Beginning notes:

Even more character building. Get ready for a ride, this one might be a bit more intense than the last two chapters.

There's a TW for a not-very graphic description of blood, but it's just in case.

Just to make it clear on how time moves between Fate's multiverse and the astral plane, there's no real linear conversion rate. In comparison to the multiverse, the astral plane doesn't really have any concept of time (ironic considering Time literally lives there).

For example, a week could pass in the multiverse, and in the astral plane that would either be 3 minutes or 1 month. It's pretty wacky.

Also, I posted this chapter today instead of tomorrow because I didn't wanna wait to post it XD I'm excited to get started on the next chapter but I had to post this first before I could, since the next chapter and beyond will only showcase a compilation of short, little oneshots of the shenanigans Error and Blue get up to during the loops.

If you find any mistakes please let me know, it's hard beta reading 7k words all by yourself :')

Anyways, enough of my rambling. Onwards!

Blue came to consciousness with a groan, lifting his head off the ground and looking around blearily. The sky was a dismal grey, covered with clouds that were much darker than they should be, and the clearing he had spawned in harbored a massive, foreboding castle in the middle.

It was just his luck that the castle happened Nightmare's hideout.

Blue's eyes widened at the realization, and he quickly stood up from his fetal position on the ground. He needed to get out of here, Nightmare and his gang had most likely already sensed his magic signature and would butcher him alive once they found out it was him-

Dusting off his gloves, Blue tried his best to form a portal to anywhere that would take him away from where he was, but apparently being sent back in time drained you of your own magic as well. The good thing was he still had enough magic to fight, but he lacked the amount needed to portal away.

Stepping back a bit, Blue breathed out a heavy sigh. He was fucking terrified of the consequences of this, but he's held his own against the gang and Nightmare before (he ignored the fact that it was when his magic reserves were higher than this), so maybe Error would come and get him before he passed out from exhaustion.

Who was he kidding? The god was probably still unconscious, and even if he wasn't, the sheer amount of magic radiating in the air would make it practically impossible to pick out his signature.

So, that left Blue with one last option: Hold out for as long as he can and pray to the deities that they didn't try to dust him once he was taken prisoner.

He held firm when the doors to the massive building were burst open, Nightmare leading the group of Sanses with a mildly pissed off look on his face. His scowl deepened when he realized who had intruded on his world.

"Blueberry. What brings you here, all alone, to my hideout?" The goop-covered Sans growled, his tentacles sharpening into deadly, fluid spikes.

Of course he had to get straight to the point. Blue's frown deepened, and he slid into a more defensive fighting position in case they tried to attack him suddenly. "I want no quarrel with you, Nightmare. My intention was not to invade your world, and if you'd just give me enough time, I can leave you all alone-"

"HAH! The shrimp thinks he's gettin' away with this!" Killer laughed, drawing a knife and twirling it around in his hand.

Nightmare snorted at Killer's comment, but his face otherwise remained the same. "If you think you can shrug us off so easily, you are mistaken. Accident or not, you have not only intruded on my property, but you know its location as well."

"Also, we've kinda got a bone to pick with you after that last fight, blue boy." Dust grinned, his eyelights burning dangerously bright. "No one gets away with humiliating us like that."

Blue grit his teeth. He knew better than to rise at their taunts, but damn did those former nicknames get on his nerves. They acted like they were still his real aliases, and while he understood why, he was really starting to resent travelling to the past.

"I'm going to say this one last time." Blue continued through clenched teeth. "I don't want to fight you guys. I have no reason to share your location with others, and-"

"What a load of bullshit." Killer hissed, cutting the former Star Sans off. "Did you really think we'd believe you after all you've done to us? It's almost hilarious seeing how much confidence you Star Shits have in your ability to negotiate."

Cross and Horror were silent, but it was obvious which side they were on.

"It's been made clear to you, Blueberry: You're not getting out of this one. So, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." Nightmare said, leveling Blue with a gaze that swirled with malicious intentions. "The easy way? Surrender, and maybe we'll try not to dust you when you're interrogated for information. The hard way is where we kill you and scatter your pathetic remains all around your precious little AU."

Blue smiled internally. They didn't know that joke of a world meant nothing to him and he would always come back when the loop reset, but they didn't need to know that.

Besides, he'd been given indirect orders from deities, nonetheless, to not die during any of the loops. Also, Error would probably find a way to kill him himself if he found out Blue ditched him during the loop.

