(Sorry for the late update, stuff came up in my life. Here's the new chapter, guys.)

Nightmare hissed violently at the sight as Red recognized the new enemy.
"Your Flowey was always a pacifist?" Dream questioned in horror. Red nodded grimly, bonebrows furrowed in confusion at the sight.
Nightmare growled. "Clearly he is held hostage by Galbatorix's spells, the bastard. As much as I am impressed, I am disgusted. This is no way to maintain loyalty, and it will lead to his undoing."

"How do we get him outta there?" Red questioned severely.
Nightmare took him by the shoulder, Dream remaining in the conversation with Nasuada and the other leaders.

"He knows you and only you out of us all. There is not much that can be done, but we know one way to escape spells if he is bound so is for him to change himself in character. What is something about him that always remains the same? Something that could change?"

The other hesitated, glancing between him and the approaching beast of plant and metal. "I uh- never knew him well 'nuff."
"Try. At least explain it to him. I am sure Eragon can do the same with Murtagh. Go. If someone challenges you, try to explain the situation to Blue. He should be able to continue in your place with GB should you get too involved otherwise."

Red processed this for a moment, then nodded dutifully. "Got it." He hopped on a Blaster and took off, zooming towards the gigantic mechanical goat flower.

Nightmare nodded, glancing back up to meet the burning eyelights of rage above him, Hate being just a shadowy orb floating in the sky.. waiting. A stray giggling reached his hearing from the battlefield, full of profane, giddy amusement and alternatively, pure terror and horror. Dream glanced at him, looking a little sick.

He turned to Gaster, who was staring at the plumes of tan dust obscuring the battle as though lost in a memory.
A tendril smacked the back of his skull. Gaster flinched violently, aiming a summoned hand attack in his direction with a shudder before Nightmare's face registered.
He put it away, apologizing.

"Don't. I did what I had to for you to snap out of it. What are your thoughts, Dr Gaster?"
"You ask me? I was never much of a fighter in the old war, I was a strategist and advisor. Fighting.. was more Calluna's expertise." He muttered.

Nightmare blinked. "Was Calluna your..?"
Gaster straightened, wiping his sockets. "Yes. Captain U.L. Calluna was the mother of my sons. Now what will you have me do? I need to do something, I decided to fight."

The Guardian of Negativity straightened as well. "You were a strategist. Strategize. We want your advice. You were and still are a genius. You were already unparalleled before you built the Core. What is your advice in this?"

The old Royal Scientist blinked, then studied the brown dust that had nothing to do with the remains of monsters despite it's similarities.
"I don't have very much information to go off of. But as I understand," He pointed at the currently hidden battle on the ground, "they are a distraction to keep attention away from the main fighters up above." He directed a phalange up to the sky before listening in to Nasuada ordering a dwarf where to put his men.

He nodded then. "They will have plenty on the ground to repel the forces. So, we should help them. Have our people distract the main enemy fighters and drive them downward, where the access of warriors can weaken their defenses and make them easier to defea-"

A mental scream suddenly interrupted him, slamming into everyone's minds in an instant with strength too great to repel in that moment.
Ah, no, help me! They won't die! Angvard take them, they won't die! It cut short then, the owner of the voice dead.

Gaster choked, shaking in fear at the sudden violation of privacy and stricken by the sheer terror that the voice had contained.
Nasuada spoke up. "Who was that?"
"You heard him too?" Eragon asked.
"It seems we all did." Arya answered.
Nasuada concentrated. "I think it was Barden, one of the spellcasters who rides with King Orrin, but-"
"Eragon!" Murtagh's amplified shout interrupted her.

He was currently floating up high upon Thorn's back, midway between the current clash and the camp, Hate hovering beside the dragon and 404 cackling at his other side hysterically, as if everything there was hilarious beyond description.
The fallen Rider continued. "Eragon! I see you there, hiding behind Nasuada's skirts. Come fight me, Eragon! It is your destiny. Or are you a coward, Shadeslayer?"

Saphira abruptly roared when he finished, louder than the magnified voice as she spat a great pillar of bluish flame. All the horses near her bolted, taking away their riders to wherever their terrified stampede took them, leaving her alone with only the elves and skeletons remaining.

