Collection of Oddities

Winged Terror

Summary: Red's not happy with Reaper's new pastime, and Geno is Geno.

(Warning: This chapter contains mild swearing.)

Chatter echoed along the long walls of the Council's conference room as the occupants sat around a large circular table, talking to one another. At least fifty different Sanses filled the seats, with a few left empty from absent council members. The conversations were chaotic. Some got confused about who was answering which questions or talking. The curse of sharing a similar voice, one might say. Ink, who was positioned at the "head" of the table, paid no mind to the serious, borderline insane discussion going on in favor of doodling a sketch of Error. Meanwhile, Dream and Blue desperately attempted to calm everyone down to no avail. Many talked over them or refused to listen.

Suddenly the room's massive ornate doors flew open and banged against the walls, causing the room to fall silent. Standing in the middle of the entryway was a black/red-coated individual; His pointed golden tooth shining in the bright lights overhead. The white fluff on his jacket's hood was disheveled- clumps missing and areas tangled together like a bad hair day's worst nightmare. With a deep, angry scowl on his skull, he growled, "Will someone, please, do something about that fly menace!"

"Oh, my stars! Red, are you okay?" Sci exclaimed, jumping out of his chair and rushing to the Underfell skeleton's side. The place where he then fussed over his (boy)friend's rough appearance.

Ink looked up from his drawing, a green question mark and yellow sun as his eyelights. "Huh, I thought Birdtale Sans couldn't make it today?"

Red scoffed and brushed away Sci's wandering hands, which were searching for injuries. "No, not him. Death. The bastard flew down and stole my sandwich like a demented seagull!" He stomped further into the room, shouting, "Not to mention, he has been terrorizing me all week! At my sentry post, at Grillby's, in my own goddamn house- He's fuckin' everywhere! And. He. Keeps. Taking. My. Food."

Nearly the entire room had turned to face him at this point. Some with looks of pity and others with curious expressions. However, closest to him and Sci, a perpetually bleeding skeleton looked up from his book, indifference etched on his face. Sighing, he gently closed it and laid it on the empty space in front of him. Geno - the would-be seagull's keeper - huffed, stating, "He's probably worried you're going to make a move on me and is trying to scare you away."

A gasp echoed across the room, followed by a few Sanses ooh-ing in interest. (Partially due to the fact nothing intriguing was happening in their AUs.) Ink's doodle sat abandoned as he turned his full attention on to the three- the star and heart twinkling in his eye sockets spelling trouble for them; likely several unwanted additions to his private art collection as well.

Sci, taken aback, demanded, "Why on earth would Red do that?!"

"Yeah, Boss proclaimed you're our new brother or whatever." The Underfell Sans raised an eyebrow whilst pulling his nerdy companion closer.

Geno merely chuckled, ominously. His good eyelight drifted over to Sci, who began to shift nervously under the gaze. "Heh. Kid, you are stuck in a room with both your past, present, and future. Guess who your closest future is?"

Once the color completely drained from their faces, a small smirk drew across the bloody glitch's jaws. Red and Sci gaped at him in horror. And, if they stumbled back just the slightest bit, no one would ever tell.

"No."

"Yeah."

With that odd exchange done, Geno reclaimed his book and opened it to the page he left off on, ignoring the numerous eyelights pointed in his direction. Slowly, the onlookers back to return to their previous task. A few, however, continued to shoot the three Sanses a glance. Before the room-wide conversation picked back up, a puff of black smoke sprung to life, twisting and turning behind the glitch before fading into the air. In its place stood a tall, black-cloaked figure with large black wings affixed to his back.

Red glared at the new skeleton and attempted to summon an attack but stopped when a deathly aura washed over his soul. From the depths of the dark article's hood, two dark eye sockets narrowed dangerously at him, which soon softened and returned to admiring a feisty, eternally bleeding mortal.

"Aw, Geno, are you having fun tormenting your past self? He looks absolutely mortified." Reaper crowed, leaning down and nuzzling his skull against Geno's.

"Flattery will get you nowhere." Geno grumbled.

The death god quickly pulled away, a grin spreading across his face. "Good thing I brought you a sandwich."

An item wrapped in brown paper with an "R" scratched on the side plipped out of his inventory and into his hands.

Red's eyes widened. "Wait, is that-"

Reaper cut him off with a bird-like shriek and ruffled the obsidian colored wings on his back, protectively pulling the (stolen) sandwich to his chest. The bread-y delight, though, was swiftly nabbed by a famished glitch; Book now abandoned on the table. A mildly offended pout replaced the god's protective rage. The offender ignored the look (and the menacing glare from Red) while he undid the wrapped.

"A sandwich will get you an hour of cuddling. And it starts now, so let's get this over with." The bird-esque skeleton's offense melted into happiness as he yanked the other out of the chair, dragging him as close as possible before wrapping him in a strong embrace- Which caused Geno to scowl and attempt to raise his pinned arms (and sandwich) to his face.

"B-but you- The statistics... How?" Sci abruptly sputtered, eyelights flicking between Geno and his own hands.

"Just wait until you see my future- Got two nearby, and neither are prettier than the last." Geno muttered, still struggling to get a bite of his stolen food. Merely pausing a second to spare a skeptical glance at Ink, who, to his credit, only had one crayon crammed up his nasal cavity out of boredom. "Can't say their taste in partners is much better either."

"Don't say that! I think all versions of you are amazing and beautiful- but not as beautiful as you." Reaper squawked.

"Even Horror?"

"No, I thought we were talking Error, Fatal, and-"

"Shush." The bloody glitch hissed. "Nobody wants to hear about my insane, world-destroying alternates. I don't really want to be reminded of them either."

"Sci, you okay?"

"Is this what it feels like to be an oracle? To see every branching path and every subsequent outcome?" The skeleton in question asked, a distant look in his eye sockets as he gazed at the floor.

Red gentle laid a hand on the other's shoulder. "Maybe you should go home and get some rest..."

"All my futures suck!" The science-loving Sans shouted before gesturing toward his generic, blue-hoodied counterpart. "Just look at him!"

The lazy skeleton frowned and let out an indignant, "Hey."