The Void was a sea of white, a place without definition of time or end. When all universes sank into oblivion and the last living creature heaved its final breath, the Void would still be here, always existing, never ending. It was a place of neither man nor monster for it favoured none but emptiness and solitude. Those that sought to make a home in it were driven to insanity sometimes, reshaped and remolded into someone entirely new.

At least, that was what you had learned from Ink in the ways he described himself, a small unimportant figure thrown into the Void without a universe or home, the same as Error. But if Ink had been molded into the way he was, cherished the universes and swore to protect them until his last day, then why was Error so different? He had not expressed his hatred for the multiverses to you, but there was a gathering sense that he loathed them, the noise that they sang in the Void, piercing through the silence. How could he and Ink be thrown into the same world under the same circumstances and yet turn out so unlike each other?

How would the Void change you?

"Do you know where we're going?" you asked, looking around at the small rifts that offered brief glimpses into entire different worlds. A part of you wanted to join them, run into the rift and never come back, be a part of something, anything. But then your mind wandered to your own universe, the way it had been eradicated in the blink of an eye and the way the galaxy universe had followed suit, existing for hundreds of years and sailing into oblivion the moment you entered it.

You break everything you touch.

Maybe this was where you were meant to be, where anomalies such as yourself and Error were thrown into, for you were neither human, monster or any other living creature. This was where the infections, the diseases of the multiverse were shoved into so that the other normal creatures might prosper and thrive. For the greater good as the saying went.

But what made you different, why were you the outlier and not anyone else? You had played your part and read your script just as much as everyone else had. You were an unimportnat face in an unimportant village and when your universe expired, you had been the one to live while everyone else... went somewhere. But why you, why not someone important, someone valuable? The chief of your village, for instance, had been a vital character and yet the multiverse had deemed him unimportant and you lived.

Why?

"We don't get to choose our fate," Error muttered, seeming to pick up on your thought. "Every glitch thinks the same thing when they end up here." He seemed to be searching for something, probably the path to take the two of you to Ink's resistance as the glitch had described it as. But how could you find your way in a world with no start or end?

You wondered if Error thought the same thing, or if he still did. What did he think now, now that his mind was gone and sanity with it? Was he too just another puppet of the void, a puppet in some larger game? Who was pulling the true strings, the invisible ones that bound you and even him, strings made of fate and destiny and not blue thread? Was the one pulling these strings the one that had cut the end to your universe?

Not Nightmare then, you realised. Nightmare is a mortal, just as Error, Ink and myself. There is something much larger at work here, something that we have yet to see. And it laughs at us while we scurry around like ants to and fro, fighting amongst ourselves when we should be rallying and biting back against our strings.

"I'm sure it's this way..." Error scratched his chin, following some unknown trail that only he could see. You were certain that the two of you were lost, it was impossible to even tell north and south in this place.

"We're lost you bonehead," you growled, not realising the extent of your words. This seemed to trigger some reaction from Error, releasing some memories within his own mind, most likely from lost worlds and forgotten times.

Error's story is for none but himself to tell.

"You wouldn't understand," Error muttered and kept his gaze fixated on the ground. He proceeded to bend down and sniff the ground like some sort of bloodhound and pointed his finger to the left. "They were here earlier, and recovering from some battle I presume."

"How do you know?" you asked and bent down onto the white floor, trying to understood how he had come up with the conclusion.

"Dust," Error explained as you stuck out your pointer finger and rubbed it against the material on the ground. "You know where to find things if you know where to look. It's easy to find your way in the Void once you spend a few hundred centuries stuck down here, it teaches a guy a thing or two."

"Why are you doing any of this?" you persisted, chasing after him. "You hate all the different universes and yet you're leading me to the group that fights to ensure their protection, not their end. It doesn't make any sense."

"It makes perfect sense," Error grumbled, angered at having to explain himself. It seemed that the glitch of a comedian did not like to express or emote himself at all. "Nightmare wants to burn universes sure, but he doesn't want to destroy them. He wants to rule and create more glitches, more anomalies in the process. At least with Ink there's less noise." He finished with a harumph.

"So what will you do when we get there?" you asked as the two of you continued to walk, not wanting to progress in silence for the entire time. There was enough of that already in the Void. "Are you going to fight or just sit back and watch us tear each other apart? I can't fight, not with magic like you or Ink can. I'm human and we don't really have magic."

"All anomalies have magic, it's what makes them so annoying," Error groveled, not really into the whole educating thing. "Even cats can perform magic should they so choose, but it's very minimum and undetectable. Humans can wield powerful magic should they unlock the true power within their soul."

You stared at your hands, wondering what sort of powers you could conjure. You closed your eyes and directed all concentration to the very centre, the very core of your being. There was a tingling sensation that ran through you, ethereal water that coursed through your veins and...

"That's disgusting!"

Error had fallen on the ground, clutching his windpipe. Curiosity rose inside of you. Had you done it, had you actually summoned magic and brought one of the strongest monsters in the Void to his knees? But upon closer inspection, a noxious fume fulled the air and it seemed that you had produced a foul-smelling gas that many refer to as a fart rather than any actual magic. But the odor could bring an army to its knees, that was for sure.

"Sorry about that," you mumbled and helped Error to his feet, feeling slightly embarrassed.

