Chapter Text
The most embarrassing week of Error's life began with a simple phone call.
Error had almost ignored the call from Nightmare. The two hadn't been on the best of terms since the Truce between the Destroyer and the Protector. Error hadn't gone on any of Nightmare's raids to spread negativity because Error was avoiding any aggressive acts. And Nightmare hadn't taken that well.
But Error did occasionally enjoy Nightmare's company for conversations and games of chess. And so he made the mistake of answering the phone call.
He thumbed the button on his cell and answered, “Yes?” in a neutral voice, waiting to see what the gooey octopus wanted.
“Error, how are you? You sound well.” Nightmare's low voice issued from the phone, instantly putting Error on edge. Nightmare rarely cared about anyone else so his query came off as odd. Error was suspicious and as such, didn't answer.
After a moment of silence, Nightmare chuckled and continued, “We just had a very, very successful raid.” That would explain his seemly good mood, Error thought to himself.
Nightmare went on, “We came across something that we felt would be of great interest to you. Perhaps you could come to the castle and I could show you.”
Error mulled over the offer. Something still felt off, but he had been rather bored and was curious as to what Nightmare had found. Besides what danger did Nightmare and his band of misfits actually pose to Error?
“Alright, I'll bite. I'll wander over shortly.” Error finally replied.
“Excellent, I'll be waiting.” And with that Nightmare ended the call.
Error lowered the phone, distrust of the other tugging at his soul. Still, his curiosity also tugged and was harder to ignore. Error swung his legs off the hammock he'd been resting in and started gathering his coat and scarf. Once he was ready he prepared to open a portal. “Let's see what Nightmare found.” he murmured to himself as he crossed the portal's threshold.
Meanwhile,
In Timetale, everything was a mess. The Star Sanses were busy trying to help the local Sans, Sci, put his lab back together and find out if anything was missing.
“So it was Nightmare and his gang? Did you see how many? Was Error with them?” Ink was asking as he used his giant paintbrush to sweep the broken glass aside.
His friend Dream paused from picking up the scattered papers, a frown on his face, as he listened for the answer.
Sci looked up from his clipboard, scowled, and answered. “Yes it was Nightmare. I also saw Killer, and the ones in the Upper Lab saw Dust and Horror. And we haven't seen the Destroyer in months.”
Dream flinched and went back to scooping up loose paper while Ink gave a small smile. A loud thud had them all jumping and turning to the small skeleton who had gotten the last filing cabinet upright.
“Small mercies,” he said as he muscled the cabinet into position with the others. “We can deal with those Negative Nancys easily. And Error seems to have turned over a new leaf making our jobs that much simpler.”
Finally done, Blue stepped back and wiped his brow with the back of his glove. He turned to see the other still staring at him and he grinned.
“Come now friends! Let's finish here then go and teach Nightmare some manners. Sci, have you found anything missing?”
Sci glanced back down at his clipboard, “Nothing. Everything seems to be here. I can't understand why...” Sci was cut off when the phone on the wall started ringing. He moved to answer it and the others busied themselves picking up the mess. They soon stopped as Sci's voice raised in concern as he spoke on the phone.
“Are you certain? You've checked everywhere? No one's seen it? Oh dear. Yes I'll tell them immediately. Thank you. Take care Paps.”
Sci turned back to the Star Sanses with a very concerned look.
“Sci? What is it? Is something gone?” Ink quickly asked.
Sci nodded and took a breath to steady himself before replying. “My brother and Alphys had built a miniaturizer. It's just a prototype but seemed to have promise...” he trailed off. Shaking his head he tried again, “It's only been tested on non organics, but not all the results have been positive.”
“Wait so they stole a shrinking machine? One that's not even done yet?” Blue asked incredulous.
“It's the only thing missing. Everyone in the Upper Lab has been searching for it and it's nowhere to be found.”
Dream cut in, “What do you mean not all the results have been positive? Will it explode?”
“No no,” Sci shook his head, “if it fails, the item being miniaturized instead... it falls to pieces. Well atoms actually.”
“But it's only been used on non organics? What would happen if used on something alive?” Ink asked.
“We don't know. It was meant to be used to resize machine parts to make things more efficient. We were never planning on using it on anything organic so we haven't tested that yet.” Sci sounded worried. And everyone else was too.
What was Nightmare going to do with that machine?
Back at Nightmare's castle
Error pushed open the creaky castle doors, letting the ancient hinges announce his presence. He shoved them back closed with a dull thud as he moved into the entrance hall. Horror stuck his head through a doorway and watched Error approach before pulling himself back in. Error could hear the low rumble of conversation and headed for the lounge. He paused in the door and took in the scene: Horror was seated on a chair near the entrance, gnawing on a bloody bone that had once had meat on it. Killer and Dust were sitting at a table nearby playing cards. And Nightmare was at another table fiddling with a metal box. They all seemed to be ignoring him until Nightmare stood and called him over.
