Error grows rather attached to Karma, he just wished they wouldn't keep giving him so much stress.

——

S̷̲͗ṯ̶̇̅ringVerse

Error might not be able to spend a lot of time with Karma but he had grown rather fond of them. He was hardly surprised, as he rarely met others who were so calm around him, mainly due to his reputation. It was nice in the few moments he was able to be with them and he was pleased by all the questions they asked.

"Moon is the Negativity Guardian, right? How come he keeps his corruption inside?"

He chuckled and patted them on their skull. They were much smarter than others thought and he saw no point in lying about the matter

" They are. They do it as they fear your reaction to it but Karma, you can't tell others that you know their role or about me. It would be very dangerous if you do "

Error didn't bother to hide anything and knew he could be rather blunt, but he also knew Karma could take it. The searching expression and nod only confirmed his thoughts on the matter. He knew Grillby and Nightmare tried to hide things from the child, as if trying to hide them from all the dangers in life would make them not an issue, but that just wasn't realistic.

He wasn't blind to the marks on their bones or the vigilant gaze they had when uncomfortable. These weren't taught skills but self learnt, likely due to necessity to survive. Error knew he was a rather jaded monster but it had never been so obvious then when he talked to others. He would rather Karma learnt everything they needed to know without being caught by surprise.

Touching his neck he could feel FATES String, taunting him with the fact he was nothing more than a toy. He would rather Karma was prepared for any situation, unlike him.

Error also made sure to be more open, as he was wary of their assigned role. Now that he had more free time he could spend it studying their Strings more and what he saw displeased him.

Roles were a natural part of life and came in many different forms. For example, Ink was the Creator and he was the assigned Destroyer. They were nothing more than names and a hint to their true power but he could just as easily ignore it. It was only his own morals and now FATE, that forced him into this role but he knew of many others who just didn't care.

The role itself varied but he had never seen one that was this intertwined with the SOUL. He was sure the purple String was one he would usually admire, if it wasn't for the way it was squeezing the babybones SOUL and affecting the other Strings.

It must have hardly helped them deal with their emotional outbursts and the few times he heard them purr he had to withhold a wince, at how guttural it sounded. He was thankful that neither Night nor Grillby had heard it, as it wasnt hard to tell what the issue was with the babybones due to that.

Their SOUL was dying and there was very little he could do for it. He was glad that they had such strong magic, as it was most likely the only thing keeping them going at this point. He was still afraid to ask them what their role was, fearing what it could be that caused them so much pain.

-

It came to a head when Grillby texted him some rather alarming details. They mentioned how Karma appeared to be in a daze, singing about an 'angel' that was most likely the human. Their role was much more dangerous than he thought and he knew he had to take some precautions.

I'm bored. Where is the fluff? They are cute

I really like love their wings. It's been ages since we've seen them!

I wish Thread had wings, they would be much more fun to look at

WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP! IT'S ONLY BEEN A FEW WEEKS!

Being stuck with you does drag things on. Don't blame us for wanting excitement

" Please stop talking! I'm going to grab them now so you can stop screeching at me "

Error soon left to grab Karma, not staying to listen to them bitch at him for something or another. It was like having cats but with no cuteness to offset them metaphorically clawing the furniture or puking on the rug.

Opening a portal to UnderFell he took a deep breath, basking in the silence. He really should leave the AntiVoid more often as he was feeling close to snapping and no one would want that.

Now Error wasn't an arrogant monster but he knew for a fact that he was the most powerful being in his multiverse. It was why FATE bound him after all, no need to let her 'precious child' to have any competition. Of course she ignored that Ink was perfectly happy before she decided to play supreme helicopter parent.

"Hey! What do you think you are do-"

Error dusted the idiot who tried to intimidate him and glared at everyone nearby, making them scurry away. It was the perfect stress relief and as he meandered towards Grillby's place, he almost wished another monster to get in his way. He smiled as he spotted Karma playing with the puppet he had made them. He was unsure why they liked the one of himself so much but it did make his SOUL warm in affection.

