Why destroy when you hate it?

Chapter 30

  Nightmare watches as Error scrambles away from Cross. It's been two weeks since the nightmare and Medic had stopped by to give the Bad Sanses and Nova Sanses the cure for Error's DSS. It's been working because Nightmare notices Error's been getting stronger every day. He sighs as Cross comes over to him and starts crying.
  "N-Nightmare. W-Why is h-he acting l-like this?" Cross says, hugging Nightmare and burying his face in Nightmare's sweater.
  Instantly, the rest of the gang, Dream and Blue are in the hug as well, all hoping to comfort Cross, except for Error who quickly runs upstairs to his room, not even giving Nightmare a chance to talk to him.
"I don't know Cross. Ever since Error had that nightmare he's been extremely different. He's been scared of you, avoids Dream and I, has a guilty look on his face every time he sees Killer and Dust, doesn't even interact with Blue anymore. He always looks sad every time he sees Blue and whenever he sees Red he's begging for forgiveness."
   Nightmare sighs. "This is unnatural, even for Error. And I feel so helpless. I'm supposed to be there for him and comfort him but I can't even do that when he won't tell anyone what's wrong. I've been trying to get answers from him but he always runs in his room before I get a chance."
  "I think I can help with that." Dream begins. "There are two things I can do. I can either control him or I can spike his food with a truth potion."
"Controlling him won't work." Cross says. "He's extremely afraid of being controlled thanks to HER. So it'll have to be the truth potion." He calms down and wipes his eye sockets.
Dream nods. "I should have the potion ready by lunch. Just make sure Error doesn't get wind of what I'm doing. Maybe one of you can convince Error to go on an outing with one of you? Preferably whichever one of you he acts the most normal around.
Horror sighs. "I'll do it. I seem to have been in the nightmare but he acts the most normal around me. In fact, all he does is just give me most of his food whenever we're eating at the same time! It's extremely weird!"
"That doesn't sound like Error at all." Dream says. "Okay. You keep him occupied. Take him to Outertale or something. I'll work on the potion and call you when it's done."
(Timeskip brought to you by Dream making the potion.)
I walk in the dining room to find everyone already eating. I sit down and try and give most of my food to Horror but he keeps refusing till I have no choice but to give up and eat my meal, which for some reason tastes a bit weird.
Dream waits for the truth potion to kick in before he starts asking questions. When it does he sees Error's eye lights are a bit duller and he has no emotion on his face at all. Not even in his eye lights. "Okay. Error. I need to ask you some questions." He begins. "Did you have a nightmare last night?"
"YeS." I reply. "I dId."
"What was it about?" Dream asks, knowing Error will tell the whole story and braces himself for the negativity that will come with it.
(Flashback)
  Error looked around as he stood up. Seeing nothing but black he grew extremely cautious and tried to summon his strings, only to find out he couldn't. None of his magic worked and that scared him. "HeLlO? iS aNyOnE hErE?! hElLo?"
"NiGhTmArE?! dUsT?! kIlLeR?! hOrRoR?! cRoSs?! BlUe?! DrEaM?! rEd?! ThIs IsN't FuNnY!"
"Hahahahaha! Oh dear Error! This isn't supposed to be funny! This is a nightmare! There's no escape! You'll be trapped here forever! Get him boys!"
Blue appeared in his Yandere mode, but something was off. He wasn't acting like his Yandere side at all. Suddenly he advanced and stabbed Error. "You liar! You were never my friend! You just wanted to use me to make sure Ink wouldn't create!"
Error coughed a bit as Blue pulled his knife out of his body. "No. BlUe! YoU kNoW tHaT's NoT tRuE! i WoUlD nEvEr Do ThAt To YoU!"
"And why should I believe a pathetic liar like you! Huh?! Answer me!" Blue shouted as he stabbed Error again.
Error sighed. "YoU sHoUlDn'T. yOu'Re RiGhT. tHeRe WaS nO iNtEnTiOn Of BeInG fRiEnDs. YoU wErE jUsT mY pUpPeT aLl AlOnG."
