Based off of the Errortale AU comic by loverofpiggies on Tumblr. This takes place specifically after the Underswap story (should probably read that first). All comics can be seen at askerrorsans . tumblr . com. (no spaces)

Re-posted from AO3.

It's the quiet that gets to him.

Sans figured he must have passed out from before, for once he opened his eyes, he found himself no longer in the Judgement Hall, but in a sea of white, one that stretched all around him in all directions. The sensation of floating on nothingness had become a constant thing, though he couldn't really get used to it at all. That, and, whenever he tried to move, his chest would tighten, his breathing would increase, and a choked sound would come out of his throat like a muffled cry for help.

The first time had nearly made him pass out again from the shock. He supposed the blue strings holding his very soul hostage should have given away his circumstances. Reeling from a suffocating pressure, he called out for Papyrus-

"heya, pal."

In that daze, hovering over a wave of nausea, he saw his other self. Bones steeped in shadow, eye sockets engulfed in red, and a wide, ecstatic smile on his face. Weird, blocky messages of 'errorerrorerrorerror' flickered around him like a traveling cloud of flies.

"in the middle of telling a story to some folks. so, you know, maybe keep it down for me?" He winked, looking very, very excited about it. Tear-like streaks cascaded down his cheek bones. "wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. seriously, no one's gonna expect it."

It took Sans a great amount of effort to stay conscious. Just because he was in an ungodly amount… not exactly pain, but an immense pressure that threatened to squeeze him flat, didn't mean he should be rude. And just because he may or may not have been very much terrified of this glitchy skeleton with his face, who had given his brother some trouble in their fight, didn't mean he shouldn't try to be friends with him still. He was the great, and very well-loved Sans! He could do anything!

"i'm, heh, very sorry about that!" Gloved hands tried to curl into his chest, but the miniscule movement shot daggers through him. Invisible restraints kept them locked, along with the rest of his body. He saw the strings around his soul grow taut, their extensions tied to the fingers of his error self. One bony phalange creaked back, and his spine felt close to fracturing.

He was able to keep smiling, still. "s-so, there are other people here, huh? sounds great! i-" He wheezed slightly. His soul palpitated, nearly cutting itself on the strings. "i love new friends! could… could i meet them, maybe?"

"sure thing, buddy." The other Sans was smiling, too. Fingers curled slightly, with very little thought, bringing new shots of searing fire. "but not right now. there's a nuance to this stuff, you know. gotta wait for the right time to reveal ya, or it won't be any fun. you understand, right?"

"y-yeah, of course!" Teeth grinded, keeping in what would have been a keening whimper. He had a feeling doing that would have been a bad move. "just, um, maybe, could you lighten up on the strings? since i'm here with you now, it's not like i can leave. wouldn't want to have you, uh, all tied up!"

The error version of him started to laugh, keeping his grin rigid, slapping his bare bone knee. Afterimages of his body trailed his movements, and weird, jerky motions would sometimes occur, like an incorrectly loaded GIF image. It was even more unsettling here in this white void then back home.

"heh, not bad! ya know i'd hate to be stringing you along like this, but you see-"

He pulled back his arm, fist clenching, the strings tightening to unbelievable stress. Sans felt his vision grow dark, thought for a horrifying moment that the shards of his now broken soul lodged themselves into his legs.

"i just can't be making promises like that."

When Sans woke up again, all he could hear was the silence. All consuming, wriggling inside his non-existent ears. His soul was still whole, mummy-wrapped in blue tendrils. But he didn't dare say anything aloud.

"ta-da!" A quick, soul-rending tug, and Sans was pulled from one part of the empty void into the next. Only the other Sans was there, his face a picture of giddiness. "puppet (and friend) #11, blueberry sans! we're ready for your questions now!"

