No Strings- An ErrorInk Fic

Chapter 23- The Same, But Different

Error's POV

When I woke up the next day, Ink was no longer beside me. I looked outside the window. It was bright outside, but it wasn't morning. After everything that had happened, along with waking up at four in the morning last night, there's no way I could wake up before noon. I was happy The ol' Dyner let us stay home for today. I decided to get up and see if the others were here.
Sure enough, the three of them were sitting on the couch. They all perked up when they saw me.
"Error!"
"Hey guys."
Blue came up and hugged me. I let him, but Fell punched me in the shoulder afterwards, making me flinch.
"Ouch, dude. Watch the bones."
"Don't 'Dude' me!" He growled. "You spend weeks in an abandoned warehouse unconscious, and that's the first thing you say to us?"
"Well what else am I supposed to say?" I say in an annoyed tone. "It's called a greeting, Fell. Reminder that I haven't spoken to you in over three weeks."
"Let alone seen us! Do you realize how worried we were for you?"
"No, I haven't." The sarcasm is practically obvious.
"Well, we were!" Blue says suddenly, cutting off what Fell might have said. I roll my eyes and show a half smile. It slowly disappears when I look over to see Ink, who still hadn't said anything since last night. I get his attention.
"Are you alright, Ink?" I said cautiously, moving towards him. He doesn't respond, not at first. But a few second later he smiles.
"I'm okay, Error. I'm just glad you are too!" He's smiling, but it looks like a sad smile. I crouch down to his height so I can look him in the eyes.
"Ink, I can't even begin to say how worried I was for you the whole time I was gone. If you don't tell me what's up, then it won't go away."
Ink looked down at his feet, hesitant. "I'm just... so confused. All this bad stuff is happening to you and I still have no clue as of why. It's just... so strange and messed up, and I just want to know that you are safe."
I paused. Explaining right here and now might be a bit much for him.
So I go for comfort.
"Ink, I know you're worried about me. But I'm still really happy that you're safe, and I'm safe, and we're both together again." I touched my forehead to his and held it there for a few seconds. "Everything is going to be fine."
I'll tell him later. I promise.

Ink's POV

At school the next day, the five skeletons walked into school to find themselves where they never would have expected.

Everything was... normal. Like, our normal. It was almost as if nobody knew what happened. Other than the fact that Swapfell wasn't here, everyone was acting as if nothing happened.
I remember what Error had told me before school that day.
"Just act normal," he said. "If anyone pesters you about... Swapfell, run."
"Run?"
"Well... avoid it. We don't want people bothering us about it. Lay low for now."

"This is... not what I expected."
Fell looked over at Error. "You said it, Dude. I would at least expect one or two people to have heard, but this is just plain weird."
"We can't be phased by this, guys," Dream said quickly. "Stay prepared. We still don't know what to expect."
I nodded. We all headed to our first period together. No words were spoken. The hallways were bustling, but not towards us. It was... like every other day. Class went through like normal, no complications at all. At the end of homeroom, Ms. Alphys walked up to us.
"I-I... I'm a-almost scared t-to ask you lot, b-but are you all o-okay? Undyne t-told me why y-you weren't here yesterday, a-and I was t-terrified! It m-must have been a-awful!"
I laughed nervously. "It's okay, Ms. Alphys. We're fine. A few bruises and scrapes, but we're all okay!" I smiled confidently. "We'll be fine, thanks for worrying about us though!"
"That doesn't really mean much, she worries about everything," I heard Error grumble. I rolled my eyes and got up.
"Come on you guys."
Everything else in that day was normal.
Except...
On the way from our gym class, the first complication of the day happened.
Error, who was still sore for the whole thing and had pretty much bailed on gym entirely, was sagging behind. Something was hurting him. I turned worriedly to face him and stop him.
"It's nothing," He said bitterly. "I'm fine, Ink."
I glanced at him worriedly, but continued, with him beside me now. Our fingers brushed against each other slightly, and he flinched. I couldn't tell if he was still hurt or just surprised. Maybe a bit of both.
But a few seconds later, we heard voices.
"Well well well... look who finally came back from the dead."
Error didn't even flinch. He just shut his eyes and turned around slowly.
"What do you want, Nightmare?"

Error's POV

After everything that's happened, Nightmare.
Of course it had to be Nightmare.
Public Enemy #2, best friends with Killer.
Killer, nowhere in sight.
Not good.
"Well well well... look who finally came back from the dead."
"What do you want, Nightmare?" I said, turning around.
"What's with the tone, buddy? Pal? Ol' Chum?"
"Don't call me that."
"Okay, okay, sheesh. I'm just worried for my friend, is that too much to ask?"
"I'm not your friend."
He put on fake sadness. He put a hand to his chest. "You wound me." He came over and pat me on the shoulder. "You make it sound like treason to talk to you."
I didn't jerk away, but I glared at him. I did flinch, though. As much as I hated it, I was in tremendous pain.
"Maybe because he doesn't want to talk to you!" Blue piped up bravely.
Nightmare squeezed my shoulder in anger and glared at Blue.
"Was I talking to you, shortass?"
He shied away and shook his head. I winced painfully.
A hint of curiosity shown in his eye. "Are you alright, Error?" He asked with fake surprise. "Horror didn't rough you up too bad now, did he? I'll have to have a little chat with him when they find him."
I groaned in pain as his grip only tightened on my shoulder. "You- You know-?"
"Of course I do." He said with a laugh. "What, you didn't see? It was all over the news."

'We don't want people bothering us about it. Lay low for now'

Well, I thought. So much for keeping it on the down-low.
By this time almost half the school had surrounded us. We were trapped.
I had to get us out of here somehow.
I grabbed Ink's hand. If I were to try and teleport out of here, I couldn't do it alone. I wasn't that self-centered. At least after I was gone, everyone would leave and the others would be able to as well.
I tried to concentrate, and...
Nothing.
"Awww... isn't that cute? Error needs his boyfriend for comfort."
I growled. He grinned deviously. "They've softened you up, haven't they, Glitch?"
He pushed me away roughly, knocking me off my balance. I fell backwards, and suddenly it was like the crowd had disappeared. They parted like the Red Sea to watch me fall down the nearby staircase.
The others tried to catch me, to no avail.

It was like everything was in slow motion. All I could see was Nightmare's evil, grinning face, and my friend's sad ones.
All they could do was watch as I landed at the bottom of the stairs.
And what scared me wasn't the pain. It wasn't even humiliation.
Well, I mean, it sort of was.
But half the school now knows that my powers aren't working.
And now that I'm powerless, they're going to take advantage of that.
I have a feeling this won't be the last time I see Nightmare.

What is up my lovely people!
Ohhhhh my goddd-
I am so sorry you guys, with all the time I've had over the summer, this chapter should have come out months ago!
But I'm here. Everything is fine.
Right?
Right.
But I'm so stupid, I start school in a couple of weeks, and I am sooooooo not going to have time on my hands for anything.
But there! A chapter!
You're happy, I'm happy, we're all happy!
Lovely Jubbly!

-Sam