Shrugging and dropping his formal façade, Blue responded, "Hard way it is then. That is, if you're able to damage me first."

Nightmare stayed behind as his lackies rushed off in different directions, Killer and Dust shooting forward while Cross and Horror approached from the sides. Waiting for the last second, a small smirk appeared on the Underswap Sans's face once he jumped out of the way and watched as all the Sanses collided with each other.

He was at a major disadvantage in this battle (teleporting would drain too much magic and he could really only depend on attacks that lasted for long periods of time), but thanks to Error, his magic reserves had been severely heightened, and if he could get them to stay still long enough, he could probably code an attack into existence if he needed to.

Blue watched with glee as the four Sanses cursed loudly at the trick, rubbing their skulls and glaring at Blue with a heightened sense of rage. Blue simply chuckled at their misery but froze when he felt a cloud of pure negativity swoop in behind him.

"NOBODY plays my lackies like that, you piece of shit-"

Within mere seconds, Blue found himself being flung across the battlefield, almost slamming into tree trunk before he managed to slow himself down by sticking a bone attack into the dirt. He let out a huff when the sound of multiple Gaster Blasters powering up buzzed around him, and he managed to create a bone cage right before they opened fire.

He let the cage fall once the beams stopped blasting, and the sound of weapons slicing through the air was all he got before Cross and Horror appeared at his sides, their weapons aimed directly at his skull. He ducked, and the axe and knife grazed just above his head, their momentum unbalancing the two skeletons long enough for Blue to escape from their range.

Sharp-edged bone attacks were raised beneath his feet, and he countered them by using his own to raise himself above them. Then, he balanced on a particularly high bone attack and summoned Gaster Blasters beneath the dirt, turning the ground blue before it erupted with spontaneous, bright blue light.

He panted, beads of sweat already forming on his forehead as he watched the skeletons teleport, one by one, onto a Gaster Blaster that surrounded him. Most appeared to have been affected somewhat by the blast, scorch marks visible on their bones and clothes.

Nightmare rose into the air before him, his tentacles holding him up as he fixed Blue with an unreadable look. Then, after a moment of tense silence, he said, "I'm impressed. You didn't exhibit this type of skill the last time we fought."

"A rare compliment from the edge lord. Thanks!" Blue replied, his unusually dim eyelights speckled with mild amusement.

Nightmare ignored the off-handed comment, tilting his head slightly as a more questioning expression appeared on his face. "I am unable to decipher your true intentions, Blueberry. What is it that you really want from us?"

"I've said it twice, but I'll say it again: I don't want anything to do with you and your gang." Blue restated, frowning. "When I entered your AU by accident, I was too drained of magic to summon another portal out. Then, you all confronted me and didn't believe my word, and here we are."

"I still don't believe your word." Nightmare said, narrowing his eyes at the opposing Sans. "The location of my hideout has been a well sought-after topic by you and your miserable Council, alongside the squid and that disgrace of a guardian. If we let you go, we'd have to risk relocation to another AU."

Blue sighed, resisting the urge to drag a hand down his face. "Nightmare, it's painfully obvious you don't plan on letting me go no matter what I say. What do you want from me?"

"From the start, we planned to keep you prisoner and interrogate you for information." Nightmare started, flicking his singular eyelight to the Sanses surrounding Blue. "However, you have made it clear you won't go without a fight, and from what I've seen, your skill in fighting will cause us more detriment by how evenly we're matched. We will not go down until you do if you choose to fight, but we can do this in a more peaceful manner if you simply surrender. There is a greater chance you will not be harmed during your stay as a prisoner if you comply with us this time."

The expected outrage of Nightmare's lackies filled the air.

"Boss! He's a Star Sans- we can't just not dust him when he's vulnerable!"

"This is so stupid- we're gonna have to treat him nicely?"

"He's a hazard to all of us, complying prisoner or not! We need to remove him before he can cause any more damage!"

"My word is final, and you will all obey it." Nightmare snapped, glaring at the ones who had protested. "If he chooses to continue the fight, then so be it. If he surrenders, then we will all follow the terms I have set out for that circumstance."

"Gee, what a way to talk about someone who's still here." Blue snarked, not even flinching when several pairs of infuriated eyelights were turned back to him. "And if you're wondering, yes, I surrender. I could've easily kicked all your asses, though."