Arya then strode over and rested her hand on Eragon's leg, a brief exchange passing between her and the Rider before Saphira went to take off.
"Fly well, Bjartskular!" The elves cried after her as she rose to meet her foe.

Gaster swiftly turned to face the Twins again, but was interrupted by thundering four legged footsteps. They all turned in curious surprise only to balk at the.. skeletal figure. Their skull was slightly elongated, dual-colored eyelights flaming slightly as they lumbered over, multiple bone plates overlapping their shoulder blades and more down their spine, rising up in low platelets not unlike a stegosaurus. The back of their skull revealed nubs not unlike a Blaster, their arms longer to accommodate their quadapedal form, hands tipped in silver claws, like their feet. A stubby vestigial tail twitched behind them as they stretched their sharp toothed grin wider at Nightmare.

A deeper, husky voice arose from them, winking. "Souls got a lotta kick to 'em, don' they?"
"Omega?" Dream whispered in disbelief.
"Yea." He replied, Color hopping from his impressive many-plated shoulder blades and onto a Blaster with several floating ribs behind it, it's face altered to a more armored and ferocious appearance. "How can we help?"

Nightmare was about to speak when a voice interrupted him from above.
"Oooohhhh Nightmare.~ Has Dream's cowardice infected you as well? Or shall I rain my savage ruin upon these precious humans of yours?"
He felt his eyelights dilate in rage, stiffening. Dream rested a hand on his shoulder.

He sighed, burying his anger. "Listen to him, he knows where you will be the most helpful." He nodded to Gaster as he regarded them.
"Like I'd ever take orders from you." Omega hissed under his breath, a sentence that did not go unheard as Nightmare spun around and addressed his enemy, Dream close to his shoulder as he spread his arms and tentacles wide, voice just as amplified as the other.

"Funny you should accuse me of such when it was you who would flee each and every time we clashed. Are you so confident with your little spirits you have forgotten who has the upper hand, Hate? Such brazen overconfidence is your undoing!" He laughed, seeing the twitching flare of red wash out from the other's fell orbs that were eyelights, the bloody flame washing over their form briefly.

As he stood biding time, Error violently collided with his own enemy, 404 screaming as he fell off his Blaster before it turned into chaotic giggles, both glitches launching strings at one another. Nightmare awaited Hate's reply as vines curled around his tendrils, a warm glow washing over him as a few specks of golden, glittering dust clung to the slimy substance that coated him.

"Yes, you boast of your so-called strength and power, Apple Soul. But you and I both know it was you who relies on pitiful mortals to guard against my own intrusion. It is you who needs help in the face of my power, and it is I who has gained more and more of it as I lay in wait for the King of Terror to come from his lowly hole in the mud to finally challenge his Hate as king should! Your honor is at stake, oh Lord of Negativity." He mocked, then chuckled.
"Rather, lack thereof. Cowering amidst the desperate, fleeting lives of mor- aaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-" He erupted into a terrified, agonizing scream as some sort of chain sliced through his form, tearing it into smoke as the chain vanished.

Then the source of the chain appeared, rising up on a thermal on silver wings, cloak and waving filaments billowing around him as he regarded the reassembling patch of reddish darkness with wide, knowing eyelights.

The merged god of emotion finally ascended on leafy wings, rising with the current of warm air. They addressed the still incomplete and broken god beside them. "Go. The mortals need you more."
Hate hissed viciously at them as the other turned. "I won't kill those poor Souls."

Cicállaé steadied themselves on a Blaster before addressing the other sincerely.
"Far more will suffer and die should you do nothing. We are all part of this, we must fight. We must fight for a future of peace. Do what you must, but please. You are needed. Would you really stand idle while existence stands in suffering and disarray from the negligence of its former caretakers?"

The other blinked, peering downward at the violence happening below, conflicted.
"What will it be, Lord of the Abyss?"