" Time to go, Karma "

He couldn't help but chuckle at their puffed out wings but faltered at the harsh purr they gave off. He ignored Grillby's stare, hoping they couldn't hear from this distance. He opened a portal to the AntiVoid and avoided his friends' gaze, hoping to avoid a confrontation on the issue.

A̶͕͒n̴̤͌ṯ̵̒i̴̮̕V̷̹̎o̷̗̔i̵̛͕d̷̟́

You are back! It's been so long

WHY ISN'T THREAD DOIN-

Be nice!

..HEY I GUESS

*sniffle* I'm so proud of you!

How have things been, babybones?

Error let the conversation wash over him, even if he felt the urge to hide the babybones far away from here but he knew he couldn't. This was the best place for privacy and for what he planned to do. It hurt that Nightmare still showed fear towards his power but he was resigned to it by now. He almost didn't want to do this, fearing how Karma would react but he flinched as he felt another String snap from Karma and more of their SOUL crack.

His hands shook as he took out a white rectangular box.

" I have a gift for you, little glitch "

Karma chirped in surprise and turned towards him, looking confused. He placed the box in their hand and felt sad at the way they were shocked at getting anything from him.

" Go on. Open it "

He got closer and helped them by taking out the glasses, before carefully placing it on their skull. It had taken a lot of magic and precision but this should allow them to see clearly. They were getting far too many bruises from stumbling into items. He could already hear Nightmare berating him for putting the babybones in danger, at finally being able to see their appearance, but knew it was just hot air to cover their fear.

Watching the babybones light up at seeing things clearly for once was adorable.

"How-"

" It's not hard to tell you were struggling, Karma. Your eyesight should return back to normal but in the meantime these should help "

"Thank you"

Aww. You look so cute with them on, babybones~

HMM. I GUESS THREAD ISN'T TOTALLY USELESS

Did you just compliment, Thread?..Are you dying? Is it finally my birthday?!

Can you quite down? It's hard to hear what they are saying with your whining

Ooo. Did you hear that? I think someone's coming

He twitched in annoyance at the voices and thought it was the perfect moment to enact his plan. His magic lit up in his palm and he yanked the purple String, loosening the tight hold Karmas role had on them. He was sure this would at least slow their SOULS deterioration, before a more permanent solution could be found.

It was probably due to him using so much power that he missed the magical strings tighten around him that threw him away from Karma. He quickly stood up, preparing to deal with the intruder but paused at the babybones joy.

" Did you miss me, Godling? "

"Nova!"

" I'm sorry it took so long for me to visit "

"That's ok. Are you playing a game like Sol is?"

" You could say that. I should be done soon, so we can go anywhere you like "

He found it weird hearing another sound like him but was very amused at how delusional the other was. Him 'weak? Just because he was a puppet didn't mean he was incapable of dusting the other if he wanted to but Karma seemed attached, not to mention the String connecting the two. It was one of the few that was holding strong and he was wary what would happen if that was suddenly removed.

He had to make sure Karma didn't speak up, not wanting to deal with posturing from the other Destroyer. He only had so much patience for others. He might be seen as 'too kind' by his variants but that was a choice, he wasn't a pure pacifist like some.

His skull snapped up as he felt the monster Nova leave but he frowned at how expressionless Karma was. Shuffling closer he hesitantly stroked their wings, hoping to get a reaction, but they were still blankly staring where Nova had stood.

Do something!

Scowling at the 'ceiling' he spoke up, hoping he didn't make this worse.

" Karma?...do you want to knit again? "

"S-Sure"

Errors SOUL ached at the despondent look and carefully telegraphed his arm to wipe away their tears. His eyelights grew at seeing all their Strings waver and the one connecting to Nova started to unravel, with others soon following, making him blurt out the first thing he could think of.

" Do you w-want to get some c-chocolate? "

Thankfully that stilled the destruction of the Strings and he grabbed their hand, wanting to keep them close.

Wow. That was a shocker. You are going to be in so much trouble~

I KNEW IT! WE AREN'T BEING HARSH ENOUGH

T-That was unexpected..

She is going to be so angry!

