Voidverse – Original Outertale (2 months after the first contact with Undertale)

Silence reigned throughout the AU, what was once a place filled with laughter and happiness that could only be caused by a Pacifist Route had long ago died out under the weight of his scythe, the last AU on his list.

The favorite universe of the love of his life.

There was no longer anything anchoring him to this dying Multiverse.

Standing on the edge of a cliff with the void, the true void slowly replacing the space below, Reaper couldn't help but feel nostalgic at the thought of finally leaving this multiverse behind, how funny, he had hated the place for years but it was now when the memories wouldn't leave him?

He had spent most of his existence doing his job, putting all his energy into not being noticed by his 'fellow' gods, nothing mattered more to him than his younger brother's happiness.

And for that happiness he kept him far away from the prejudiced glances, the poorly hidden whispers, the only thing he wanted was to protect his brother from the hatred of the other gods.

Today he could only recognize that that was a big mistake, it only made his little brother more susceptible to the false kindness of the other gods when they decided that the two entities of death were too 'dangerous' together.

Papyrus was always a kind soul, it suited him well as the 'Peaceful Death', it was not difficult to take advantage of his nature to make themselves seen as benevolent gods who 'just wanted to be his friends' and Reaper as the 'exaggerated brother who wouldn't let him have the life he deserved.'

It had started small, he tried everything he could to make his brother see the truth of their intentions, screams and tears, pleas and lamentations, nothing worked, they twisted each of his words and actions to make them look false, like simple manipulations to selfishly keep him at his side.

And over time, his brother's love turned into the same disgust that the others had for him, his words no longer held anything but venom disguised as concern, scolding replaced words of encouragement, he was no longer nothing more than a monster at the eyes of the only being he had ever cared for and loved.

So, he threw himself into his work, he even took over his brother's job at some point because he wasn't doing it, only setting foot on Olympus when he was ordered to be there, occasionally allowing himself to be weak and checking on how his brother was doing, whom had happily fallen into the role of 'butler' of Olympus calling it friendship, his opinion of Reaper never really improved and Reaper had long ago stopped seeking to repair their relationship (but oh, how much he wanted it back anyways).

This is what he thought the rest of his existence would be like, alone and abandoned by the only being who should have understood him.

Then, he found him.

Geno.

It wasn't love-at-first-sight, dislike-at-first-sight would have been a better way to call it; the other gods would never shut up about how Reaper was 'born in the void' but he can claim that's an utter lie, because as soon as he entered the Save Screen was the moment, he felt what the true void was.

Only one Soul was there to receive him in the middle of that entire void, a white and red spot in the middle of all the darkness that was the void and the Reaper himself. Geno never seemed like a creature from the void, but he also didn't seem like something Ink would have willingly created, a beautiful middle ground that changed his entire life.

He had been there to kill Geno and let his Soul rejoin the Sans from Aftertale, nothing more, nothing less, the void around him made him nervous, on the other hand, Geno refused to die, Reaper's lack of void made him uneasy now that his Soul had void.

He knew that the only reason that initial displeasure turned into something more was only because Mother Void wasn't around to destroy him, Geno called it a happy coincidence, Reaper believed it was destiny after seeing how protective the goddess was of her children.

What began as pointless attempts to do his job turned into visits to.... talk, to give each other company, Reaper helped him to see the stars again, a tentative friendship that over time became the love that Reaper would be faithful to no matter what his beloved looked like.

Geno gave him a reason to live, to leave his 'work' in the background and take time for himself, to remember that there were things he was passionate about, that he was more than 'Death', to someone whose Soul was pure darkness, he had become Reaper's light as much as Reaper had become his.

The scolding, the stares, the lonely, none of that bothered him anymore, his job never brought him anything besides hatred from his supposal equals, why should he care what they thought when now he had found someone who made him feel happy and whom his presence made just as happy?

Sure, the Void Goddess tried to destroy him the first time she met him, but from the things Geno had told him, he was quite grateful to be alive in the first place; but in the end Geno's happiness won out over her disgust towards him, so she reluctantly accepted their relationship.