"YOU MOTHERFU-"

"SAY THAT AGAIN, YOU PIECE OF SH-"

Nightmare's extra tentacles snapped so quickly through the air it sounded like 4 whips cracking at the same time. Blue watched in amazement as Dust and Killer quickly clicked their mouths shut and were at attention, knowing better than to push Nightmare's patience past its limits.

"Blueberry will stay in the castle until further notice." The guardian said slowly, eyeing the Sanses who dared to glare back at him. "During that time, he will be interrogated and will only be harmed if he refuses to spare information. Otherwise, no damage towards him will be permitted unless said so."

"Boss, I don't think this is the best idea. There could be loopholes in this that he could exploit. I suggest we think more about this before allowing him to roam freely around the house." Horror piped up, glaring at the former Star Sans half-heartedly.

Nightmare let out a soft exhale. "While I understand your concerns, Horror, what I say goes. I trust in the fact that Blueberry will stay true to his word, and so should you."

Blue brightened at the guardian of negativity's words. At least one of them had faith in his honorability.

While most (read: all) of the gang looked reluctant to follow their leader's word, they hesitantly nodded and dropped to the ground, their Gaster Blasters fizzling out of existence. Blue did the same with his bone attack, landing on the ground with a muffled 'thump'.

The Underswap Sans couldn't help the sense of nervousness that pooled into his nonexistent stomach as Nightmare reopened the doors to the castle, swinging them aside effortlessly before walking through. Never had Blue thought he would become a prisoner of Nightmare's Gang, but alas, that was before time travel was thrown into the equation.

'Oh stars.' Blue thought, gazing around and taking in the sight of battered floorboards and peeling wallpaper, accompanied by the occasional blood stains and dust littered about.

'What have I gotten myself into?'

-----

"..."

"...!"

"...?"

"...-e's waking up, quiet down!"

"Sorry Sci!"

Error awoke with a grumble, rubbing his right eye socket in an attempt to gain consciousness faster. However, once realizing he wasn't alone, he shot up from the oddly soft object he'd been laying on and quickly drew his strings.

Ink, who'd been one of the closest to Error's bed, was quick to back away and raise hands in surrender. "Woah, calm down, Error look-alike! We're not gonna hurt you!"

"That's what they all say." Error growled, keeping his defensive pose as he eyed the other people in the room.

Sci, Dream, and who he assumed was Blue's past self were in the room alongside the creator, which only served to make him panic even further. He was deep in enemy territory by the looks of it, and he was surprised they didn't try to off him when they had the chance.

Slowly, Error asked, "What the hell am I doing here?"

Ink shrugged. "That's the same question we could ask you, buddy. You quite literally spawned on the meeting table and wouldn't wake up for 3 hours. You should probably thank me for convincing a bunch of bloodthirsty skeletons to not dust you on the spot."

"Even if they did try, I'm unable to die, if you didn't know." Error snorted, narrowing his eyes at the other god. "If I had awoken to a bunch of Sanses attacking me, things probably would've ended on a worse note."

"So, if you don't mind me asking, who exactly are you? We first suspected that you were Error, but the actual Error was out trying to destroy more AUs while you were unconscious, so..." Sci said, pushing his glasses further up his face while clutching his clipboard.

Error let his hands lower a bit once realizing they weren't going to attack him but didn't de-summon his strings. A small smile crawled onto his face at the skeleton's words, slightly unnerving the others in the room.

"The actual Error, huh? Well, I can't say much, but I'll tell you that I'm him, but not at the same time." Error answered, before flicking open a portal to the Anti-Void. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a certain abomination to find."

Error hopped through before anyone could stop him, closing the gateway behind him before they could follow him through. Then, taking a deep breath, he closed his eye sockets and searched the multiverse for Blue's magic signature.

It was a painstaking couple of minutes he spent standing there, spreading his invisible influence throughout the multiverse's millions of signatures just to come up empty-handed. Opening his eyes, he growled in frustration before trying a couple more times.

After the fourth attempt, he could feel a rise of infuriation burn in his throat as he was unable to pick up on the Sans's magic signature. Either Blue had somehow blocked him from finding his location, or he was trapped in a magic-dense area which made it hard for Error to pick him out.

Error just hoped it was the latter. If it was the former, then they were going to have a talk when he found him.

