Error stepped into the portal with no regrets, no regards towards the complete and utter disrupting of the Balance that was going to occur soon enough if the squid didn't open his eyes and use his stupid head.

The warm, white light washed over him like the wind in the reeds, an invisible, almost non-existant pressure rolling over him and twirling through his bones before leaving in a ripple of air. He felt the abnormaly heavy load of fate lighten until it felt like nothing was there. He felt the light wash away the glitches that crowded his body; it lifted his sins off his back, erased the heavy burden he carried and would carry for eternity and then some. He knew that Nightmare would follow him, grateful for a companion for the trip.

But then... He thought of the rest of the Gang and Blue and his dear brother again, and how selfish this was, and looked back.

He let out a sharp curse as he saw Nightmare being yanked back by what looked like a red light, reached his arm as far as he could to just try and take back what was his. He couldn't step out of the door; it was slowly sucking him in, as if his choice was final and couldn't be changed, and he could only watch in despair as Nightmare fell further from his faltering reach and was pulled into his own transporter.

A flash of white light in a dank back alleyway later, Error was infinitely thankful for the dirty and torn mattress that somewhat cushioned their fall, although he ended up looking like a badly plucked chicken. He spat out a mouthful of rank feathers and dusted off the grimy down attached to the siblings who were marveling at the change of scenery.

Leaving them to their own devices for a moment, Error summoned the CHECK box and codes of the new universe.

>NaJ spinoff, otherwise known as 'Highschool Alternate Universe [AU]'
>...
>CHARACTERS:
-ASGORE
RELATE: ASRIEL-CHARA-TORIEL
-BLUEBERRY
RELATE: CHOCO-STRETCH
-CHARA
RELATE: ASGORE-ASRIEL-FRISK
-CHOCO
RELATE: BLUEBERRY-STRETCH
-CIL
RELATE: ERROR-PAPERJAM-INK
-CRAY
RELATE: PAPERJAM-FRESH
-CROSS
SUBFOLDER:
•CROSS CHARA
RELATE: X
-DREAM
RELATE: NIGHTMARE-INCUBUX-PALETTE
-ERROR
RELATE: INK-PAPERJAM-BLUESCREEN-CIL
-EPIC
...
He sped through the names, the files, the deepest, darkest corners of the world, the history, the quirks, what was normal and what was not, and, after a few minutes of intense reading and 'hacking', decided that even though they looked somewhat normal (as normal as a traumatized trio scarred mentally and physically can get), they lacked backgrounds, Error had a namesake who lived in the same town he was currently in, and the bundles in his arms (who were having fun poking at a mouse) were nameless.

This work was not to distract himself from Nightmare's disappearance. It wasn't to bury regrets. It wasn't. No way in hell. It was simply to get a read on their situation.

Choosing to ignore the tension in his joints, he asked, "iT lOoKs LiKe YoU tWo ArE sTaYiNG wItH mE. FoR tHat, YoU'Ll nEeD nAmEs."

The Sans looked at him and pointed to each other respectively, "S_01A, P_02C."

Error chuckled and shook his head. He really should've finished off the bastard. "No, AcTuAL nAmEs."

S_01A pointed at Error with an innocent look. "Name?" he inquired.

"YeS, NaMe. MiNe iS ErRoR. YoU'lL neEd mUcH nICeR nAmEs, Of cOuRSe..."

"No! I like Ewwor name!"

The now confused skeleton shook his head. "No, mY nAmE iS nOt A nIcE NaMe, anD..." he faltered when he was suddenly shot by a pair of illegally cute silver puppy eyes.

"No.''

"..."

Damn it.

"FiNe, fInE!" he exclaimed as he threw his hands up in the air, "If tHat'S whAT yOu rEAlLy WaNt, yOu LitTle TerRoR..."

After a minute or two of watching the Sans stare at him with zero signs of movement and the Papyrus trying to wriggle towards a giant, green dumpster, a light bulb went off in Error's head.

"YoU," he poked S_01A, "aRE gOiNg To bE NiL." Upon seeing the scrunched up face of confusion, he clarified, "iT mEaNs 'ZeRo'." The newly-named 'Nil' smiled brightly.

"ANd yOu ArE gOinG tO bE DevIaTE," he sighed while dragging a gurgling Deviate away from a feral-looking rat.

"AnD i'M gOinG tO bE ErRaTuM. THerE's AnoThEr mOnsTEr cAlLed ErRor LiViNg hEre. We'Re gOinG bY ThE lAsT nAmE 'MIscALcUlAtIoN', alRiGhT?"

He took their squeals of delight at a cooing pigeon as a yes.

.

After making sure that his clothing had zero visible rips left (meaning that he just made a new set), he used his strings to weave cute little outfits for Nil and Deviate Miscalculation.

Light teal and pale silver strings were used to make a fluffy cloak for Nil, covering his entire body along with a nice white fur-lined hood and two ropes with pom-poms on the ends to fasten it on the awestruck skele-child. His tail kept thumping on the floor with excitement. Erratum also added a thin, white, short-sleeved sweater and a pair of half-length black pants and pink bunny slippers.