There was a pause before a strange, childlike voice rose from the shadowed being, addressing the crystalline skeleton.
"But sir, please. They're so cruel, forcing a peaceful king to war. So many of those down there have families. Those men went insane knowing what they were up against. Why? Are you hurting them? Why are you killing fathers and sons? They didn't ask to be here, you, you made them. How could you? They were living their lives. Can't they just win this once?"

"Abyss, don't listen to him, he's trying to manipulate you."
"But, I was a part of you once. You threw me away. It hurt! But I get it. You're the king of Negativity, master of evil, Lord of Terror." A faint mocking tone filtered into the false youthful voice.
They regarded the wobbly creature of smoke flatly, then faced Abyss calmly.
"Look into us. Don't listen, just look into us and see what you need to understand."

"Don't do it! That's how he controls you! He'll show you what you want to see, he can lie to your gaze!" Hate exclaimed in that same profane childish voice, a hint of his true voice bleeding through.

Abyss glared at him. "You base your arguments solely off of Nightmare, yet this is both him and his brother, Dream. Even if I didn't already trust him, I trust Dream. That was your mistake." He explained harshly, eyelights flaring as crystals seemed to form inside them. He spun and faced Cicállaé, who stood straight as his lancing gaze studied him.

Hate then hissed, form writhing as their true voice snarled.
"A mistake, fallen god." It lunged at him, only to screech as a chain materialized and blocked its charge, falling to the side a few feet. Abyss took the moment to give Cicállaé a look. They blinked, recognizing the eyelights not as Abyss's, but Memory staring back at them. The crystalline skeleton dove down towards the battlefield, crystals forming in the air and dropping alongside him.

They sighed in relief, knowing how important that one was in battle, then turning to face the furiously raging ball of red flame and black smoke flying at them.
"Come on, you coward! Fight us like an equal!" They snapped.

Hate.. paused. Simply froze in the air, gravity meaningless to the weightless demon.
"You and I have very different ideas of equal, Cicállaé." Hate spoke lowly, voice rumbling from his being.

They planted their feet on the skull and stared it down. "And what is your idea of equality, demon?"
A thin layer of black peeled back to reveal those same disturbing, oversized blood red eyelights, pinpoints of void black in their centers, cracks radiating outward from those dark, miniscule pits.
"Gods and demons don't fight in the mortal sense, after all. They battle on the plane of spirit, for dominion of the physical plane."

He slowly rose up, turning to slowly circle the merged god, those impossibly huge red circles studying them from the shadowy mass.
"But if you wish it, I can always fall back to my oath."

They paused, realizing what he was saying. Genuine fear clenched at their Souls.
"You wouldn't dare. So soon? So unceremoniously? Have you no class?"
The shadow cackled.
"You ask me, you ask me, if I have no class? Of course I have class! Of course I can be honorable? But of course, you forget: What could bring about more rage and fury than to cripple the Wyrdaí Islingrya at such a critical point in time?"

They barely had the chance to step back when it turned and slammed into them, now sending them into freefall. They yelped, terrified of the thought of what this entity could do to them as it enveloped their body, trying to work it's way through the armor that was the light Dream's Soul was desperately emitting. It repeatedly stabbed at the buttery glow, making holes that would not heal quickly enough.

They struggled to tear the viscous smoke off of them, tumbling through the air. Dream was screaming internally, Nightmare hissing as his core drew closer to the lighter's, in spite of the slight sting that came from pressing so close to it's total opposite.

They struggled to get air under their wings, to slow their fall- before gasping aloud as a stab of Determined darkness punctured through, recoiling as it hit the wrong Soul.
𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓝𝓞𝓣 𝓵𝓮𝓽 𝓲𝓽 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔂𝓮𝓽! 𝓑𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻! 𝓝𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓮! 𝓛𝓮𝓽 𝓶𝓮- 𝓰𝓪𝓱𝓱! He panicked, pressing the core of his being as tightly as possible to Nightmare's, with every intention of enveloping it like a shield.

And… it did.

The yellowed Soul suddenly lost solidity, spewing inner mana as the side pressing against the darker collapsed inward, stretching to encompass it as the vivid, glowing, whitish mana seeped almost like acid into the other, eating away the outer layer.

The merged god of emotion screamed.