He ignored the small part in the back of his mind that hoped Blue was alright. The Sans would always just be an acquaintance to Error, nothing less, nothing more.

(̶H̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶e̶p̶e̶a̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶i̶d̶e̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶.̶)̶

-----

Blue hummed as he tidied up the room he'd been given, sweeping the corners of their cobwebs and dusting the shelves of their...well, dust. He'd been relocated up to the second highest floor in the castle, a level where he was sandwiched between Nightmare's room above and the rest of the gang's rooms below.

He supposed he was lucky to be treated so nicely by them, but either way he wouldn't have cared in the end. Whatever relationship he'd built with them by the time the loop ended would all be erased and set back to square one anyway.

He sighed, looking around the rather bland (yet clean) room with dim satisfaction. He had nothing to decorate the room with, and although he probably wouldn't be staying here for too long, he would like to have something that wasn't so dark and depressing to look at.

Error would probably be able to create something out of his strings to glamour up the room a bit. His strings always seemed to act like a nightlight when in the dark, pulsing a comforting, blue light that often helped Blue fall asleep.

If only he had some way to contact him though...

...

It clicked in his mind.

"Stars, I'm such an idiot." Blue mumbled to himself, shaking his head with an exasperated sigh.

The link. The telepathic link.

Stars, if he'd thought about that a couple hours ago, it would've saved him from the entire situation he'd put himself in.

Sighing, Blue searched around in his mind for the familiar connection before tugging on it, opening a link that stretched between Error's and his mind only.

Calling into the connection, Blue asked, "Error? You there?"

Moments later, Error's recognizable, glitchy voice answered back. "Blue, I swear to the stars- you had me searching for hours! Where are you?!"

Blue frowned, looking down at the floor and scratching the back of his neck sheepishly, even if Error couldn't see him. "Well- I kinda got captured by the Bad Sanses? And they're holding me prisoner for an indefinite amount of time?"

Silence.

Then, "The fuck, Blue? I leave you alone for a couple of hours-"

Blue rushed to explain. "I wasn't my fault, I swear! I literally spawned in their world and was unable to get out in time since time travelling fucks with your magic reserves!"

"You're alright, though, right?" Error asked, and Blue smiled at the poorly hidden concern in the god's voice. "Not that I care, but it would be pretty unfortunate if you died before I could kill you first for your stupidity."

"Hey! In my opinion, it's going pretty well!" Blue defended, crossing his arms with a pout. "They even gave me my own room and didn't hover over me like a certain glitchy skeleton I know-"

"That was one time, and you literally had code sickness, Blue." Error deadpanned. "You would've died if I didn't force you to stay in one spot while I fought off the virus in your code."

"My point still stands."

"Like hell it does."

A knock on the door interrupted his conversation. Blocking out the link for a moment, he asked, "Yeah?"

"Boss wants to see ya in his office. 'Says it's gonna be your first interrogation." Killer's voice replied back, his voice partially muffled by the thickness of the door.

"Alright, I'll be over in a sec!" Blue said before quickly turning back to his conversation with Error. "So, Nightmare wants to interrogate me real quick. You wanna listen in or do you have something better to do?"

"Nah, I wanna hear this. Sounds like it'll be pretty funny considering you haven't been a Star Sans in 2 years."

Blue hummed his agreement, making sure the telepathic link extended to his ear holes so Error could hear what was going on before opening the door. He greeted Killer who was waiting outside for him, the latter only grunting in acknowledgement before leading him up another level of stairs.

After a short walk, Killer stopped in front of a door and knocked, and a faint "come in" could be heard from inside. Killer opened the door and let Blue walk through before shutting it behind him, leaving him alone with the guardian.

"I assume this is your first interrogation?" Nightmare asked, raising a nonexistent eyebrow as the Underswap Sans gazed around the room nervously before focusing on him.

"Haha, nope!" Error cackled in his head, but Blue ignored him.

"Yeah, you could say that." He said instead, before taking a seat at the table Nightmare was sitting at. He couldn't help the unease that swirled around his head and made him feel like he could pass out at any moment; he was being interrogated by the guardian of negativity, of all people!

Nightmare seemed to take note of Blue's apprehensive posture, frowning slightly for a reason Blue couldn't identify. "Calm yourself. I promise you no harm will be done unless you refuse to comply."

Well. That wasn't very comforting.

"Hey, at least he's trying."

That's true.