Error dragged Karma through the portal and flinched at the String from FATE tightened. He knew FATE would be displeased at him doing something like this without permission but he wanted to be selfish for once in this hellish life.

S̷̲͗ṯ̶̇̅ringVerse

Error was surprised at how he wasn't being punished straight away but was thankful, as perhaps he could have a nice time with the babybones he feared he would be forced to kill them .

He took a shaky breath and tried to enjoy the way Karma was excited. He cooed at the star in their eyelight, glad he made the right choice.

" This is one of the few safe AU's and neither sides touches it "

They were so cute, especially when their wings vibrated in glee at the new sights. He staggered as pain burst through his SOUL, knowing FATE made it more painful then usual. He glared at the sky, trying to keep the pain out of his features when he noticed Karma glance at him.

" Ugh. Not again. Does that idiot really have nothing better to do? "

"...are you dropping me off with Grillby again?"

He stiffened at the monotone tone and his eyelights shrunk at the shaking Strings from the babybones. He had to be careful how he responded, as he could feel he was on a thin line from making them break for real. That did give him an idea though.

" Nope. Give me your hand "

He was pleased how they instantly held out their hand, warming his SOUL at the trust, before forcing his magic around their wrist and placing some money in their palm. He huffed at feeling Dream nearby but knew they wouldn't cause issues, not when they were trying to be 'inconspicuous'.

"If you are unwell I will be alerted but you can break it to catch my attention. Do you still have Moon's number? Good. Call them when you are done and they will come and get you. I hopefully won't be long"

His magic would hopefully stabilise their SOUL and give him time to find a better solution, while also giving him a constant update of their health. He knew he could easily fix them but even he had limits against FATES power.

-

Error was on edge for the next few weeks, waiting for FATES punishment but they surprisingly did nothing. He was glad he had taken Karma to that peacful AU as they seemed much happier to have some time alone..apart from their new friend 'Star'. The Guardians really were twins with their similar mindsets and naming choice.

He cooed at the sweets Karma shyly handed over to him and he made sure to thank them profusely. He snorted as they hid their face in their scarf in embarrassment but he still saw their pleased grin.

He had a good system going on, with dropping off Karma with either Grillby or Nightmare and occasionally the peaceful AU. It was a pain to make sure that place was truly neutral, even if he didn't always get the chance to enjoy it himself, with how much Ink insisted on creating.

"Get back here!"

" Just go away, Ink! "

"Not until you stop destroying!"

" Why aren't your lackeys here? 'Blute' and 'Drimmy' was it? "

"You know that's not their names!"

" Hmm. Nope. Pretty sure it is "

The screech of frustration from Ink was hilarious and it helped make this process more tolerable. He was preparing to poke them again but hissed as the band of magic he placed on Karma alerted him to an issue. He needed to leave but Ink was being an annoying leech.

Summoning his Gaster Blasters he teleported further away and took out his phone, asking Nightmare to pick up the babybones. He was pretty sure Dream had been with the kid and if anything happened to them he was dusting them. Screw the Balance, he was not letting the one thing he knew didn't fear him to be destroyed.

"Get back here!"

" Ink "

He would usually be pleased at shocking them but he was feeling a tad too on edge to care. He slowly turned to them, staring at them intently with little emotion.

" If you don't get out of my face right this second, i will make sure to rip apart your 'friends' in front of you the next time we meet "

He was sure he could convince FATE to allow him to dust Dream and Blue, knowing it could add some entertainment to this multiverse. She might say she cared for her child but they were just another pawn to play with, Ink was just currently the favoured one. He was sure that would soon change, as the Deity was very fickle and had spent less time in this multiverse in the past few years.

When he searched out of his multiverse he found many monsters the Deity played with, even an Ink, who preferred to be called by their role of Creator, who he had got to know through Code and a few visits....Although he hadn't heard from them in a while and was too scared to see if their String had been cut from him.

"T-Thread...w-wha-"

He growled in annoyance, looking at Ink in pure rage. He didn't have time for this!