. • ° . • °

Error slammed his opponent violently into the ground when he recognized the agonized scream, indifferent to the crater left behind as he spun around and spotted the figure dropping out of the sky.

He lunged forward, reaching out to catch them when a giant hand formed above them and snatched them out of the air, careful to avoid letting the convulsing form slip out of the hole. A dark shadow shot off from it, letting out an enraged screech as it flew away.

Error finally arrived at the large summoned hand, stepping on it as it drifted towards the Varden's defenses, where a tall figure stood, stiff with concern.
They arrived, and Error lifted the seizing body from the giant hand with his strings and laid them gently on the ground, studying them in concern.

Cicállaé was having a seizure, involuntarily thrashing as a yellowish glowing fluid trickled from the corner of their mouth.
"What did Hate do?" He asked, worried as he stepped back, avoiding a flailing branch.

They then gargled, hissing and shaking their skull back and forth violently as they arched their spine, settling down into jarring twitches. He squatted down, watching their extra limbs warily as he reached his mind across to theirs. He flinched when he encountered their consciousness, screaming in their own mind in dual agony.

Fresh, don't try to snoop. He warned silently.
But they're hurt? Can't I help?
You'll only hurt yourself in the process. He explained, studying the shaking figure before him as they clawed at their ribs helplessly. He ignored Fresh as he shifted, writhing around to 'look' in the vague direction of Cicállaé to sense them better.
Stay still.
C'mon..

He grunted as Gaster summoned hands to hold the access limbs down, trying to meet the other's eyelights while impressing a thought on their reeling consciousnesses.
Nightmare. Dream. We are going to see what happened to your Souls. Alright?

The other twitched, at first not seeming to have heard- until their sockets cracked open and flickering, blue-green and yellow-purple eyelights locked on his own. They made a sputtering noise, spitting up more fluid as they stilled slightly. They sent an impression of agony in their cores in response, choking on- that was their blood. They were choking on blood.

Error glanced at the bewildered and slightly frightened Gaster before indicating the other. "I think something happened with their Souls. If you don't mind, I'm going to try pulling them out."
"Go right on ahead, you know more about this than I."

He hummed, considering how to go about this mess- only to be interrupted by a feral scream. Error growled, code rising an inch away from his bones as he turned to glare at 404. Then blinked. His enemy was being dragged away by a skeleton with a ratty jacket similar to Red's with an old wound in his skull- HF, obviously- and another with malignant vines curling tight around his bones, both on the same Blaster as they retreated, dragging 404 by the arms away.

Error glanced over to see a somewhat feral, screaming Undyne being dragged away by a Papyrus with orange markings on his face and likewise the Flowey, typically known as Daisy for his pacifism if he remembered correctly, dragging his clawed feet as he trudged miserably away. On his back stood that little girl in a ratty dress, holding a severely glitching Geno lookalike back by the arms while the real Geno was up in the air on a Blaster, holding Reaper back from flying straight at the demon known as Entropy.

He huffed, seeing Thorn way ahead of them in retreat before turning back to what was more important. Cicállaé's empty sockets stared blankly at him, snapping him back to attention. He swiped some strings loose and reached under their ribcage to guide whatever mess was going on underneath into the light, the action forcing a full body recoil, drawing Gaster's attention back to the matter at hand.
"This is all so bizzare." He admitted as he watched the strings cautiously drag the Souls into-
"Oh £u¢[{." Error spluttered in shock.

Gaster blinked several times at the amalgamated Soul. "That.. that is unnatural." He mumbled, crouching down. Error's eyelights flicked over to Cicállaé, seeing them stare back silently.
"What happened? Did Hate do this somehow?"

Their empty sockets squinted, shifting to peer at the malformed and forcibly mashed Souls, trembling slightly. They twitched their skull to each side, the tips of each branch turning to briefly point at themselves, a good number of leaves pointing that way as well before they shivered and went limp again.

"You did this?" Error quested, pointing at the mutilated apples. Cicállaé's face twisted in agonized confirmation, nodding faintly.
"This was an accident, right?" Gaster asked softly, resting a hand on their shoulder gently. They just wheezed faintly, sockets squeezing shut.

