lack of motivation was present within Sans. He thought they were clones for a moment. He never initiated contact with them. Just watched as time passed.

A few million years passed. Coder watched the universe collapse under heat death. The last survivor was a Skeleton, who had lived far longer than they should have, and they were under constant pain. Coder put Gaster out of his misery, unmaking his creation. Everyone else had passed peacefully. Then the [RESET] activated. Recreating the universe from the very beginning. Starting a new story. This time Coder didn't get involved, and instead watched as his creations developed. Gaster in this universe had become colder, more distant. Likely lonely, as Coder was his only friend in the previous universe. Events remained pretty much the same, except this time Gaster made friends with the ruler of Monsterkind.

— Coder's POV

I glanced at the error in Undertales code. They popped up occasionally, and each time they were an absolute pain to deal with. If left unchecked, it could split off and form an entirely new universe, and I was way too busy to mess with another Undertale. Undertale was hard enough to maintain, much less new universes.

I sighed as I took a drink from my mix, the burst of emotions making me feel a bit more there. Regardless, I need to fix the error. Find the source of the error, and prevent it from occurring again. I hate patching. It forces me to acknowledge that I made a mistake. I'm not supposed to make mistakes! Oh well. Not much I can do about it.

Anyways, one more change, and the error should be fixed. Returning Undertale back to stability, with none the wiser. There we go. Hmm, I wonder if the Fallen Humans timeline has started yet? Huh, Ebott got quarantined this time for safety concerns. So no humans have fallen this time. Oh well, the barrier will break on its own in a few more years. So no Fallen Humans timeline this time.

Stretching out, I take one last glance at the Undertale universe, before heading to my hammock to lay down and stare at my starry ceiling. "Goodnight Undertale."

When I break out of my trance of staring into the stars, I remake my inky cocktail. Taking a swig, I return to look at Undertale... and promptly throw up black ink. Wiping away the Ink, I look at the massive amount of errors that had formed in the code. The auto-correction function was working over time trying to fix and stall it till I returned. I waved my hands, and focused my intent as I started manually fixing the errors, while trying to figure out what was causing them.

It took me a few minutes before I realized what was going on. Something from out of the universe had arrived in the universe, and Undertale didn't have the support structure required to handle out of context souls. I kneaded the space between my eye sockets. Then I shook my head, as I opened a portal near the out of context problem. Sans and Papyrus stood with widened eye sockets as they saw me. I saw the error sitting on the couch with a hot chocolate. A quick move, and I grabbed and hoisted him over my shoulder, kidnapping the blackened skeleton with the errors covering their body.

I returned back to my space, a quick burst of intent created a cage to put the error in. I tossed it in. They grunted as they landed, and I went back to fixing the errors. Without the error in the universe it was a lot easier to fix, and now that I knew it was an issue, I'd fix the problem as well, and add a support system in place for world travelers. That way Out of Context errors don't cause trouble. I stood back, admiring my work. Then I turned to the error.

"First time seeing a living error, do you have a name error?" The error blinked at me. They were scared of me, but also severely confused. "Can you speak? Or do I have to make it where you can speak?" They may not have vocal cords? Wait, no it's a monster, vocal magic then? Oh, it could be sign language, I really need to learn that language, could be useful.

A garbled voice echoed out, "Ę̷̜̂r̵͎͗͐r̴̛̟͒o̴͚̙̒r̸̎."[Error].

I blinked. Now I was confused, "No I mean your name, I know you're an error, but what is your name?"

He growled, "Ę̴̺̊r̷̪̥̈͐r̷̛̥̩o̵̮͛̈r̷̝̊ ̵̲̎i̴͌̌͜ͅṥ̶͈ ̶͕̉͜m̵͖̊ÿ̶̟͐ ̶̙̫́̿n̵̰̎a̵͚̋͝m̷̞̪̈̆è̶̩͋!̷̎ͅ" [Error is my name!]

"Oh... oh! Ok, so Error. Where the hell did you come from?" My eye sockets narrowed in suspicion. I didn't create this thing.

"N̵̙̿̎ŏ̷̝̱n̶͎̪̈́e̶̝̾̕ͅ ̸̘̹̓̕o̸̫̔f̴̛̗̽ ̵̼̗͝y̷̲͐ͅo̴̖͐ṳ̵̚r̵̢̛̖ ̶͙̫͒̓b̵̬̐̊ǘ̸̺ī̸̤͔s̷͈̣̅̂i̵͍̗͊ņ̵̕e̷͖͇͐̓s̸̙̔ṡ̴̜̚!" [None of your business!]

I took a seat next to the cage and looked him straight in the eyelight. "It became my business the moment you ended up in my universe and almost destroyed it."