Wonderful. He looked outrageously cute. Now Erratum was going to be even more vulnerable to those already unbeatable puppy eyes.

As for Deviate, he created light green sweatpants, an orange windbreaker with a bear stitched onto the part where a human heart was supposed to be (with holes on the back for his wings), and a small orange hat with a loose border and another bear stitched on the edge. He garnered his hands with some cozy red mittens covering his light orange markings and red rain boots, tribute to the 'battle body' that the Papyrus from Undertale always wore. His suit was extremely difficult to make, since Deviate kept on wriggling around in his grasp, an early sign of endless stamina.

Argh, another cute creature in his care.

But here's what he really didn't expect:

He had no clue as to how he didn't see this earlier, but a bronze chain and claw charm dangled loosely around Deviate's neck. When holding it, Erratum felt a steady thrum of magic coming from the charm, like what he would feel from a living, beating SOUL of the Frisks and Charas he stole the SOULs from (sorry) and he could see a faint yellow-orange aura.

Huh, weird.

Nil had a silver feather charm with a pale yellow activating at the touch of Erratum's magic.

Double weird.

He dismissed it as some bizarre thing that Gaster concocted.

.
Getting out of the sketchy-looking alleyway was probably a good idea: not too long after his inconspicuous exit, he spotted a small gang of humans and monsters alike stumbling in, half drunk and carrying syringes.

Yep, definitely a good idea.

He limped along the sidewalk (even though he wasn't a major source of dust anymore, some wounds remained) in search of a place to exchange what little gold he had on him for human bills while making a mental checklist.

Luckily, a currency exchange shop was situated right around the corner.

.
The gold he had was worth a lot more than he thought.

With an inventory full of bills and coins and two kids on his shoulders, Erratum knew that they would be well off for at least a year, that is,  if they didn't cut off expenses.

He nabbed a local newspaper, the SunnyField Times, with his magic and started scanning the advertisement section for a good place to live with low rent.

He made a mental note to get a new pair of glasses.

.
The apartment wasn't anything extravagant or outrageous; it was simple, plain and homely with its white walls (he would have to change that later), small living room and adjoined kitchen and two spare rooms, one for a bedroom and another for Erratum's few needs.

The bills he gave the nice lady at the reception desk (who didn't freak out at their appearance) were enough to pay the rent for about a year.

He created the other 'fake' documents in order to settle down comfortably without any law official breathing down his neck in the privacy of his new room.

Well, another two things ticked off the list. Only a few more to go.

.
The mall was freakishly big and bulky, the hospital white rendering the odd trio uncomfortable. However, on the inside, it contrasted fiercely against the blandness of the outside.

The walls were painted in pastel colors, the different shop signs either popping out in a burst of color or had neon lights which tended to garner a lot of attention.

Unfortunately, due to his rather tall height and slightly menacing looks, people noticed him and stayed at least three feet away. One sour-faced lady looked ready to call the cops on him before Nil and Deviate released some of the tension by performing their adorable acts.

And now, to the furniture store!

.
Many shops really loved the color white.

Erratum almost had a breakdown in the middle of a bustling mall once he saw the sheer abundance of white- white walls, white shelves, white lights, white this, white that...

At least Nil and Deviate were faring better than him. (They seemed to have an intemse dislike of the dark.)

Crushing his feelings of fear and panic, he speed-walked through the shop, throwing whatever looked necessary onto the platform cart thingy he took.

A birch bunk bed for the future, a light gray sofa bed, a peach colored single bed and a pale cyan one, several mattresses so soft that you sank right into bliss, some bookshelves, a coffee table, a regular couch, a dining table, kitchenware, a long table, a sewing machine, fabrics, textiles and so much more piled in his cart.

Of course, he had no idea if he needed any of this stuff, but he got it anyway.

Seeing as the pile was big enough, Erratum headed to the cash registers to buy everything.

That was, if his complete lack of social skills didm't make an appearance and have the cashier refuse the transaction.

.
Erratum's bullshitting skills came in handy. 

He had stupidly only created a slight outline of their histories, so currently he had to create alibis for each of them out of almost nothing.

"Sir, I'm afraid you'll have to hand the children to me and step away."

The human was definitely slightly biased.

"I aM soRrY, bUt ThERe hAs To bE a MiSunDeRstAndInG hERe-"

"There is no misunderstanding! You're a kidnapper, that's what you are!" a young employee shouted.

Erratum sighed.

"LisTeN uP, i'M jUsT gEtTinG fUrNitUrE fOr oUr NeW aParTmEnT anD i HavE nO tIme FoR tHiS SHiT."

.
An hour of shouting and reasoning later, he walked out, triumphant, with a truckload of furniture, a guilty-looking employee, two giggling children, the little sadists, and a full childhood.

A gut feeling told him that that little incident would be one of the first of many to come...
-----------

Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Also, would you like me to continue posting requests here or create a separate book for them?...

Stay safe!
(05/06/2020)