Blue sighed, taking in a few deep breaths and calming his soul, which was practically beating out of his ribcage. Then after a moment, he said, "Alright, I think I'm good now."

Nightmare nodded, his tentacles waving subconsciously behind him, almost in a hypnotizing manner. Then, he leaned forward and clasped his hands together on the table, leveling his piercing blue eyelight with Blue's gaze and looking as if he were staring straight through his soul.

"We won't get into the Star Sans manner just yet, if that's what you're worried about." Blue resisted the urge to snort at this. "I've just had a question on my mind ever since you first arrived here. Your general mood is much more...complex, as I should say, than the last time we met. Beforehand, you were very bubbly and excitable, almost sickeningly so. Now, however, you portray a sense of sassiness and self-confidence, although you aren't overridden at all by arrogance and know how to stay humble."

Damn, this guy was doing a complete character study on him. He didn't even know Nightmare could pick out these emotions!

Continuing without a hitch, Nightmare added, "Alongside this, there is always some tangle of negative emotions that lies beneath the façade of positivity you out up. I know for certain that you were not like this during our last confrontation, which, might I remind you, was yesterday. So, what happened?"

"Oh gods, what do I tell him?" Blue asked through the link, allowing his uprising panic to seep into his words.

"Why don't you just tell him our current situation? S'not like it'll hurt him when the loop ends, and I'm pretty sure the deities aren't listening in right now."

Huh.

Ok.

Not like Nightmare will believe him anyways.

"So, I've got an odd explanation for that." Blue started, fiddling with his thumbs as he looked anywhere but Nightmare's curious gaze. "You probably won't believe me, and that's fine. So, I'm in a time loop, and I've done this all before."

"As in this type of situation specifically?" Nightmare questioned.

"Well- no, not exactly. I've met you and your gang in a confrontation like this probably 2 out of the 5 times I've been looping, and this'll make it the third time, I think?" Blue responded, acting like he was using all his brain cells to think about it. Internally, though, he was screaming at himself for lying directly to Nightmare's face.

Oh well. Might as well run with it now. Can't have the literal King of Negativity know that he actually had the advantage here with Blue only having 2 loops of experience.

Nightmare's eye narrowed, but it didn't look accusing, just as if he were searching for something. "...Interesting. Is there anyone else in this time loop with you?"

Error piped up from the link. "Go ahead and tell him. I want him to know that I'll kick his ass if he tries to hurt you."

"I'm perfectly capable of defending myself, but thank you for your support." Blue retorted but did as instructed and turned his attention back to Nightmare. "Yes, actually. Only one though."

Nightmare waited for the Sans to elaborate. Once it was shown he wasn't going to, he sighed and questioned him again. "And who are they?"

"Error!" Blue chirped back, enjoying the chances he got the screw with Nightmare a little more than he should.

"Alright then. Thank you for answering my questions, Blueberry. Killer will take you back to your room, and dinner should be ready in about an hour, if you're hungry."

"Actually, I have a question." Blue said, making Nightmare halt halfway through standing up from his chair. "Do you mind if I go out and practice for a bit? You can assign people to watch me and make sure I don't escape, but I'm just worried I'll get rusty from not training for the royal guard."

Nightmare seemed to study his facial features for a moment before sighing and answering. "Yeah, sure. I'll put Killer and Dust on you. Just don't be surprised if they ask to spare and you end up getting hurt from it. And, if you damage the house, you're gonna have to fix it."

"Nightmare's being a lot nicer than usual." Error commented, and Blue couldn't help but agree with him. Maybe it was because he wasn't overflooding with positive emotions like his past self would have been?

Or it could just be because he wasn't being annoyingly difficult. That could always be a reason, especially with how much Nightmare was working to spread negativity currently and how tiring that must be.

As Blue made his way out the door, Nightmare informed Killer of his new assignment, to which a shit-eating grin stretched across the Sans's face not even a moment after Nightmare left. The Sans then ran off to grab Dust, leaving Blue alone on the top floor like a fucking idiot.

Blue sighed, trailing behind Killer's trigger-happy path to the other skeleton's room. Error quickly left afterwards, saying that something was happening on his end that he needed to deal with. Blue decided not to question it and moved on.

A couple of minutes later, the three were outside, a generous amount of distance between them and the castle. They had found a clearing in the woods that covered most of the AU, using it as the terrain that would most likely get fucked up to hell today.