(It wasn't until when they decided to take their relationship a step further and unite their Souls for the rest of eternity that she finally began to treat him with more than polite indifference, which was a rather pleasant if unexpected change.)

And to this day Reaper is not sure how long that domestic happiness lasted, time was not something he had given much importance to, almost every universe was a time loop that never moved forward, everything he reaped was the same in his eyes, his own universe was the same because the gods hated change and the Save Screen had no concept of time.

It could have been decades, centuries or millennia and it would still have felt too soon when that happiness was taken away from him, when the connection with the love of his life was silenced.

And with Mother Void searching for her lost son everywhere Reaper couldn't look, he was left alone to deal with his grief, for the first time in who knows how long, he was alone again. So, for the first time in a long time, he looked to his brother for comfort, because a small, insignificant (stupid) part of him still believed that he cared even a little bit about him.

He's still not sure if it was good or bad luck that Papyrus had been alone when he found him, if maybe the tears falling from his eyes startled him enough to allow Reaper's hopes to rise, allowing him to open up about everything that had happened, finding Geno, his inability to kill him, how much he loved him, and all the pain he now felt with his disappearance.

Papyrus stayed silent the entire time, just holding him in his arms like in the old days when it was Reaper who held him that way, silently allowing him to break in a way he didn't think would happen again.

(Not in front of him, ever again).

He should have seen that silence for what it was, his brother was nothing more than a silent judge, judging his crying, his pain, his need for comfort, an unfair judgement given by a hypocrite judge came from his mouth when his weeps decreased.

"MY POOR BROTHER, IS YOUR CRYING OVER? JUST LOOK AT YOU, SO AFFECTED BY SOMETHING THAT SHOULD'VE NEVER HAVE HAPPENED, WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO ANYTHING BUT OUR WORK, THIS WHOLE STORY ABOUT THE "LOVE" BETWEEN YOU AND THIS "GENO" WAS FATED TO FAIL FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!".

He felt like he had been hit, the words spoken didn't feel real, he barely registered how Papyrus continued talking, about responsibility, about duty...

About how Reaper should know better than to believe that love was an option for him and should just focus on his job.

"-BUT SINCE YOU'RE CLEARLY NOT IN THE BEST STATE OF MIND, I, YOUR WONDERFUL BROTHER, WILL TAKE CARE OF YOUR WORK UNTIL YOU FEEL BETTER! I DOUBT IT WILL TAKE LONG ONCE YOU REALIZE THAT ALL THIS DRAMA IS BARELY WORTH IT FOR JUST A SMALL FLING."

"...He's my soulmate". Was the only thing that came from Reaper's mouth as tears silently fell from his face, still in disbelief of the cruel words thrown at him.

"...WHAT?". Something like horror dawns on Papyrus's face, regret appears in his eyes, but Reaper and his broken heart care little if he now realized how truly important Geno was to him. He had already made it clear what he truly thought and no empty apology was going to be able to fix that, with all the strength he could he distanced himself from the 'Peaceful Death', from the being whom his Soul could no longer recognize as the brother for whom he had endured so much and who only had hurtful words the only time he needed him.

Excuse after excuse came out of Papyrus's mouth, he no longer listened to any of it, he simply turned around and left. Papyrus didn't try to follow him.

To the rest of the Multiverse, it seemed that Reaper had returned to how he was before meeting Geno, doing his job, didn't talk to anyone, stayed alone and everyone left him alone.

(Papyrus tried to get closer, now he was the one who wanted their sibling relationship back, perhaps at the request of the other gods, perhaps for the first time in years he was thinking for himself, it was too late anyway).

Only the Void Goddess could see the hatred that grew year by year, she happily encouraged it; when Error made his first appearance in the Multiverse, she no longer needed to encourage anything anymore.

Reaper vowed to be the nail in the coffin of 'Ink's Multiverse' as soon as he found his soulmate again.

