Error slowly blinks awake, not quite registering all of what happened yesterday, noting he's wrapped in a goopy tentacle, and there are more Sanses than there were before.

Oh no, they're multiplying.

Error would laugh at his own joke, if it didn't already hurt to breathe. Guess Ink did land damage yesterday. Error sighs softly, his mind racing to figure out how long he's been rebooting. The goopy skeleton hasn't changed too much, his mug gone off somewhere.

"H0w 10ng h4v3 I b33n r3b00ting?" (How long have I been rebooting?)

"Oh, glitchy friend is awake. To answer your question, it's probably been about ten minutes, plus the five or so for the idiots to figure out what the hell happened, since you released a loud beep and an earrape startup noise. What are you, a computer?" Error only shrugs, mentally adding up the time.

If he gets out of Nightmare's grasp sooner, he can probably destroy ten AUs today and only meet Ink twice. If that's possible, he might get a small break tomorrow. He blinks, realizing Nightmare's been speaking.

"-And we were wondering if you could fill us in on what the hell was up with your whole "crash" thing."

"Uh..."

"You weren't listening, were you?"

"N0t my j0b t0 1i5t3n t0 y0u. My j0b i5 t0 1i5t3n t0 4 d3ity, d35tr0y 4U5, 4nd pr3t3nd I giv3 4 5hit wh4t mr Inkyb10t Jr h45 t0 54y 4b0ut my j0b." (Not my job to listen to you. My job is to listen to a deity, destroy AUs, and pretend I give a shit what Mr Inkyblot Jr has to say about my job.) Error looks at Nightmare, tilting his head when he sees the goopified skeleton's eyebrow twitching in thinly veiled agitation.

"What was up with the restore button in your options after your crash, you stupid program." Nightmare sounds like he's gritting his teeth from anger, an insult thrown Error's way. Not the worst he's heard, but it doesn't beat "Egg-throwing Apple-eyed Candy Ass" which is one of his favorites from Ink. Coincidentally, he was in CandyTale, and had found a shit ton of chocolate eggs and threw some around for fun.

"R35t0r3? I dunn0 wh4t th4t d035. If I cr45h, 5imp1y r3b00t m3 45 I 4m 4nd th3n 134v3 m3 410n3, th3n I'11 c0m3 b4ck 0n1in3 4nd d0 my j0b 4g4in. I didn't 3v3n kn0w r35t0r3 w45 4n 0pti0n." (Restore? I dunno what that does. If I crash, simply reboot me as I am and then leave me alone, then I'll come back online and do my job again. I didn't even know restore was an option.) Nightmare huffs.

"Fantastic. You don't even know all the things your coding entails? Fan-fucking-tastic." Error just shrugs, looking down at the tentacle.

"Hmmm..." Nightmare suddenly yelps, his tentacle releasing Error, a decent sized bite mark appearing on the tentacle.

"What the literal fuck?!" Error shrugs.

"Why'd you bite my tentacle, you fucking weirdo?!"

"I th0ught y0u might t45t3 g00d, but y0u d0n't." (I thought you might taste good, but you don't.)

"What did you think he'd taste like and what did he actually taste like?" Killer walks over, studying the glitching skeleton, who looks curiously at Killer before answering.

"I th0ught h3'd t45t3 1ik3 fri3d 0ct0pu5, but h3 ju5t t45t3d 1ik3 b14ck 1iqu0ric3." (I thought he'd taste like fried octopus, but he just tasted like black liquorice.)

Suddenly every skeleton except Horror, Dust, Nightmare, and Error are on the ground in tears, laughing their asses off. Horror looks confused, Dust looks childishly bored, Error is looking between Nightmare and the crew like "is this an every day thing?", and Nightmare looks pissed off and ready to murder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fresh continues threatening Ink, pestering Dream, and hanging with Blue. Ink eventually just left for the doodlesphere, with Dream only barely deciding life is worth living and heading to the old abandoned AU he calls home, DreamTale.

Blue drops his smile, sitting beside Fresh on the cliff Error was at only a little while ago.

"Brah, I found this radical scarf Error brah probs made. Looks to be for ya, brah." Fresh hands the scarf to Blue, and Blue immediately puts it on, breathing in some of Error's magic.

"That is nice and refreshing to have, thanks Fresh." The silence descends for only a moment before Blue turns his gaze fully to Fresh.

"Is the Shipping Council ready?"

"Eh, Lust brah is the most excited, Reaps and I are bored, Classic is mostly there to see who is on the shipping council, I thinks Razz will be joining us, maybe even Epic." Blue looks at the stars, sighing softly.

"Lust, Reaper, You, Me, Classic, Razz, and Epic. I feel like there was an eighth person involved, but that they don't exist anymore, or don't exist the way they once did." Fresh nods, removing his glasses to look at Blue fully.

"Me too brah. It doesn't feel right to say it with only seven. Error brah would probs attend if Classic and Reaps weren't there. Speakin of them. Razz and you have to behave right, so they don't get susp. So no talkin of the friendships ya've got with the totes 'unrad' Sanses. Right brah?" Blue nods.

"Already ahead of you, Fresh. Have a good day."

"You too, my rad broski!" Blue smiles genuinely, before sighing softly and plastering on a fake smile.

"Time to go home and greet Papy."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Error is ducking away from yet another tentacle, sighing. His hands have been in his pockets the entire time, and he hasn't fought back once. Nightmare's just a push-over. Error is slightly upset, since he had heard some rumors occasionally about the negative skeleton, but the Nightmare he's met is nothing like the ruthless guardian of negativity. It's almost depressing.

"C'm0n n00b, i5 thi5 r3411y th3 King 0f Nightm4r35? Th3 b35t h3 c4n d0? M4n, y0u'r3 d3pr355ing." (C'mon noob, is this really the King of Nightmares? The best he can do? Man, you're depressing.) Error pouts out his lip, which seems to seal the deal as everyone is suddenly standing in the middle of an open field. The Crew gathers/summons their weapons, Error responding in turn.

"If you want a fight, I'll give you a damn fight, you fucking cocky asshole!" Error dodges away from all the attacks, grinning as everyone misses. Error hums, continuing to dodge from bones and blasts, and jumping back from the knives and axes, yawning softly.

"W0w, y0u 411 4r3 p4infu11y w34k. H0w y0u'v3 m4n4g3d t0 n0t di3 by th3 5t4r 51ut5, I d0n't kn0w." (Wow, you all are painfully weak. How you've managed to not die by the Star Sluts, I don't know.) Nightmare glowers, slamming his tentacles into the ground. Error looks around, before jumping up suddenly as tentacles break through the ground and head up toward Error. Error teleports away, yawning and using his strings and tying them all up and only hurting them slightly with his return attacks.

"Why haven't you tried to kill us? Or more accurately, Me." Error walks over to Nightmare, booping his nose softly.

"B3c4u53 I'm n0t 5tupid 1ik3 Inkb10t 0r Dr34m b0y. I kn0w 4b0ut th3 b414nc35." (Because I'm not stupid like Inkblot or Dream boy. I know about the balances.) Error mutters the last sentence under his breath.

(1218 words.

Well, that was fun, sorry if I'm not chatty at the ends of chapters. I don't typically have much to say, lol.