Slipping into Stained Realities
When Error awoke, he had several goals in mind, including but not limited to; finding out what had happened in his memory gap, getting materials for dolls and clothing, getting chocolate, and getting information on the protector of creation (who was apparently a child!)
Markettale is my best bet for all of those things. I need to figure out what is going on, Error thought. He summoned a portal to Outertale. I need to be discreet to enter Markettale and not cause a panic. After all, people thought I was insane before I lost my mind. Error knew that things would have changed since he remembered visiting last, but seeing it was a whole different thing. Outertale was the only AU in the multiverse that Error truly liked. The stars were beautiful, and the void between them made him more comfortable than he would ever admit. Outertale had a set of asteroids that hung around the part Error always teleported into, (mainly because it was such a secluded area) but several asteroids had seemingly been carved up and the cliffside itself was rougher than it had been. The scars in the asteroids look as if they were caused by my strings. Why would I ever draw attention to this place like that? Error wondered. Error shrugged and flipped up the hood on the jacket he was wearing. “RigHt, DIsCreet, Can’T b3 NOticEd” Error said to himself out loud, “I wonDer if tHat oNe fabRIc sHop is STill oPen?” Error smiled, “GUess I’Ll finD Out.”
Error opened the portal to an alley in Markettale. Once Error stepped through the portal, he was immediately assaulted by the smells of food from shops nearby, the cacophony of noise from the crowd and various vendors, and the feeling of unease he always has in such crowded places. Error took a deep breath and then stepped into the crowd, careful not to touch anyone or let his hood fall. Error kept his posture lax and his motions fluid so as to keep the allusion of calmness to anyone who did notice him. Markettale, despite its ever-present dark side, was just as bright and beautiful as he remembered it. Error rarely cared for anything but the blankness of the anti-void in terms of architecture, but Markettale had always been one of the few places that nearly made him reconsider. Its gleaming golden arches at the portal hall into Markettale were just as they always had been, but they almost seemed dull compared to his last memory of them.
Error’s first stop was a little fabric store that was run by an old couple from a different AU. The AU in question (if Error was remembering correctly) was a pacifist aftertale that had glitched after the Frisk of that AU had tried to reset just short of 30 years after they had freed the monsters from the underground. The timeline had glitched because of the large time gap, so Error was sent to destroy it. For some reason, he had let some of the monsters from the timeline go. Most had thought they escaped on their own merit, but one couple, the Alphys and Undyne of that AU, had seen him and realized that he had let them go. They decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and actually approached him to ask if he would help them. Error, to this day, doesn’t know what made him spare the crazy old hoots, but he helped them get to Markettale, and gave them a way to get his attention, should they ever need it. A couple months later, they tugged on the strings he had gifted them to get his attention, and he had found they bought an old shop and renovated it. They sold fabrics and other textiles that even Error (as uncultured as he could be sometimes) could appreciate. They had invited him inside and offered him hot cocoa and a discount on some of their wares. Error had agreed to the offer and had made some friends out of it too. The couple had to be in their 60s by now if they hadn’t already been. It had been about half a decade since that incident in his memory, but of course, he couldn’t be sure of the actual amount of time because of his memory gap.
Error entered the store. It smelled just as it always did, of chocolate and fabric, a paradise for the skeleton that he was more than a little grateful for. He walked up to the counter and rapped on the wooden top. “Just a minute!” a voice exclaimed from behind the counter. A couple of crashes were heard before the Alphys variant he was looking for rushed out of the backroom and came up to the counter, stepping onto a stool placed behind it so that she was a bit taller than the counter and at eye level with Error himself. “What can I do for… you,” her voice faded out for a minute as she stared at Error with wide eyes.
“Error?” the Alphys variant said, sounding almost fearful. “Do YOu KnOW anY OtHeR BlAcK-bOneD GodS of DesTRuCtIon?” Error asked, his voice playful, even with the glitches. “Oh,” Alphys whispered, still looking shell-shocked. “Is everything alright out here Alphys?” Undyne asked, walking out from the same backroom Alphys had been in just a minute before. “I ThInK I MAy Hav3 Brok3 HeR,” Error said, quietly chuckling at the shock written across Undyne’s face in bold comic sans. “Error?” Undyne’s unnatural quietness stopped Error’s amusement, quickly turning his emotions to worry. “ArE yoU ALriGHT?” Error called just before Undyne launched herself over the counter and in front of him. “What happened,” Undyne said, her voice wavering. “I- I doN’T ENtiR3lY knOW,” Error admitted softly. “C’mon, let's- let’s sit down,” Undyne finally said, with her still angry eyes directed towards Error.
Alphys, Undyne, and Error walked into the backroom of the shop, closing the curtain that served as a door behind them, and went up the steps that led to the couple’s home. They walked into the apartment and went to the living room. “ThiS PLac3 is JUst the SamE as I remEmb3r it,” Error said, sitting down on one of the old plush couches. The room was decorated with a couple of photos and paintings, and a duo of ancient couches that had been in the apartment for as long as he had been visiting. “Start from the beginning, and this better be real good for you to justify abandoning us for three years and screwing that many AUs,” Undyne said. “I- WaIT, THR33 Y3Ars?!” Error cried, his posture going from slumped to straighter than a musket rifle. “You didn’t kn-kn-know?” Alphys stuttered. Error slumped again, seeming so small compared to how he normally was “n0- I- No I DIdn’t KnOw” Error whispered. “Maybe try to st-start from the beginning, '' Alphys replied.
“...a liTTle whILe aGo, I wOKe Up froM a NIghTMare,” Error said, voice soft even in an environment he trusted. “Go on,” Undyne prompted, narrowing her eyes. “I WoKe Up in An AU I was DEstRoying, WhiLe I wAs deSTroyiNg it. I met- I mEt Som3one ImPortanT that Wok3 me uP. I CaN’t- Don’T reMeMb3r aNyTHiNg FrOm AbOUt a WeeK or SO AfTer WheN I Gave YOu that idIOtic HaWaIIaN shIrt wiTh The POlka DOts and PaLM TreeS and-” Errors voice cut off as Undyne raised a hand. “I think I get it,” Error opened his mouth to speak but Alphys cut him off, “d-d-do you really not remember any-anything after that?” He replied with a simple shake of his head. Alphys slumped like a marionette with cut strings and put her face in her hands. Undyne finished what she was saying by asking “You had a task, didn’t you? Find the ‘Protector-Creator.’” Error’s eyelights shrank “HOw Did YoU-” “You’ve been saying it the whole time, the scientists in the omega timeline figured out how to understand your garbled speech and told everyone that there had to be someone to help if you were talking about them. So, is there? A protector, that is.” “...There is,” Error finally replied, having had to pause to think about what Undyne had said. “An enemy ordained by Fate herself for me, someone to balance the scales that were already tipped towards destruction and negativity…” “And?” Undyne prompted, knowing there had to be more “...AnD IT’s a CHiLd. 15, tops,” Error emphasized clenching his hands on his lap. “Dear gods,” Alphys said, finally chiming in again from where she was seated. “I KnOw” Error replied.
After the trio’s lovely little chat, all three headed back down to the shop on the ground floor. Error picked out several strips of fabric, bobbins of thread, a few new needles, a pouch full of random buttons and a package of stuffing. After throwing all of it through a small window into the anti-void, Error exited the store, having completed two of his objectives for the trip. He had found out about what had happened in his gap years (over three entire years) and had gotten fabric and other materials for the hobby that kept him (partially) sane. Now onto his other objectives.
And then there was fire and spider webs tangling together in a competition for existence.