"A̴̤̭̚͘l̵̫͚̔̈m̴̠̈́͘o̵̻͂̕s̴̙͌ͅt̷͎̍̍ ̶̯́d̵̫̺͗e̶̪̒̚s̵͍͉̓̈t̵̙̀r̸̯͘o̸͉̬͐̚y̷̮̲͐̆e̷̯̚ͅd̸̫̽ ̵̣͑̅ͅḭ̵̛͖̾t̸̛̩̪͊?̵̲͂͆͜!̷͜͝" [Almost destroyed it?!] He panicked for a moment, "H̶̬͖́̄o̸̪͙̓w̵̼̤͑̇!̶̥̯̕ ̷̭̄I̸̧͜͠ ̴̧̥͑d̸̛̺̉ḯ̵̱̹d̶̟̽͜ṋ̶͕̀̀'̴̫͆t̵͚̐͐ ̸̹̹̋̎d̴̰̗́ö̶̡͍̕ ̵͇̻̍͠a̶̫͊n̷͚̯̅y̶̹͆t̸͈̗͑͋h̶̞̽̋i̷̦̘̒n̷̡̥̅ǵ̷͕!̶͉̽͜" [How! I didn't do anything!]

Hmm, how to explain this. "Undertale has a set number of rules and laws of nature. Your existence breaks every single one of them, and causes the system to completely glitch out. Not to mention it didn't have the capability to support external souls. Especially one covered in errors and broken code. Do you have any idea how long I'm going to have to spend patching and repairing the damage caused?" He stared blankly. "It's going to take months! Hell, if I'm unlucky it might take years If I forget it. Do you have any idea how hard it is to maintain a universe and prevent it from randomly collapsing or splitting off and creating more work for me to do!"

He looks around the creation void. "Ẃ̶̲̅h̵̟͛ȩ̵̺̈́͋ṟ̸͂̈e̸̼̔ ̵͉͇͆ā̸̱̗͠r̴͓͑͋͜e̸͔̟͛̀ ̶̯̊a̶͙͗̚l̴̳̤̓͘l̸̨̈͋ ̴̤̄̕t̶̰̾h̴͓̳͆͝ē̸̝͚̊ ̷̣̫͊̈́o̶̦͊t̷̨͇́̂h̷̓͜e̵͎͙͗̊r̸͍̣͑ ̸̲̮͊̌ụ̸̄̉n̵̠̹̅̈́i̷͙̹̒̓v̴̗̮̇e̶͒͜͜r̵̼̺͋s̶̱̹̎̇e̷͚̒̾s̵̻͘?̸̘͋̓" [Where are all the other universes?]

I blinked. "There is only one universe here, with how much effort it takes to maintain this one, why would I make more?" He looked at me blankly after that, I sighed, and gestured, the cage dissolving as I grabbed the skeleton's hand and pulled him up. "I suppose we got off on the wrong foot Error. My name is Coder, and I am the Creator of this universe." I say, shaking his hand. He was staring at his hand in confusion, and then asked me something.
"H̸̹̉̚ó̴͚͘w̸̝̩̓ ̴̝̠̇á̷̹̟̈́m̸̬̘̀̉ ̸̰̝͒İ̷͔̈́ ̸̼͙͝͝n̸̯͠ͅǫ̵̲̽t̶̬̘̊ ̸̟͐̀ċ̷͕ṙ̷̻̝̚ȧ̶̺ś̴̼ȟ̶͇͆ḯ̸̗̯n̵͔͝g̴̜̹̿̏?̷͎͖͛" [How am I not crashing?]

I blinked. "What?"

"I̵͎̹͊̽.̷͚͑̑.̵͚̿.̷͍̅̊ͅ ̷̡̣͆͐d̴̝̠̓o̸̘̘͘n̵̳͔̅̑'̵̙̎̈́t̸͙͌̉ ̶̳̇l̴͉̋ĩ̸̥͗k̶̲̂͘͜ẽ̶ͅͅ ̵̗̏͐g̴̖͋ͅe̵͐ͅt̸̜͍͝t̵͓̤́̐i̷͈̇̊n̵̬̈́g̵̯͝ ̷͔͖̀ṭ̷̬͒͗o̴̬͆ṷ̴̀͑c̸̪͒h̷̡̘̄̕é̷̱͐ḍ̷͎̀͆.̵̗͔͘" [I... don't like getting touched.]

Ah, I see, "Oh, a phobia? I can't trigger phobias. Or PTSD for that matter. Heh, I met someone with cartilogenophobia, they thought they were cured for a while... It was pretty amusing." I did feel a bit bad when I read that on my glasses later after I took a swig of my daily vial. But when I was running low on emotions it was pretty funny.

I lowered my hands, before realizing he was just holding onto my hand for dear life. Error was focused completely on the hand to hand contact in a trance. It looked pretty much like the recording I took when I was observing the stars above my hammock. Well, he was going to be like that for a while. With a bit of focus on my intent I started to fix the problems in Undertale caused by his arrival. My bandaid patch wasn't going to last forever after all.