He faced Error. "I don't think we can just separate the two." He explained quietly, directing a phalange in the direction of the small patch of Nightmare's Soul still exposed, golden fluid leaking from the edges and leaving behind a purplish ooze as it burned away it's outer layer.

"See that? It seems the one outside has corroded the surface and left it bleeding profusely. I can't imagine how bad the damages are further within.… I can't understand how they're even alive, either." He added quietly. "I don't understand much about gods." 

"I know." Error muttered, absently rubbing at a line on his face, strings bunching up and falling flat with each unconscious stroke.
"I'm considering if we should just kill them, let them regenerate in the dreamscape. But we don't know if this will remain even then, so it's probably best to.. separate them. But do we do it quickly or slowly?" He pondered aloud, regarding the scientist.

Gaster considered this.
"Well, given that they are still alive, it would be better to take the safer route. We could slowly pull the darker- I presume Nightmare's- away from the other, but we should salvage as much of the lost mana as we can, lest it collapse entirely. I don't want to know what happens if one dies while they share the same body. It could be catastrophic for both of them."

Then their voice- not voices- wrenched into both minds.
ડꫀρꪖ𝕣ꪖ𝕥ꫀ ꪊડ ⅈꪑꪑꫀᦔⅈꪖ𝕥ꫀꪶꪗ. ડᥴ𝕣ꫀ᭙ 𝕥ꫝꫀ ᦔꪖꪑꪀ ᥴꪮꪀડꫀ𝕢ꪊꫀꪀᥴꫀડ, 𝕛ꪊડ𝕥 ᦔꪮ ⅈ𝕥.

Both mangled apples flashed in their respective colors at the last two words, branches spasming briefly before going tensely still.
"Just rip them apart?" Error asked, grabbing both with his strings.
ꪗꫀડ. ᠻꪮ𝕣 𝕥ꫝꫀ ꪶꪮꪜꫀ ꪮᠻ ꪖꪶꪶ 𝕥ꫝꪖ𝕥 ⅈડ ᧁꪮꪮᦔ ꪖꪀᦔ ꫀꪜⅈꪶ, ꪗꫀડ. Their eyelights briefly came to life, fixating on him before flickering out of existence.

It was at this time he noticed someone collapsing nearby, Error glanced up, noticing that it was the 8th elf out of the small group of elves gathered a few yards away to pass out. He registered that this wasn't good before turning back and ripping the two Souls apart with a gesture of his hands.

Cicállaé gasped, choking on a soundless scream, only a wheeze escaping them as they writhed weakly. All that was left of the two apples was a disgusting blend of ooze, purple, faint touches of black, blue, shades of green and yellow mixed together in a brownish, glowing slime.

Gaster yelped, teleporting away. The hands disappeared, leaving the merged god free to curl in on themselves, the natural glow they typically emitted dulling to nothing, their leaves shifting to a greyed green color as the wooden limbs seemed to turn rigid as they curled around them.

Error was alarmed. If those became immobile around them, others wouldn't be able to reach them and heal the god. He lashed his strings out to tie the now mostly unyielding limbs behind them.

As they started to produce worrying cracking noises against his strings, unusual crystalline chains appeared to add to them, directing them upwards in a sort of umbrella shape at the top. Error turned to deadpan at Abyss behind him, who blinked in confusion. "What?"
He waved at the chains. "They're not actually a tree."
"Yeah, but I bet they photosynthesize."

He hesitated, Gaster reappearing with a panicked Sci and a few jars and flasks, older scientist glaring at him. Error just sighed, continuing his conversation with the other. "Yes, they actually do sometimes, but you don't need to make them a tree."
"But they're literally part tree?"

Error blanked.
"Okay, that is actually a solid argument." He decided, standing up. Abyss hummed in agreement, peering at Cicállaé in concern. Gaster shot Error a look, pointing an accusatory phalange at the glitch.
"You need to warn me before you just abruptly tear such a fragile thing apart!"

He shrugged. "You weren't paying attention."
"I wasn't expecting you to just rip them apart so bluntly!" He gestured wildly, frustrated. Error regarded him drily. Gaster studied his face for a moment, then sighed in defeat, putting his hand to his face.
"What was I expecting." He muttered, shaking his skull.