Blue started off by practicing his accuracy. Error had been too busy last loop to do anything else than build up the firewall that surrounded their hideout and blow off steam by causing chaos, which left Blue to his own devices more times than not. So, the Sans had used this time to practice his skills, sharpening and defining his fighting style and defense until he was sure there was nothing else he could improve on without someone else's help.

And, it turns out, the practice had paid off. Like, really paid off.

Grabbing a rock from the ground, he tested its weight before throwing it into the air. Summoning a sharp bone attack, he closed his right eye and focused on the middle of the object before launching his attack and hitting the rock precisely in the middle.

He grinned, and he could sense the surprise that emitted from the other two Sanses. He then summoned a Gaster Blaster and fired, the beam disintegrating anything in its path.

Well, at least he knew his magic reserves were close to full now.

Killer's voice called from the sidelines. "Hey! Boss said we could spar, so we're doing it now whether you want to or not!"

Blue's smile only widened. "Alright!"

Dust and Killer situated themselves on the opposite side of the clearing, preparing their weapons with malicious intents visible in their body language. Then, without warning, they started attacking.

Bones were flung his way and Blue dodged them expertly, recognizing their fighting pattern from the last loop and easily parrying it. Dust rushed forward, a knife in hand as a blaster was summoned behind the Underswap Sans.

Blue growled under his breath, teleporting to the side before sending a volley of bone attacks in his attackers' direction. Manifesting a sharp-edged bone attack in his hand, he blocked the incoming attack from Killer's knife before nicking him across the face.

The Sans let out an infuriated roar, dashing forward and slicing at Blue repeatedly with a newfound sense of vigor. Dust appeared from the left side, stabbing at Blue and managing to scratch his side.

He teleported away from them, taking a moment to breathe and think up a new strategy. Obviously, they had the upper hand in hand-to-hand combat, and they were fast enough to avoid long range attacks.

The answer quickly became obvious to him. He needed to use encompassing attacks that would give them almost no time to dodge, and although they took a lot of magic, it was clear Dust and Killer were no longer sparring with him.

They were out for his blood.

He dodged the projectiles they threw at him before pinning them to the ground with blue bone attacks, and a circle of Gaster Blasters fizzled into existence and fired their beams at them. They protected themselves with a bone cage similar to the one Blue had used earlier, and once letting it down, they dashed towards him with blinding speed and managed to hit him with a couple of bones.

Blue coughed out a bit of marrow, ripping the attacks out of his body before dodging the violent array of knife swipes Killer tried to hit him with. He couldn't afford to be hit like that again, or it would basically incapacitate him for the rest of the battle.

He managed to land a couple of blue bone attacks on them, watching in satisfaction as they flinched at the sudden drain in health. He teleported away just in time as a blaster's beam grazed past him, and from then on, they exchanged attacks and slowly beat each other down.

In the end, though, Blue was the one who came out on top with his massive magic reserves holding steady and leaving Dust's and Killer's behind. He made the ground grow blue once he noticed the two becoming winded, and the top layer of the terrain exploded as the beams of the Gaster Blasters underneath tore it apart.

The two Sanses were left as scratched, bloodied, and burnt messes, rips and tears visible in their clothes and chips in their bones being a result of Blue's bone attacks. The former Star Sans wasn't much better off than they were, but at least he could still stand on his two feet, albeit a bit shakily.

"You guys done yet?" Blue asked jokingly, his left eye closed shut as a long, marrow-leaking scratch went down the middle of it. And, as expected, all he received were raspy groans in reply.

Rolling his one eyelight, he summoned a Gaster Blaster and piled the two onto its head before walking back to the mansion. He would have teleported, but he didn't think his body could handle any major magic exposure right now.

Once he made it to the front doors of the castle, he opened them and was met with the sight of Cross chilling on one of the couches and Nightmare caught in the action of walking down the stairs instead of teleporting like a normal Sans (then again, he wasn't really a Sans that followed the common guidelines of being a Sans). The sound of Horror still cooking whatever he'd been cooking for the past 2 hours echoed throughout the castle, giving a slightly more home-y feeling to the place.

Upon noticing Blue's arrival with his two minions draped pathetically across the top of a Gaster Blaster, the Underswap Sans expected for the guardian to lash out at him for injuring his minions. Instead, however, he only rolled his singular eyelight and shook his head, muttering something under his breath that Blue assumed was an insult to Dust's and Killer's fighting skill.