" LEAVE! "

As soon as they left he ripped apart the AU and opened a portal to Nightmares Castle. He needed to check them over himself, even if Night had said everything was fine. He ended up in the living room and checked the Code before heading to the library. He paused before entering, puzzled at the readings he was getting from his magic. Karma apparently had a healthy SOUL now but that should be impossible.

It had hardly been that long since he was trying to keep all the fragments together! It was hardly a surprise that FATE had not punished him for what he had done, considering the state the babybones had been in. She probably thought it would be hilarious to make him watch the child slowly fade away, while he was powerless to truly stop it.

Error slumped in relief against the door before straightening up and walking in, pretending nothing was wrong. He was bewildered why they weren't wearing their glasses but their eyelight looked focused with no fuzzy outline.

" Hey. I finished early by some miracle. I think Ink might be getting even stupider as time goes on, which I never thought was possible. So i was think—-what's wrong, Karma? "

Why were they looking at him like that? He had a bad feeling about this.

"Error. You can see Strings, right?"

His glitches started to multiply with his shock, confused how they would find this out. He bet it was Dream. The idiot always had to ruin things for him. He looked at Karma in slight fear, wishing he could have hid this from them for longer preferably forever.

" YeS. I c-can "

"Great! How do you tone it down? It's very distracting and it keeps giving me a headache...also why do you have a golden one that looks to be choking you?"

Crash occurring please wait. System Reboot Commencing...22%...45%...78%..100%

Reboot Complete

...where was he? Opening his sockets he saw Nightmare looking frazzled and very close to hyperventilating. It took staring at them for a few minutes before he remembered what had gotten him into this situation in the first place.

" KaRmA..cAn y-you repeat yourself? "

Maybe he had misheard.

"I was talking about Strings. It's kind of annoying to see them all the time"

Error shivered as he watched them tug at a String connected to them and jolted forward to grab their wrists, terrified at the way the String was straining from them touching it. They chirped in confusion but he merely picked them up, pinning their arms to their side.

" NiGhT! Snap o-out of i-it and corrupt! "

"E-Error? What are you talking about? You are starting to worry me-"

" DO IT NOW! "

Error felt a twinge of guilt for snapping at his friend but he would feel so much calmer once done, as he knew how quick the tentacles were to react if Karma tried to hurt themselves. As soon as they were covered in black goop he placed Karma on their lap, with a tentacle hesitantly wrapping around the child's waist. He still refused to release their wrists, crouching down to look straight into their sockets.

" If i let go will you do that again? "

He stared as Karma tilted their skull, as if fascinated by a new sight that just appeared. He whistled to catch their attention and was pleased by the shake of their skull. He slowly let go, watching their hands in suspicion before dragging a chair nearby, needing to be close to them.

They might have said they wouldn't do it again but he knew children could have low attention span or just not realise the danger that they were truly in. He had read a lot of books when he could about child care and weirdly even the voices piped up with random helpful facts but somehow he felt none would truly help when dealing with Karma.

" What is your role, Karma? "

He had put this off for far too long, almost hoping if he ignored it it wouldn't become an issue.

"I'm The Balancer of SOULS, of course"

He had never heard of that role and looking over at Nightmare neither had they. Were other multiverses really so different from his?

"What does that mean, little one?"

They listened in silence as Karma spoke of regulating the flow of SOULS in the world, which wasn't too new a concept. He was pretty sure Reaper could do something similar but he started to fizzle as they talked about replacing a Balancer, if they were killed.

No wonder they had seemed so stressed in this place, the Balance was, to put it bluntly 'completely fucked'. He was still surprised most days that it hadn't self-destructed with only him and Nightmare trying to keep things going. Seeing Strings was therefore unsurprising, as it was probably helpful to fulfil their role. He had a similar issue before he could hide them, with his own role demanding he fix everything now!

That still didn't explain why Karma had so many Strings surrounding them. He wanted to ask but looking at their eyelight, staring at him with an almost ancient gaze, made him falter. He instead focused on something much more important that he had noticed.

" You do know that you are loved..don't you Karma? "

"Of course! My big brother loves me a lot!"