Geno. Error. The name or appearance mattered little, the Soul was the same, the bond was the same, he learned to love Error as much as he loved Geno. 

Footsteps behind him finally brought him out of the memories, he knew that it couldn't be Ink or his lackeys, they had been too busy with Undertale and anyway the Creator wouldn't notice what had happened in the Universe until it began to collapse; Original or not.

Which only left one person, or well, skeleton.

"HAVE YOU GONE COMPLETELY CRAZY?!" Papyrus's voice echoed as always, fury and disbelief heard in equal measure in his voice. Stepping forward Reaper looked one last time at the being he once called brother.

He was crying.

Reaper felt nothing at the sight.

"Crazy? Oh, Papyrus, you have follow me for the last three Aus, so don't assume I was in my right mind before this, I haven't been in my right mind since that day." He don't need to explain more, the other knew exactly what day he was talking about, he wouldn't gain anything for playing dumb now.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS? LOOK, I KNOW I SAID HORRIBLE THINGS THE LAST TIME WE TALKED, AND I'M REALLY SORRY FOR NOT REALIZING HOW MUCH AFTER REALLY MEANT TO YOU, BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE IT OUT ON EVERYONE ELSE NOW THAT THE DESTROYER IS FINALLY GONE, DO YOU THINK THAT HE WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE YOU LIKE THIS ALL COVERED IN THE DUST OF INNOCENTS?" He tried in vain to reason.

Reaper could only let out a bitter laugh at that before speaking. "First, Geno is not Aftertale Sans, I killed that bastard with my own hands, my love is a completely different being separated from Aftertale."

"Second, the reason I'm like this is precisely because Geno isn't here to see me, but believe me when I say that he wouldn't have felt the slightest bit of pity for all the monsters I've killed, much less for the ones that would die once I'm gone". That last thing caught his attention but Reaper didn't let him speak before continue. "And last but not least, the 'Destroyer' has a name, use it, just because your 'friends' taught you to be rude is no excuse not to use someone's name."

Silence was his only response, he was almost surprised that the other didn't immediately jump to defend the other gods, but perhaps even Papyrus could see that it wasn't worth doing so.

Or maybe he had already realized where Reaper was standing.

"...WELL, I ADMIT THAT... MAYBE I HAVEN'T GIVEN YOU THE ATTENTION YOU DESERVED IN THE LAST... MILLENNIA, I ADMIT THAT MAYBE I HAVEN'T BEEN THE BEST BROTHER, MAYBE I WAS TOO IMMERSED IN MY OWN HAPPINESS AND DIDN'T ...DIDN'T REALIZE I LEFT YOU ALONE, BUT THAT WILL CHANGE, I PROMISE YOU! SO PLEASE-" His voice faltered, the tears had not stopped all this time and the last thing he said was done with the smallest voice he had ever heard him use. "...Can we just go home?

Years ago, that voice would have made him stop everything he was doing, years ago he would have run to comfort Papyrus, to hell with his revenge, to hell with the consequences, maybe he would have tried to convince him to leave the Multiverse with him, to create a new life away and repairing their broken relationship, maybe he would have gone home like he was being begged to do, waiting for the end of the Multiverse.

But now that voice did nothing in Reaper, too little too late to change his mind.

He didn't answer anything, silence was his only answer, the Universe was beginning to break when he finally turned around, his gaze meeting the darkness of the void, he could almost feel the eyes of his 'mother-in-law' waiting for him to jump or fall.

The sound of a portal opening barely registered, he assumed that Papyrus had fled the AU falling apart, without caring about anything else, he jumped into the void.

Ink and Papyrus's voice shouting his name was the last thing he heard before he was enveloped by blackness and felt his body break.

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Bringing Reaper to Hallownest had been non-negotiable, his connection to her son was too important to both his recovery and overall health, they couldn't let him die with the Multiverse and as much as Void didn't like to admit it, she liked the guy, not only because he made her son happy as Geno and as Error, but he had been good company in that time between Geno's disappearance and Nightmare's adoption when the sorrow was too much.