He turned, only to smack Sci's skull. "What are you doing?!"
"Smells like apples."
"Don't sniff it!"
"I had to!"
"Honestly, with how careless you are, it's a wonder you're still alive."
"I'd like to believe I'm a good deal hardier than most."
"He is." Error agreed. "His lab was always stained with explosive remnants of his previous projects."

The original Royal Scientist stared incredulously between the two of them. He slowly went to shake his skull. "Unbelievable, you two."
"I have a record." Sci offered mischievously, smirking as he set aside a flask full of the multicolored mush.

One of Cicállaé's sockets cracked open slightly, a wide, blurry, unfocused purple and green eyelight blearily looking at them. Gaster froze, seeing it.
"... They're conscious." He whispered in disbelief.
Error sighed irritably, tapping a bone attack on the other's shoulder to bring him back into the present.
"Of course they're awake, they're just really out of it right now. Don't forget that you're dealing with a very unusual being here."

"Right. Yes. I've honestly forgotten what people are like in general."
"Typically not too much like us, I hope you remember." Sci grinned, faltering as he noticed the merged god watching him.
"No, no, laugh Sci." Error reminded him sternly. "Dream needs it. There's plenty of negativity around us, hardly any positivity."

Sci blinked at him, jaw hanging open in a silent "oh". He regarded the single eyelight that remained focused on him. "I forgot that part."
Gaster shrugged, setting aside another flask filled with the viscous fluid. "Yes, I had as well. It's an unusual trait, I'll admit."

Error grunted, staring at Cicállaé, watching for any adverse reaction the others might miss.
Then something red flashed behind him, Horror suddenly arriving at their side.
"What happened?" He demanded, seeing their listless state and panicking.

"Calm down, it's being dealt with." Error explained, gesturing for him to step away. Horror looked back at him, face twisted in worry. "But what happened?" He asked again, rosy eyelights studying the glitch fearfully.
"Give them space and I'll explain what I know."

He hesitated, then started to get up. He only paused when a soft, mortified voice asked.
"Are you okay?"

He froze. His eyelights flashed, then vanished as the voice seemed to register.
"Horror?" Error asked, a little annoyed but more perplexed as well.
Said skeleton finally faced Gaster, who was still staring at the yawning crevasse in his skull, no magic making up for the sheer absence of what should have been there.

"You." Horror stated simply. Gaster stuttered for a moment. "I remember glimpses of your timeline, but I- I never.. I didn't think it was more than a hallucination. I.. I am so sorry." He rose up to a half crouch, level with the other's height.
"Do you.. do you blame me?"

Error backed away, realizing they both needed this moment. Perhaps he was aware.
Out of the Original Timelines, Gaster was the only one who did not split into multiple selves due to his scattered void state.
He was still Classic's father, but also Dust's, Killer's, Horror's, and every other timeline of the Original.
Error studied Gaster's face for a long moment.
He probably was, at least to some degree.

Horror was staring at Gaster with a curious expression. It seemed like he was at least partly disgusted, even angry. He turned and walked away, steps tense and quick. Gaster hesitated, not sure whether to follow or not. He glanced at Error, dismayed and worried. The glitch just waved him off. Sci had this situation handled well enough, and the older was just getting continually distracted.

The poor old Royal Scientist had only arrived yesterday evening and was forced to be briefed on everything that had happened while Blue took several hours being generally pissed at GB for his idiotic venture… without him.

So of course, Gaster had only met Sci, Omega, Alter for some reason and Error himself- though mostly because they had encountered one another once or twice during Error's near encounters with the Void.

He grumbled to himself, glancing at Cicállaé in concern before flinching at an unexpectedly loud voice that echoed across the plains, spoken from the red dragon's back from the horizon.

"Do not think you have won, Eragon, Saphira. We shall meet again, and Thorn and I shall defeat you then, for we shall be even stronger than we are now!"

Then the maddening, intensely humored yet enraged voice spoke up just after Murtagh, spitting with both laughter and fury in a positively mad combination.
"And I'll kill that disgusting, precious parasite of yours, Destroyer!"

