CreaseTale 0.3 (ErrorInk ~ Undertale AU)

Alive

"Error!"

"Error,"

"ERROR!!"

Someone was repeating his name, upset, desperate. The voice was familiar in some sort of way, but Error was too dazed to recall it.

What was going on? Where was he? Where was Ink?

Ink.

Instantly, a memory of a good-looking skeleton was summoned to the front of his mind. He had a splash of black on the bottom of one cheekbone, and one pupil was a bright yellow star while the other was round and as blue as a sapphire. Rainbow blush lit up his cheekbones and a huge smile was spread across his face. Around his neck there was a long tan scarf.

For a few seconds, Error let himself grasp the image, imagining this perfect skeleton; a stranger to him.

By the time he became embarrassed, he'd recovered enough to remember everything.

The cell, made out of strange computer codes, that zapped you into tomorrow if you did so much as brush them with a fingertip.

Swap!Sans, staring at him from the cell beside him.

A swirling, twisting rainbow explosion in the distance.

Yelling and screaming, and Swap's fists clenched in fear while he trembled.

Two figures, striding boldly out of the commotion behind them. One had a tail and horns, and looked like a devil, whilst the other wore a bright red hoodie with the sleeves rolled up.

Another horribly bright and loud rainbow explosion, then... darkness.

Error had sunk and sunk and sunk, far below the surface of this sea of shadows. He couldn't remember much about what it felt like, but he could remember thinking the same two sentences over and over again in his mind.

Make it stop.

Where's Ink?

Error slowly opened his eyes. A piercing ringing echoed in his ears, striking his skull like an endless scream. The world was all white, and he couldn't see or hear anything. It was extremely unnerving.

He tried wearily to wiggle his fingers. When they twitched and started to stroke the strange, dusty ground beneath him, Error felt his senses returning. He was alive.

Alive, alive, alive.

But where was Ink?

Error couldn't get the question out of his mind, nor the image he'd clung onto when he thought he was dead, when he'd been sinking into the darkness. The world began to materialise before his eyes.

Something bent over him and blocked the light. A jet-black silhouette of some sort of skeleton with... ears? Bunny ears or something?

Error tried to sit up. He winced when a bolt of pain shot through his right arm, but it passed, and he was able to support himself. The figure that loomed over him backed off a little, and came into focus.

"C'mon, we're getting out of here!" Swap's annoying, high-pitched voice exclaimed.

A groan sounded from Error as he got to his feet, swinging his head from side to side in search of Ink. Surrounding him as far as the eye could see, was grey. Grey dust coating the ground, grey skies covered by grey clouds.

The cells were gone. Destroyed. And the rainbow explosions were history.

"Blue?" called an uncertain, unrecognisable voice from somewhere nearby.

Swap spun on his heel, then stepped to the side with a sweeping motion, showing off something that had previously been hidden by the gigantic, ridiculous blue bandanna he always wore.

Another skeleton. His bones were a strange shade of grey that almost matched the horizon. At this point, everything felt grey and dull to Error. He hoped that Ink's rainbow additions to everything would make life a little more colourful, if he was...

He didn't finish that thought.

The skeleton had strange purple and orange spiral markings falling from the corners of his eyes, and two striped horns protruded from his skull. He wore a white turtleneck jumper with two straps crossing over the front to form an X, dark jeans with ripped knees, and pumpkin orange trainers. His hands, held slightly in front of him, were covered mostly by black, fingerless gloves, and a thin tail tipped with something violet - the shape of an arrow - waving around his legs.

"Fizz! Error's alive!" Swap grinned enthusiastically, throwing his arms around Error and trying to hug him.

Just then, a strange thing happened. Error and the strange skeleton both glitched at the same time - but in different ways. Startled, Error managed to glitch backwards just a little, so that he was out of Swap's reach. Meanwhile, the stranger began to dematerialise rapidly, his entire body shaking as he collapsed to his knees. A strange purple glow emenated from his pupils.

"Uh..." Error stuttered, his gaze flicking between the stranger and Swap!Sans. "What's going on?"

He would've preferred to ask where Ink was, but he knew that if these two strangers were breaking people out of prison, they'd also break out Ink (or he would escape by himself) and he would see him soon enough.

Swap glanced uneasily at the stranger, watching until he stopped shaking, then extended his blue gloved hand to help him up. The skeleton didn't accept it, and just clambered to his feet silently.

With a grim expression, Swap began to explain.

"This guy here - his name is Fizz, and he was coded to be a helping hand for the... monster who's causing all this. But he broke free of the codes thanks to this other guy - he's gone now, getting the others - and they're gonna free us!"

Error had a trillion questions. If he opened his mouth, they would all come pouring out, and he couldn't choose the most important one to ask first. Instead, he just scowled and said, "How can we trust them?"