Cross had a different reaction, though, and he called Horror over to come help with healing the two skeletons before starting to heal Dust's wounds. Horror walked out from the kitchen with a mildly confused look on his face, and upon seeing his teammates burnt and scratched with Blue proudly standing by them, his expression morphed into something akin to respect for the shorter skeleton.

Blue left them to heal up the two Sanses and made his way back to his room before promptly flopping onto his bed. Within seconds, he was out like a light.

-----

Nightmare couldn't help but be curious when he felt Blueberry's consciousness flicker out. So, he dissociated himself from the chaos currently happening in the living room and transferred himself to the dreamscape.

The familiar, void-like area welcomed him back with whispers of greeting and shadowy tendrils that curled gently around his ankles. In an older time, he probably would've enjoyed the dreamscape's affection towards him, but not now. He simply shrugged off the dreamscape's friendliness towards him and walked forward.

He could see Blue already starting to dream, and he opened a rift from the dreamscape to Blue's dream before stepping through. Instantly, the air seemed to shift into something darker, and the field Blue had been playing around in adopted a duller tone.

The Sans looked around, confused, but not once did his gaze land on Nightmare, who was huddled in the corner of the dream, watching, observing.

"What is it you truly fear?"

The dream world shifted, and soon Nightmare was transported to the familiar, white space of the Anti-Void. Why would he be here?

Then, he noticed Blue, who was leaning against a beanbag that the renowned destroyer of worlds, also known as Error, was sitting on. The God of Destruction seemed to be staring intently at a screen, watching a Spanish drama AU called Undernovella play out before him.

Blue, however, had his attention focused on the little project he had in his hands. He was knitting a scarf that looked much like the scarf Error was wearing, except it was cleaner and had a couple of constellations sprinkled in. He finished it in record time, holding it up for Error to see with a proud smile.

Nightmare shook his head. No, this was a positive dream. Maybe something about his friends would unnerve him?

The dream shifted just as Error had looked over and congratulated Blue on the creation, and Blue looked around in confusion before noticing he was back in the Council's meeting room.

No, why was he here, he couldn't be here-

In a panic, Blue sent out a flurry of bone attacks around him, dusting all the skeletons in the room. He gulped down the sob he felt rising in his throat when looking at the remains of what used to be his old friends, reminding himself that this was all a dream. Then, the world shifted again.

This time, Blue found himself in his old AU. He scoffed, wondering what kind of supernatural force would fuck around with him this much to bring him here.

Then, Stretch was before him. His face was half-melted, and as gruesome and painful as it looked, Blue couldn't be bothered to spare any remorse for him.

"Wh-why di-d you l-leave us behin-d, Berry?" Stretch croaked, and Blue snorted at him.

"I didn't leave you behind. You were the ones that turned your backs on me ." Blue's expression darkened, a deep frown tugging at his mouth. "You patronized me, acted like I was a defenseless little child- and I'm NOT! I'm SICK and TIRED of the way you treated me and continue to treat me, and HERE YOU ARE, DARING TO SAY I LEFT YOU BEHIND!?"

Blue's composure shifted into something that bore confidence and warned the other skeleton to not approach him. Then, Blue hissed, "You never knew how to be thankful for what you had, Stretch. You had friends, you had connections, EVERYONE respected you- and yet you still pretend like it's the end of the world when something doesn't go your way. I know your secrets , I know your lies, and I hope you rot in hell for your sins, brother ."

The orange-clad skeleton was silent. Then, he melted away, and the world disappeared with him.

Blue wiped away the tears that had sprouted at the edges of his eyes. He needed to stay strong through whatever hell he was experiencing. It was obvious his dream was being controlled by someone else now, and he couldn't afford to make himself look weak in front of them.

Then, he was plopped into a room with Ink and Dream, who appeared to be planning out the trap AU they were going to make for Error and-

Nope. He wasn't doing this.

He ignored the noises of confusion the two skeletons made when he made a portal back to the Anti-Void. He needed to find Error; maybe he would know what was going on?

And so he walked, and walked, and walked until the urgency in his step faded away and the desperation swirling around in his gut clouded into confusion and hopelessness.

Error...wasn't there.

He tried to summon a portal out, but all his attempts fizzled in and out of existence with barely a spark to indicate they existed. His breathing grew frantic once he realized he was trapped.

