Work Text:
It was a loud day in the anti-void, for Error, at least. The voices in his head began asking questions related to Underswap lately, and considering how eager they sounded, Error admitted defeat, raising his hand as a cut through reality was formed.
“Alright, alright. Settle down. I already got that timeline loaded.”
As he said this, a golden corridor with pillars on its sides was shown.
“But I’m only doin’ this because I like ya.”
A tall silhouette wearing an orange hoodie stood alone inside of the hall, leaning on one of the pillars as it let the sunlight engulf it, before suddenly stepping forward and turning to face the beginning of the room.
This individual was Papyrus from the universe “Underswap”, a universe where everybody swaps their roles with somebody else, and in this one, he’s the judge.
“heh. i know you’re there. come on out, don’t be shy.”
Papyrus demanded, winking at the darkness.
A laugh was heard.
“Come on.”
Then, Error was seen entering through a portal.
“We both know I haven’t been shy.”
Papyrus took a step back, his face full of shock.
“s- san– no…”
Papyrus interrupts himself, his expression gets serious, with some visible sweat still on it.
“whatever you are. you aren’t Sans.”
“Heh, I am very much a Sans. Just not the one you know.”
Error’s expression changed to a smug one, his string still connected through the portal.
“Speaking of! I have a gift for you.”
With that, he turned his head to the portal.
“Aaaand…”
Underswap’s Sans was pulled out of it, being held off the ground by several strings.
“TA-DA!”
“NGH! PAPS!!”
Error started laughing, staring at the surprised Papyrus.
“That look on your face… When everyone started disappearing, I bet you believed your bro died! But nope! He’s been hanging out with lil old me.”
Error winked at Sans, before Papyrus started talking.
“...why did you come to our universe? why… why kill everyone? in some timeline, aren’t they your friends?”
With that question, Error looked at him like he just said the most vile shit possible.
“What?”
Error sighed, raising his fist.
“You aren’t anything but DIRTY GLITCHES IN THE MULTIVERSE. An awful error I plan to CORRECT.”
After that, Error shifted his focus back to his goal.
“Now, here’s how this game is gonna go. Right now, your brother is alive! Yay! You’re so happy!”
Error stated, looking at Sans before his strings SHATTERED his soul.
“NO!”
Papyrus shouted, looking in disbelief.
“And now, your brother is dead! You’re so, SO sad!”
With that, Error began laughing, while Papyrus, in a fit of rage, activates his glowing eye, dashing right towards Error as orange fire surrounds his fist, connecting through his jaw as he was sent flying back, rolling back up as he sees three gaster blasters aimed at him, quickly summoning a rift in front of him.
As the beam shot through the portal, it was brought to another universe, specifically the “Doctor Megalo” universe, in which Alphys was working on Sailor Doom
“I’ve done decent amount of progress now, it should be finished in-”
BLAST!
KABOOM!
The mech was obliterated, causing damage to everything around the room as Alphys was covered in ash.
“What the- ALL AMALGABOTS INSIDE THE BUILDING, LOOK FOR ANY SIGNS OF SANS IMMEDIATELY!”
She ordered, meanwhile back in Underswap, Error shot sharp bones directly at Papyrus in a half omni-directional pattern.
Papyrus dashed forward, teleporting past the bones right before he was hit, carrying the momentum with him as he sent an haymaker towards the glitched skeleton. However, Error ducked down as strings wrapped around his arm, pulling him forward as he was flipped from his position, laying down as Error then VIOLENTLY slammed him down, cracking the ground.
Papyrus laid down, hurt.
“Aw, you look pretty tied up, don’t be surprised. I’m ALWAYS the one pulling the strings.”
Error said, his strings starting to extend further into Papyrus’ body, before a diagonal sharp bone suddenly rose in front of Error, cutting through the strings wrapped around him. Error frowned at the sighs of these bones, seeing them almost reach his torso as he dashed backwards a few meters, seeing multiple sharp bones having risen at the distance he made.
Error suddenly snapped his fingers, the cut strings wrapping around his arms, thus restricting his limb movement.
After that, a diagonal, sharp bone pillar rises in front of him, stabbing through his ribcage and lifting him a meter off the ground, the honey he kept in his jacket leaking out as he looked down at the bone, and then at Error.