Blue giggled. "I'm glad we've come to an agreement." He walked away until Error could no longer see him.
Error could only watch as he lost Blue, tears building up in his eye sockets. He saw Dream appear holding the orb that gave him his positive emotions back. But something was wrong. The orb was empty.
Dream approached Error and took away all positive emotions. "I should've never given these back to you! A destroyer, no, a MONSTER like you doesn't deserve happiness! No! You don't even deserve emotions! You're a monster! A true monster!"
Voices seemed to come from nowhere, repeating the word.
"Monster."
"You're a monster!"
"A true monster!"
"Doesn't deserve happiness!"
"No emotions!"
"Monster!"
"MONsteR!"
"MONSTER!"
Error broke down crying and curled into a ball on the ground, not even realizing Dream had left and in his place was Red.
"You don't deserve a gift! I didn't get you a gift cause you're a monster! You planned on gaining my trust and then betraying me!" Red set the gift on the ground and summoned a Gaster Blaster.
Once the Gaster Blaster was charged it blasted the gift and turned it into nothing but a pile of ashes.
Error saw this and only sobbed harder, accepting what Red said. "YoU'rE rIgHt. ThAt WaS mY pLaN aLl AlOnG. i JuSt WaNtEd To GaIn yOuR tRuSt So I cOuLd KiLl YoU aNd DeStRoY yOuR wOrLd."
The voices picked up on this and started shouting again.
"Backstabber!"
"Betrayer!"
"Monster!"
"No happiness!"
"Doesn't deserve any gifts!"
"Be-Stab-er!"
The voices were starting to blend together and overwhelm Error as Red disappeared and Killed and Dust appeared.
"We should've let you remember that awful event by not hurting you! You don't deserve to be happy and ignorant while we suffer! You're the one who deserves to suffer!" They shouted.
Error couldn't cry harder even if he wanted to. Loud sobs exited his mouth and his bones rattled and shook at an extremely fast rate. "YoU'rE rIgHt. It ShoUlD'vE bEeN mE tHaT dId It. I sHoUlD bE tHe OnLy OnE tO rEmEmBeR. i ShOuLd Be ThE oNe SuFfErInG. nOt YoU."
The voices continued shouting, by now what they said couldn't be made out but every jumbled up insult felt like a hit to Error's SOUL. He didn't know it but Dust and Killer had left and Horror had appeared in their place.
"You don't deserve food! Every ounce of food we gave you should've gone to me! You deserve to starve! You didn't want to help me get food! You only wanted me to suffer by watching you get more food than me!"
Error could only nod in agreement, unable to speak. His breathing started to get faster and eye lights started to shake.
Horror left and in his place was Cross.
Cross summoned several Gaster Blasters and relentlessly attacked Error, not even giving Error a chance to beg for mercy as screams of pain filled the black void. Bones went flying, Gaster Blasters fired, an oversized knife pierced a skull and the screams of pain continued.
By the time Cross disappeared Error was laying in a pool of his own blood. His bones were badly burnt, his skull had a huge hole in it, his bones were cracked all over the place, his left arm was completely detached from him and in several pieces. All of his ribs were broken and his eye lights were gone, signaling he couldn't see since there were so many cracks near his eye sockets.
Nightmare appeared and grabbed Error with his tentacles, making Error cry out in pain. "I should've never let you have emotions. You were only planning to find a way to weaken me so you could take over the gang." He snarled.
Error could feel his emotions slipping away until he was just being held in Nightmare's tentacles. No emotions on his face or in his aura. He fell and heard more bones snap and though it was extremely painful, he had no emotions.
What was the point of faking them and acting like he did when in reality he didn't? The black void and the voices didn't bother him anymore. Nothing did. Nothing mattered. Not even himself. He didn't matter. He was just there.
The voices continued screaming at him, throwing insults at his face at an extremely fast pace. Suddenly, different voices could be heard. At first they were faint but then they started getting louder.
"S..e....g's wr...!"
"E...r!"
"Can't sto. ..!"
"Wake u.!"