Not here, not again, no no no no-

He opened a 2D screen with a wave of his hand, swallowing the lump in his throat as he hurriedly sifted through the code of the Anti-Void and found nothing wrong with it. No lockdowns, no viruses, no nothing . If nothing was wrong, was he just weak? Or maybe Error had locked him in here on accident!

Then, he remembered: the link! He could contact Error with it! So, pulling on the connection in his mind, he opened the telepathic link between them and called out his name.

"Error!"

Silence. All that responded back was the faint buzzing of static and nothing else.

"Error? Are you there?"

A voice at the back of his head told him Error had abandoned him. Blue told the voice to shut the fuck up.

"...Error?"

Nothing.

His breathing started to quicken. Surely, surely Error wouldn't just leave him here, right? They were allies, they were chaos twins, they were-

They were friends. And friends don't leave each other behind.

However, the link remained silent, and Blue sank to the ground, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping one arm around it before using the other to clutch his skull.

This wasn't fine, he was going to be stuck here and die of code sickness because his sorry ass had probably done something to make Error upset enough to lock him in here. Maybe that was why he left their link so quickly to go "deal with something on his end". Was he being too annoying? He's pretty sure he wasn't, and maybe he's just overthinking this and is being an absolute idiot like he always is-

Nightmare watched from afar, staring at the Sans with a distant sense of horror as they slowly went under the influence of an anxiety attack. Gods, he didn't mean to go that far.

Well, what was he supposed to do now?

-----

Error jolted from his small nap as the telepathic link was snapped open, not used to being connected so quickly with Blue's mind. Something...wasn't right, though.

While he could sense that Blue was saying something, he could really only hear static from the other end. This was concerning, considering only he should be able to emit a staticky noise and not Blue.

He could, however, feel the sheer amount of panic and fear coming from the younger skeleton, which was the last straw that caused Error to storm over to Nightmare's castle and kick the doors open with so much force they slammed against the walls and put a dent in them. Cross, Horror, Dust, and Killer looked up from where they were relaxing on the couch only to see the glitchy skeleton barrel past them and up the stairs.

Error followed the magic signature that belonged to the Underswap Sans to a room on the second floor, and he tore the door off its hinges before making his way inside. He noticed that Blue seemed to be in a worse state than when he'd last seen him, covered with scratches, scorch marks, and dried marrow that appeared to be the fallout from a recent fight.

He pushed down the rage that simmered in his bones at the injuries. Neither of them needed one of his outbursts right now.

His attention was directed to how violently Blue was shaking, hugging himself as tears poured down his face. The negative aura surrounding the Sans was almost suffocating, and it was painfully clear who was causing Blue distress.

Error huffed, shaking Blue to try and wake him up. After he pulled Blue out whatever he was experiencing, Nightmare and him were going to have a nice little chat .

"Hey, Blue. Wake up." He said, shaking Blue a bit harder. "It's just a dream, snap out of it. "

Slowly, Blue's cries died down and he blearily opened his eyes, taking a moment to realize who had woken him up. When he did, though, he threw himself at Error and hugged him tight, burrowing his head into the god's chest with his eyes shut tight.

Error flinched at the sudden contact but didn't move away, and he was surprised when his haphephobia didn't act up as much as it usually would. He patted Blue's head awkwardly, unsure on what to do to comfort someone who'd just suffered from an anxiety attack.

Screw the whole "Blue was only an ally" thing; they both knew they were friends, and after this Error was pretty sure it would be set in stone. He'd confront Nightmare about this later, but for now, against everything his old instincts screamed at him to do, he allowed himself to calm down with another in his arms.

Just this once.  

End notes:

I'd decided I wanted to do some introspection on Nightmare's Gang in this chapter and it kinda got away from me-

It was originally only supposed to be around 3k-4k words, but somehow I decided that wasn't good enough for the sheer amount of ideas I was receiving. And here we are at 7,003 words lmao.

I know it's a bit of an angst fest at the end, but, y'know, *character building*.

I think after this, the time loop stories are gonna be short little stories of the shenanigans Error and Blue get up to during the time loops combined into one chapter, like the story this was inspired by. You can all start requesting ideas of the two doing stupid shit in the loops, or having some minor alteration in one loop, like if instead of souls they all had live, beating hearts instead or something (the changes could be bigger than that, this is just an example).

Idk, go crazy guys :)