The two of you continued to walk in silence and you were grateful for that, not wanting to bring it up any further. A question rose to your mind and you turned to Error, wanting to see if he would provide an answer. "When I first came to the Void, after my universe..." Your voice faltered. "After I met you and Ink, I heard you guys talking about something called the X-Event. If you don't mind me asking - "

"The X-Event," Error snapped, sudden rage manifesting in his once placid features. "It was a stupid game played by Ink by trusting in the false words of a false man that wanted to create, but by creating he destroyed, and by destroying he created."

"I don't - "

"Best you leave it that way," Error finished and turned around, not wanting to discuss the subject any further. Attempting to talk to him was like trying to conduct a genocide route with every monster encountered as Jerry, hard, seemingly impossible, but could you get there in the end? Maybe.

"So this X-Event," you persisted, chasing him. Error sighed and swiped his hand upward, lifting you several feet into the air. You stared in fascination as a [S/D] heart beat against your chest, an odd looking thing that you had never seen before. "Was it something good? If you wanted to see the multiverse destroyed, than why do you recoil from it?"

Error didn't respond and continued walking, you following after him in the air like some makeshift balloon. When you opened your mouth to speak, blue strings appeared from seemingly nowhere and wrapped around your lips, forcing them shut. "Much better," Error sighed, saying it loud enough so you were within earshot. Perhaps it was best your mouth was closed for the words that would have escaped your tongue were not the most pleasant of sorts.

You saw it before Error given your height vantage, a camp of several skeletons in the distance. They were few in number, but the sight of them was a small beacon of hope, and hope was the only thing stronger than fear, which was something you needed in a time such as this. When Error neared the camp, three of the sentries immediately stood up, sprinting towards Error. You attempted to shout a warning as a wave of bones showered down on the glitch.

But before they neared him, the attacks vanished in a cloud of small words reading 'Error.' "You are the universe's last resort, their defenders?" Error shook his head, trying to contain his laughter. A skeleton with a white patch around his eye and a red scarf could barely contain his rage, but another that seemed to come from a really bad 1980's PSA commerical was enjoying this.

"What is my fresh turkey slice doing here?" The PSA skeleton asked, looking down at Error through his queer sunglasses. Purple flames flickered warningly underneath the plastic glasses and it was a wonder why and how they weren't melting already.

"I come bearing gifts," Error snapped and flicked his hand, you falling several feet to the ground below. The PSA skeleton waved his hand and a beanbag materialised beneath you, where you landed on and got to your feet.

"Thanks a lot." You shot Error a nasty look, wanting to rip the teeth from his arrogant smirk.

"No problem," he shrugged.

"You two seem to be getting along," the PSA skeleton remarked, nodding in approval. "The name's Fresh by the way." He jerked his thumb to the skeleton with the red scarf. "That's my home boy Geno right there and Abyss is right there," he pointed to a skeleton clad in dark blue robes and sigils. "Though he's not really important. Reaper's right over there, but don't let him touch you. I think the name pretty much speaks for itself. That's G, doesn't stand for anything, just the sixth letter in the alphabet - "

"Seventh!" The taller skeleton snapped, taking the cigarette from his mouth. Fresh coughed from the smoke but it seemed strange because skeletons don't have lungs, so how can they breathe and thus cough?

"Yeah, whatever." Fresh rolled his eyes, or at least you thought he did. It was hard to see underneath those glasses of his. "And that is Omega, he doesn't really talk much. And finally," Fresh motioned to a pile of ashes. "That used to be Lust, lost him in the fight a few hours back."

"Good riddance," G shuddered.

"Indeed my bro slice," Fresh nodded before turning back to you and Error. "Error, my broski, how's the knitting going?"

"I don't knit!" Error retorted, oddly defensive. You cocked your head to one side, seeing the head of some puppet portruding from the pocket of his jacket. In a deft motion you swiped it from his jacket and took off running, ignoring the furious scream behind you.

"It's so adorable!" You waved the puppet over your head. It was a skeleton clad in light blue armour with small stars woven into the eyesockets. You weren't familiar with this AU but it seemed that the other skeletons were, joining in on the laughter as the puppet was passed back and forth.

"Isn't this your boyfriend?" Geno asked, looking at the puppet. It seemed he didn't understand why the other skeletons were laughing, it was a genuine question. "Fresh said something about you and Blueberry - "

"Enough!" Error screeched and swiped his hand, the puppet flying out of Geno's hand and back into his pocket. As you went back to join the others, you noticed that something had caught on your shirt sleeve. Curious enough, it was a pair of red glasses that must have fallen out of his pocket when you went to grab the puppet from him, but why Error would keep such a thing was unknown to you.

"Are we going to sit around or address the real problem at hand?" Error snapped, staring the other skeletons down. You tucked the glasses into your pocket, figuring this wasn't the best time to return them. "Ink has gone missing and yet you sit here like children. This is a waste of my time - "

As he turned to leave, Fresh grabbed Error by the jacket, looking suddenly serious. "We need you my broseph," he rumbled. "With Ink incognito, you're the only one close to his strength. If you leave, Nightmare won't be as fresh as we are with you and you might not have a choice on which side you join."

Through his weird language, it was clear what Fresh was saying. If Error left and word got out, Nightmare would hunt him down and force Error to join his own side, spelling certain disaster for the few that dared to oppose him.

Error's eyes met yours for a moment and stayed that way. It was strange, the way he looked at you.

"Fine," he mumbled.

"It's okay," you reassured Error, clapping him on the back. "G says he brought crochet needles so we can start a club and everything."

* You equipped the Scientist's Glasses. *