" It's not only them. You have so many connections, little glitch "

The silence stretched on and he saw more of Nightmare's tentacles wind around Karma, cradling the babybones close. He lifted his hand and took off his gloves, before grabbing a String to make it visible to the room. Karma sat expressionless, staring at him vacantly.

" So much proof of others' love for you..why can't you accept this? "

He could see nothing would come of this just yet so let go of the String before focusing on the many frayed ones around Karma. So many broken connections and yet the babybones still looked sane. He would have been impressed if he didn't believe they had grown numb with all the loss.

" ..will you let me sort these out at least? "

It almost physically hurt to see their Strings, it was as if they were trying to drag Karma down with the weight. Once they agreed he started to carefully trim the Strings, having to snap a few apart at the mess they were making. He could feel his role almost purr at him fulfilling his true job but he knew he didn't have much time before FATE noticed, so tried to be quick.

Error quietly talked, while he was sorting the mess of Strings, about how to hide the Strings and for Karma to be very careful when touching them. Hopefully their role would guide them, as he was unsure how to explain it, for he found it instinctive.

He didn't pay attention to the time but when he leaned back he noticed hours had passed, with the sun starting to set. He could see tension in Nightmares form and was sad that his friend still felt so wary of his power, so looked away and focused on the child instead.

" How do you feel, little glitch? "

"..lighter. Thank you, Error"

He would hope so. It was a tad nauseating to see some Strings be out of synch, as if trying to connect to somewhere even further than their dimension.

"Can you let me up, Moon? I have a gift for Error i need to grab"

He saw Nightmare startle at the address and instantly let Karma go, as if burned. He felt a twinge in his SOUL at the buildup of magic and the determined smile they gave him, made him take a wary step back.

"Please hold still, this shouldn't take long"

" What are y- "

Error flinched as something silver headed towards his neck and gasped as he felt something break. The clatter of something heavy made him open his sockets and he vaulted to catch Karma, before they collapsed on the floor. He froze at the lack of pain from their touch and realised they had cut the String connecting him to FATE.

" You stupid child. Why would you do that?! I just did something major to your SOUL! Why are you using dangerous amounts of magic! "

The unconscious body of course didn't respond to him, making him look them over for any issues, thankful it just seemed to be exhaustion. He brought them closer and opened a portal to the AntiVoid, walking past Nightmare who was wearing a terrified expression. That was a problem for another day. There was no time to waste!

The white greeted him like usual and he froze at not hearing any voices but he did not have time for that. So many Strings FATE had ruined that he could now fix with no repercussions.

He held onto Karma as he started the process to lock out his multiverse to any he didn't approve of and shore up his defences. He didn't want FATE ever coming back and he had to give thanks to those lovely visitors, for giving him the chance to be free. He opened some windows and his gaze darkened as he noticed a monster gracelessly smashing through multiple multiverses and redirected them away from his. He didn't want any more insects in his home.

Error chuckled as he saw the misfortune the three monsters that invaded his home were encountering and whistled as he looked at the Code. It seemed the baby Godling had more power then he thought..but who the hell was that rainbow winged monster stalking the three? He shivered as they looked back at him and waved, before he hastily closed the window.

...Whelp, it wasn't his issue!

Just looking at all the work he had to do he grimaced and looked down at the babybones, who was starting to wake up. They needed somewhere safe to recover and he just wouldn't have the time to provide that.

He hummed as he felt a String tug on the babybones and grinned as he saw the new multiverse it was leading too. The String was attached to a decent looking monster and the care in the bond was obvious. Hopefully things would go well for them.

~~~~~

*Entering AntiVoid*

Error: A break at last!

*Voices instantly screeching*

Error:..i wonder if Nightmare will let me stay for a bit
-
Error: I am a pinnacle of zen. I have been through hell. Nothing can affect m-

*The monitor on Karma starts to glitch*

Error: *100% Feral* IF THEY HAVE A SCRATCH ON THEM I'M DUSTING EVERYONE!
-
*After Karma frees them from FATE*

Error: *Giddily* I can finally punch Ink in the face!

Nightmare:..Isn't there more important things to d-

Error: Do not take this away from me!