His vision went red without warning, and he threw himself over the battlements.
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Brah, you gotta chill. Brah. Chill. Chill! Fresh's voice shouted at him in his mind, connected to his Soul.
Please. Bleach brah's tryna help.
He snarled against the restraints, distantly aware that it was a pair of arms and several chains.
Threatened you. Threatened you! No one threatens what's mine! He screamed internally, a strange violent rage blinding his usually logical thoughts.
I'll kill him, I'll kill him, I'll kill him, I'll kill him!
Kill him later.

He finally registered that sentence, mind slowly clicking back into place as the red haze began to fade. Error stood there, still gasping, realizing grimly that he'd lost total control. Geno had his arms around him, murmuring in glitched speak soothing words. Error slowly let his skull fall, resting his jaw to his sternum as he stared at the sunglasses hanging there upside down.
[Ch]-[ill]

"I don't know what came over me." He sighed out, going limp in the strange crystal-studded chains.
"It happens." Geno hummed back, patting his skull. Error noticed something black on his sleeve as it passed in and out of his field of view.

He turned to look at Geno, only to flinch at what he at first mistook for his own face to be gazing back.
Then he recognized it was only Geno, his face stained with something black.
Code.
The code was spread around them, stuck to every solid surface it could find after being so violently dispelled.

"Geno, I-" "I know. You can take it back in a bit. Just need to make sure you won't actually explode when we let you go."
"I didn't even notice." Error admitted, still processing the information.
"It's fine. It's not like I look like your doppelganger just yet."
"Actually, you do."
"Damn. Well screw it, we all look the same anyway."

Error chuckled softly, stumbling slightly as the chains let him go. He glanced at their owner, Abyss shooting him a "you're welcome" look as he turned away. The destroyer rubbed his bare humerus, regarding his arm in surprise.

"It really did change to Integrity and Justice." He commented, studying the changed, gleaming colors of his ulna and radius. Geno cautiously let him go, staring at the arm. "Does it bother you?"
Error shrugged. "No, I'm just intrigued."

He glanced at the dark lines of numbers darkening Geno's face and sleeves. Taking one last curious glance at his arms, he snapped his phalanges with a sharp click, the numbers tugging themselves off of Geno. Said pale, bloody glitch flinched at the sensation, watching as they swirled around Error and reattached to his bones.
"You really need to find somewhere else to put those. I really hate them hiding who you really are."

Error scoffed. "And where would they go? And don't tell me 'bucket' again. They cannot just go in a bucket."
"Then why not a chest?"
He faltered.
"A chest? Lock and key, typically full of treasure kind of chest?"
"Yes, because they're common here and no one would dare to steal from the god of destruction now, would they?"

Said god paused, considering this as he studied the ground around them, coated in black.
"I'll consider it." He concluded, taking the rest of the codes back in a swirl of void-like darkness. Geno sighed, shaking his skull. "The best I can hope for, I guess." He muttered, turning and walking away.

Error just stared at the horizon, seeing the faint figures on the very edge. A part of him longed to jump that distance and crush that mockery of himself to dust, to teach that name thief why his name was so feared in the Multiverse and that excuse for a glitch was only a pathetic name stealer.

But a quiet, caring voice told him no, don't give the madman what he wanted. Words are words.
He had been a parasite before, after all.

Those words only hurt all the more.
It was a struggle to understand, made more difficult by the emotional shortcomings and the form he would always find Fresh in before, but now….
He could call him son. He could really call Fresh his child.
No son of his was a parasite.
His son was no Soul eater.
Not anymore.

"You okay?"
He blinked, seeing Dance of all people talking to him.
Error hummed. "Thinking. I'm only thinking." He assured the other, absentmindedly reaching for the sunglasses hung from his neck vertebrae.

Dance smiled reassuringly at him, further increasing Error's confusion as he turned and strode away.
Blinking in puzzlement, Error shrugged, turning his gaze from the horizon down towards the ground, seeing a large group surrounding a single…
A human that should be dead.

He wondered what was going on down there.