"What's happening?!"
"I can't stop it!"
"He's not waking up!"
"Error!"
"Wake up!"
"Come on dude! Snap out of it!"
"Nightmare! Do something!"
"I can't! He's not responding and I didn't cause this!"
"ErroR!"
"ERRoR!"
"It's working!"
"He's starting to wake up!"
"ERROR! WAKE UP!"
  (End Flashback)
  By the time I finish explaining I break down crying and instantly I'm surrounded by the entire group. They whisper sweet nothings and comforting words to me and let me cry as long as I want and need to.
Red waits for Error to stop crying before pulling a present out of his inventory. "I'm sorry for not getting this to you sooner. I couldn't find anything that I thought you might like."
"I-It'S oKaY." I say as I take the gift. I open it and am shocked at what I see. There's a blanket inside that looks hand knitted and uses galaxy themed yarn. "DiD yOu MaKe ThIs?"
Red nods. "I had some help from the store owner in Outertale but yes, I made that."
I jump up and hug Red. "ThAnK yOu! ThAnK yOu ThAnK yOu ThAnK yOu ThAnK yOu!"
Red chuckles and gently pushes Error off of him before wrapping the blanket around him and picking him up.
"H-HeY!" I protest. "I'm NoT a BaByBoNeS!"
"I know you're not." Red says. "But you're exhausted from recalling the nightmare. I can tell." He carries Error into the living room and sets him on one of the couches.
I yawn, realizing how comfy the couch and blanket are, and fall asleep almost immediately after I close my eye sockets.
Dream sighs once Error falls asleep and makes sure to give him a good dream. After the events from two weeks ago just being recalled he doesn't think Error can handle another nightmare. "I'm so glad that worked. I hated seeing him like that. It was so unnatural and reminds me of some of the days Ink would go too far and Error would be extremely scared. I remember whenever that happened Nightmare would almost always be there within seconds."
Nightmare smiles slightly, gaze seeming to soften as he looks at Error, who's sleeping peacefully on the couch. "We're like a family. He helped us and in return we've helped him. He helped me control my negativity, made sure Horror got enough food, helped Dust with his insanity, helped Blue control when he goes Yandere, helped Cross with X, and helped Killer with his emotions."
"Though it's true I thrive off of negativity and you would think I wouldn't care, I actually do. When we met Error he helped us with all of those problems yet for the longest time he wouldn't let us help him. He eventually let us touch him but he wouldn't let us help with his insanity, eating patterns or sleeping patterns."
"He always told us he didn't want to bother us with his problems. Said he didn't want to feel like a burden and waste the time we could be using to cause chaos on him. It took a long time to get him to stop thinking that way."
"Only after we were able to stop that thought process could we help him. But to this day he still hides things from us. If it weren't for your idea he probably would've kept the nightmare from us until he had a breakdown."
(Flashback)
I screamed as my magic went haywire. I couldn't see and that only made things worse. I heard bones go flying and Gaster Blasters fire. I even heard my friends shouting and felt my strings moving around. But my friends sounded distant, like they were several thousand miles away instead of in the exact same room as me.
  "E....!"
  "I..'. .... .s!"
"S..p o.t of it!"
  "Err.r!"
  "Calm down!"
  "You're okay!"
  "Error!"
  "ERROR!"
(End Flashback)
  "NIGHTMARE!"
  Nightmare gasps as he's brought back to reality and sees he's holding Dream in his tentacles, one tentacle about to pierce his SOUL. He drops Dream and covers his mouth in shock. 'Oh no! Oh no no no! No no no no! I have to get out of here!'
  Dream stands up and tries to rush over to Nightmare, only to get held back by Dust. "Let me go! I need to comfort him!" He shouts.
  Nightmare quickly takes a couple steps back before turning around and running upstairs.
  Dust releases Dream as soon as he hears the slamming of Nightmare's bedroom door. "There's a reason I held you back. If you tried to help Nightmare could've had a breakdown and you could've actually died."
  Dream sighs, knowing Dust is right. "...Brother..."