But bringing him wasn't easy, they couldn't bind him to Shade Lord and just change his appearance like with the others, Reaper wasn't her son, his connection to the void wasn't the same, so she and Destiny had trouble finding another solution that would not harm his Soul.

It was Destiny who finally found a solution.

"He's a God in this Multiverse, right?" She questioned excitedly and upon Void's affirmative response she continued. "The Radiance of this Hallownest was killed by Shade, she was a Goddess, so there's an empty spot in their Pantheon, we can anchor his Soul there!"

It took them longer to prepare everything necessary for the universe to accept Reaper as part of it, and now they were ready for the last member of their group to be safe.

There was only one detail that they did not foresee.

Reaper's Soul was the only thing Void now held in her clutches, the body had shattered as soon as she touched it, the only thing preventing his Soul from following the same destiny was the Soulmate bond that remained as strong as ever.

They would have to rebuild his body from scratch, it would be similar to what happened to Geno, but hopefully Reaper will be able to regain his memories over time.

But even if he didn't, the Soulmate bond will lead him to Error sooner or later, and from there it's only a matter of time before they fall in love again.

Void took comfort in knowing that no matter the setbacks, all of her children will be happy in Hallownest.

Now they had all the time in the world to achieve that happiness.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Me: *refuses to let anyone on Error's side have a good relationship with their bio brothers*

I'm gonna let at interpretation if Reapertale!Papyrus was actually remoseful at the end or not. But as Reaper says, it was too late to change anything anyway.

I'm actually happy on how this chapter turn out, is actually not that far from my original drafts and now we have the "Error is now the one dealing with an amnesiac lover" mini-arc in the distant future once he and the Gang are on a better mental state :D

Probably next chapter is gonna be the consequences of Reaper "suicide" onthe Voidverse and a peek into the Gang getting use to their new home or the moths reaction to their new "God of Dreams", I'm open to suggestions tho.

Now, I finally made references for the 3 Void Gods of my stories!

In order of youngest to oldest, here we go:

Name: ??? (Her creations call her Mother and similar names)

Tittle(s): Void Goddess / Mother Void / Void Given Shape

Age: A few milennia (the youngest of the three)

Pronouns: She/her

Creator of one universe and adoptive mother of the Gang until she gave them to Shade Lord, powerful but still learning the limits of her power over her own universe, bitter and vengeful, doesn't care for anything that doesn't posses void with few exeptions.  

Her starry appearence is only for the eyes of her children alone, anyone else would see endless black, but the Souls of her creations (and adoptive children) keep the starry look at a lower degree as one would have to be close to notice it.

Name: Shade Lord / Shade

Tittles: Void God / Lord of Shades / Void Entity / God of Gods / Void Given Focus

Age: A few Eras

Pronouns: He/Him

After fusing his original universe with Destiny's he let himself being separate into hundreds, less powerful, of versions of himself as a way to protect the multiverse from deities like Fate, the one who takes the Gang being the orignal and most powerful.  

A faint blue glow is on him thanks to the LifeBlood Cocoons linked to the Abyss, glow only to be seen by his enemies as his children prefer the total darkness that he radiates, for them the blue glow only belongs to what they see as decorative plants.  

Calm and reasonable would not hesitate to level to the ground of the Kingdom over the Abyss (or a far away multiverse) if that means to protect his children from further damage.

And from "Nature vs Nurture",  we have the nameless Void God!

Name: ??? (It's creations call it 'their God')

Tittles: Void Deity / The Eternal Darkness / Void Given Mind / Lord of Void / God of Gods

Age: Acient (The oldest of them all)

Pronouns: It/Its

Only the darkness would be 'seen' by its enemies, only its creations have the privilege to see the light of its eyes, an old deity who just wants to sleep and see its beloved creations happy.  

After its Destroyer was taken away it has been traveling through the whole dimension in search of him, whole multiversus crumbling at its slow but eternal path of fury, this Fate has sealed her destiny.

That's all, till next time!