The crazed lunatic approached the dying skeleton, smirking.
"Heheheheh… You were quite a fun fella to play around with, but now… GAME’S OVER.”
Error said, summoning a gaster blaster above himself, aiming it at Papyrus, who looked at him with a weak expression before suddenly speaking.
“w-what… what do you get from hurting others?”
“Huh?”
“y’know… my bro once said that everyone can be good if they just try, and i want to believe that, too. just… think about it. everything you’ve done so far hasn’t brought you any true happiness so far, so why not try… befriending others?”
As Error listened to what Papyrus said, his expression started getting more doubtful as he began glitching, tampering with his view as he became more unstable.
“perhaps… perhaps you could find a good friend, who would treat you nicely.”
Papyrus paused, closing his eyes.
“and perhaps… that friend is…”
Papyrus’ eye re-appeared, flames coming out of it.
“one of those freaks in hell.”
Suddenly, Papyrus broke free from the strings as multiple sharp bones diagonally rose around Error, managing to land a hit on him.
Error suddenly crashed, a popup appeared in front of his face saying “REBOOTING…” with the bone that impaled Papyrus disappearing, causing him to drop onto the ground.
Papyrus looked at the popup with a confused face, what the hell is that?
However, wishing to question it no longer, Papyrus summons 5 gaster blasters, charging them as Error was 97% through rebooting, and as they fired, Error finished rebooting, causing him to get hit another time, being sent flying through the wall as smoke covered the area he was sent through.
Papyrus let out a sigh of relief, before he suddenly heard a laughter.
“I must admit, that was a nice attempt.”
Error said, walking out of the smoke with only a few rips from his clothes, his eyes closed.
“But you have miscalculated something…”
Error snaps his fingers, strings shooting out from above as they wrap around Papyrus’ arms and legs, lifting him a meter off the ground, Error standing in front of him.
“Your chances of winning are below 0%.”
With that, he began slamming Papyrus around the corridor, destroying numerous pillars inside the room, ruining it in a matter of minutes.
Once all the pillars had been destroyed, Error looked down at Papyrus, who had scars all around him, he then used his strings in order to make him start spinning counter-clockwise at rapid speeds, before launching him off the window, sending him flying.
Before he crashed into a building, however, Papyrus went through a portal, landing inside the anti-void as he was dizzy, the strings tying him up as he was lifted up, the portal closed as another one was made in front of him, Error walking out of it.
“So, you see now? I was merely holding back throughout our entire fight.”
Error said, before the portal behind him’s scenery changed, showing the outside of Papyrus’ timeline, strings wrapping around it.
“Now, it’s time to erase your universe.”
Papyrus looked up at him.
“n-no, please-”
But Error didn’t listen, he pulled a single string and the entire universe was obliterated off the multiverse, causing Papyrus to scream “NO!”, on the verge of tears.
“p-please… just kill me already…”
Papyrus pleaded. His universe… his friends… his brother… he now had nothing left, so what’s the point of going forward?
“Kill you? Oh no, that’s not what I want to do with you.”
Error replied, his strings wrapping around Papyrus’ soul, releasing all the other tied up parts.
“Instead… I’ll use you as a way to ‘entertain’ me and them.”
“...them?”
Error suddenly uses his code manipulation in order to heal him before turning to the screen, smiling as Papyrus is forcefully turned to it.
“Smile for the camera. ❤️”
THE END
-------------
ALTERNATIVE ENDING:
“p-please… just kill me already…”
Papyrus pleaded. His universe… his friends… his brother… he now had nothing left, so what’s the point of going forward?
“Kill you? What kind of fucking animal do you take me for? No, I won’t kill you.”
Error said, seemingly completely against the idea as a portal opened below Papyrus.
“But I am going to give you a fate worse than death!”
Suddenly, Papyrus began being pulled down into the abyss of Alphatale.
“WAIT, PLEASE DON’T! I’LL DO ANYTHING! PLEASE, PLEASE NOOOOOoooooo…”
And then, the portal closed as he had no other way out of this forbidden realm, suffering one of the worst fates ever in the history of the multiverse.