Wounds Heal, Scars Fade

Chapter 10: What Went Wrong

Dream felt uncomfortable being this close to Nightmare after so long, but he couldn't think about that now. He had to focus hard to feel the deeply buried joy and content, but found it in OuterTale. With that, the group (Consisting of Dream, NM, Color, Killer, Cross, and Fell) moved into location, finding Error alone on a cliff.

"Where is that TK!Ink?!" Error jumps, flinching and instantly twisting to look at the group, tilting his head in confusion.

"Tk! Ink? I had a dr3am ab0ut him, but th3r3's n0 way h3'd b3 h3r3. I d0n't kn0w what y0u'r3 talking ab0ut." Throughout the entire time Error was speaking, he was hugging and rubbing himself in a motion typical of self-comforting behaviors. But Dream didn't care.

"I know you brainwashed Ink! Now tell me how you did it! Or I shoot your head off your shoulders!" Dream summons his bow and a glowing arrow, watching as Error ducks, covering and holding his skull close.

"I sw3ar I'v3 d0n3 n0thing. Th3 crazy cr3at0r jump3d int0 th3 0c3an aft3r a bunch 0f kids push3d m3 in. I c0uldn't swim and was g0nna dr0wn, but n0o0o0o0, h3 just HAD t0 sav3 m3. I d0n't und3rstand anything h3's d0n3. I 3nj0y it, but I kn0w this nic3 act is just that, an act. H3'll g0 back t0 hating m3. Lik3 all 0f y0u." Error's body has not stopped trembling since the group arrived. Nightmare steps forward, instantly catching all of Error's attention. His eyelights tunnel vision on the syringe and needle, the lights dimming to blank sockets as he stumbles to the edge, error signs appearing in his eyesockets, a loud static noise starting up.

"P13453 574Y 4W4Y FR0M M3! D0N'7 G37 7H47 7HING C1053 70 M3!" (PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM ME! DON'T GET THAT THING CLOSE TO ME!)

A massive clock rolls between Nightmare and Error, popping a bubble around the small skeleton.

"You will not be harming my son any longer." A voice like Gaster speaks, an unrecognized Gaster walking to the bubble, placing a hand against the outside to where it'd touch Error if not for the bubble.

"I'm sorry I failed you. I promised to keep you safe forever, and I couldn't. But I will not fail you again. I swear it." Error tilts his head, confusion permeating the battlefield. The Gaster turns, looking at the group of skeletons, grinning coldly as another clock appears beneath the group, bubbling them away.

"Good luck. The Deity of Time has trapped you."

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Ink steps into Undertale, dodging a huge blast of attacks, unsurprised.

"I'm glad you have attempted this." Ink dodges away from Blue's downward hammer smash.

"But I'll win. Error will go home. And We'll all die. No matter how or when it happens." Blue glares, finally snapping.

"DID YOU EVER CARE ABOUT ANY OF US?! OR DID ERROR BRAINWASH YOU BEFORE HE KIDNAPPED ME?!"

"I cared. I always did. But my soullessness left me apathetic to your plights. Empathy wasn't my strong suit. Error never brainwashed me. Sci can confirm I went to him with a request for a small recording device, and the next time I saw Error, I baited him into a handshake so I could pass the device to him. From there, I watched his life, and saw what his reality was. Deities tortured him for fun and to make sure he kept up with my creation. Creation always came first, for destruction can't happen without something to destroy, just as life came first to allow death to take. I was directly responsible for one of the multiverse's creatures suffering. So I began to learn destructive magic so I could help balance him out, since the multiverse kept making AUs too." Ink shrugs.

"Most of the multiverse hated Error for something he was already being abused to do. I didn't learn everything, but what I did learn from him made me more upset than normal. I didn't like the way you all rushed to assumptions, Blind Judges, but when Error's check box came up, it made things much worse. He's only 13. He looks older because of the Deities. He's been through so much trauma." Ink coldly looks at Blue.

"Did Error ever even hurt you?" Blue halts in his motions, hesitation in his eyes and body.

"No...he didn't.." Ink takes a deep breath, anger barely concealed in his voice.

"And you never once thought that strange? That the terrifying and brutal Destroyer never once moved to attack or harm you, even though you were his prisoner, at his mercy? You never once thought that WEIRD?!" Everyone hesitates now, as Blue shrinks away from Ink's apathetic rage.

"N-no?" Ink shakes, before walking past Blue.

"Now if you'll excuse me." Ink grabs Blue's hammer out of the skeleton's limp grip. He continues toward Classic, who came out from the commotion.

"It's time to end this multiverse. For the good of Error. A reminder to the Deities." Ink is speaking coldly as he raises the hammer.

"That you d0 NOT mess with a Creator or those he cares about." Ink brings down the hammer.

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The Gaster stands against the group, repeatedly keeping them away.

Meanwhile, Error taps the bubble, confusion welling up inside of him.

This Gaster claims to be the Deity of Time. What does the Deity of Time want with Error? Why put Error in a bubble? And why does this Gaster seem so...familiar to Error?

Error shakes his head, trying to rid the confusion. He sighs softly, sitting still and floating the middle of the bubble, grabbing the paper and pencils from earlier, doodling away.

Eventually the fighting sounds cease, and a soft knock resounds before the bubble begins following the Gaster to a portal.

"Wh3r3 ar3 w3 g0ing?"

"Back to TimeVerse, my son."

"..."

"Is something wrong?"

"Will this multiv3rs3 b3 fin3?"

"Of course." Error sighs softly, his shoulders dropping in relaxation.

"That's g00d. Th3y may hav3 hurt m3, but th3y d0n't d3s3rv3 d3ath. Ya kn0w?" The Gaster smiles at Error.

"You've always been such an empathetic soul."

"H0w d0 y0u kn0w m3?"

"Well...It's a long story, my child."

"I assum3 w3 hav3 tim3." The Gaster smiles more at Error's usage of 'time', before nodding.

"I suppose we do have time aplenty. Very well." Error's bubble pops when they land in a beautiful paradise full of flora and fauna, the Gaster leading Error to a house nearby in the clearing.

"Come, and allow me to tell you the story of a Deity and his child."

(1088 words.

Well. We'll finally get the full story maybe? And we'll get to see physical images of the different TKs.

Many of these aren't actually made by the TK Creator, but I enjoy the idea of them all being TK in the TimeVerse and I searched for the TKs for a while.