“Ah, you made it. Apologizes, I've just been tinkering with this and didn't notice you come in.”
Error chose to ignore that blatant lie and sauntered over to the strange device. Nightmare was one of the few who knew about his interest in science and technology so it made sense that he's invite Error over to check a strange device he'd taken. He studied it, carefully keeping his hands in his pockets and acting nonchalant to hide his growing interest. He could see a focusing lens, so it clearly shot a beam of some sort, and it clearly had a magical energy source as it was glowing even when not connected to anything. But what did it do? Error badly wanted to know but refused to give anything away.
Finally he looked over at Nightmare, “So, you found a box.”
Nightmare scowled but tried to cover it with a cough and very fake smile. “So you don't know what it is?”
“It's a metal box, could do anything. Does it sing lullabies?” Error asked sarcastically.
“Why don't we test it then?” Nightmare quickly pushed a button and the machine went from standby to active.
Before Error could move a beam of energy shot out and hit him in the stomach. He immediatly hunched over in agony, screaming as he felt like his entire body was being crushed. He vaguly heard the others all laugh as they watched him suffer. But the pain was making his glitches worse, and his voice modulated itself to an inpossibly high tone. And he still screamed, and the sound began ringing in the others heads. Horror grabbed his head and fell to the floor whimpering before going still. Both Dust and Killer attempted to escape the sound but neither made it very far before they too collapsed, blood trickling from their ears.
And Nightmare suffered greatly for his trick. The thick black goo coating his body rippled with the sound like a rock on a pond, pounding against his bones. Nightmare finally fell, making a large tar puddle on the ground.
Error finally stopped screaming as the pressure at last let up. Somehow he'd stayed conscious through it but he now felt himself falling, falling and when he hit the ground, he heard a loud crack as something broke and immediately blacked out.
A silence fell over the castle but it didn't last long.
The old hinges on the front doors screeched as they were shoved open violently. The three Star Sanses rushed inside and moved down the hallway, knowing time wasn't on their side. Ink checked the doors on the one side while Blue checked the others. Dream stayed in the middle and tried to sense his brother's presence. But he couldn't. Dream frowned and was about to say something but Blue yelled out, “WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?”
The other two moved to Blue's side and took in the strange tableau. Horror was laying near the door, clutching his head and they could see two more bodies across the room. All were unconscious at best or at worst, dead.
Dream spotted the table with a device that fitted the description of the missing equipment and then saw the puddle beside it.
Ink saw too and took charge, “Blue, check on those guys, see if they're alive or dead and if they need treatment. Dream check your brother and if needed, keep him asleep until we're ready to go. I'll get the thing for Sci and we'll get out ASAP.”
Blue went to Horror's side to check him, but as he dropped down he noticed a strange blotch of colour on the floor, right where Ink was about to step. Instinct had him yell, “Ink stop!” Ink paused, his foot in the air, hovering over the thing Blue had seen.
Blue jumped up, Horror forgotten as he knelt and scooped up something from the floor. His face somehow paled as he stared down into his hands. Ink sidled up to his side and glanced down only to back up and clap his hand to his mouth to stop the sudden rush of ink from splashing Blue and his finding.
Dream looked up from his brother at the intense distress the other two were suddenly filled with.
“What is it? Is something wrong?” He asked, his voice soft and soothing.
Ink couldn't speak, still holding back his inky bile. Blue slowly turned to Dream and held out his cupped hands. Within them lay Error, but he was barely 6 inches tall. He was also badly injured, his arm hanging at an obscene angle and blood splattered all over. Dream felt his marrow run cold, he couldn't tell if the Destroyer was alive or dead. He motioned for Blue to pass him the tiny form. Once he held him, he closed his eyes and focused his magic carefully. He knew that it was possible to overload a body with magic, even healing, and kill someone so he was cautious. But he felt Error's soul respond to the magic and slowly he put Error back together. Once he was done, he let out the breath he'd been holding.
The others were watching intently. Dream only smiled and nodded.
Ink shook his head and swallowed the last of ink he'd been holding in. “Ok, back to what we were doing. Dream, can you hold Error and make sure Nightmare won't jump up and attack us?”
Dream nodded, “He won't be jumping for awhile. Whatever happened, he's going to be down for quite some time. He'll hurt, but he's fine.”
Blue called out in agreement as he quickly finished checking the other three on the ground. Ink nodded as he collected the miniturizer.
“Alright then, let's get this back to Sci and see if he can do anything for Error.” Ink said, and with that, the three quickly left.