That wasn't even the weirdest part of this whole thing. Yes, the fact that his error-version seemed to be talking to his imaginary friends was a bit worrying, but imaginary friends were still friends, weren't they? And Sans always loved making new friends! He was not at all prejudiced against those that were figments of a broken mind. Of course, he didn't have these little voices inside his head, so his error-self had to translate for him. All-in-all, it was awkward, nerve-wracking, and certainly did make him feel very much judged despite Error-Sans' assurances, what with the strings still gripping his soul tight.

"hey, uh, if you're real," he called to the air, because wherever this whole nothingness was, perhaps there was some chance that something tangible was actually out there, one who could hear him and maybe… "can you please tell paps i'm okay?"

"BOO. don't be LAME." Error-Sans waved away at things that only he could see, things that were apparently floating around his head. "im bored. done with questions."

"o-okay!" Sans gave a cheery wave, having enough freedom to at least do that much. "see ya later, new friends!"

"hey, they already left." Error-Sans shrugged. "heh, weirdo."

"oh." He awkwardly lowered his arm, then took another look-around at this place. "so, do you have those guys over a lot?"

"yeah. s'kinda nice. they're a lot less annoying then the other voices. and less screamy."

Okay, he was just going to steer right past that. "uh, good!" Another shivering glance at the white space. "and this is where you come from?"

"ha, that's silly. i didn't come from here. this is just where i ended up. for years. decades maybe. hard to tell."

That explained a lot. But Sans instantly banished that thought. That had been very mean to think! "i like it! it's very clean! and such wide, open spaces! mwe heh heh!" The laugh had been a little forced, but he had been truthful about the cleanliness. He appreciated that.

Error-Sans looked at him with an unsure grin, but still a grin. "heh, cute. actually, i can maybe introduce you to some of my other friends? not the other guys. these ones you should be able to see and hear."

The fact that perhaps he was going to see another living creature made Sans very happy. The fact that said creatures might be like the error-filled nightmare before him also made Sans very scared. He focused on the happy part. "i'd love to meet them!"

"alright." With his other hand, blue strings shot out from his fingertips, reaching into the emptiness. Immediately, two tiny doll-like puppets came dashing back, their round heads disquietingly familiar. "meet your new friends! sans classic and sans abomination #13!" He held up both Sans dolls, one donning a blue jacket hoodie, and the other in black, but with a more obvious fur-trim lining and with wicked sharp teeth in his grin. One of those teeth was painted gold, for some reason.

Error-Sans held up his hand overhead, fingers curved like sharp talons, moving independently from one another. The strings attached made both puppets bounce and move, waving their little stubby arms in greeting. "sup?" came a low voice from the blue and, "heya, punk" from the black. Both voices were undeniably the same, glitching mess of Error-Sans'.

Sans exercised the greatest of willpower to not let his bones shiver. Any minute vibrations from him would be so easily felt through those strings on him. "uh, hiya!" He waved back, albeit feebly. "so, you're other Sans-es, huh? that's-that's super neat!"

Error-Sans moved closer, bringing his 'friends' with him. "and this is blueberry sans #11! now we're all friends!" In the gravel, static-like noise that was his voice, Error-Sans sounded very pleased. He whispered out a sincere, "yaaaay," making the stringed puppets bob in equal motion.

Sans could be very eccentric, as his brother would fondly mention, as the others would as well (all dead now), and how his upbeatness might have been enough to power the entire Core itself. He had always been optimistic in everything he did; from making the best of friends, to making the best of tacos, and to training the best of ways to finally join the Royal Guard. He couldn't really do the last two anymore, but the first was something he was holding onto.

Though, looking at his kidnapper, at said kidnapper's toy friends, and remembering his comments about voices and screams, it was getting very difficult to stay optimistic. That, and the endless space of pure, lonely nothingness…

"heh heh," Sans laughed, his voice a bit tremulous. "yeah! it's… it's good to have friends, huh?" He hazarded a gentle poke at Classic Sans. The, er, abomination one looked like it would bite his finger off, besides the fact that it was just made of cotton. "how'd you all meet?"

"oh, that's simple." Error-Sans grinned wider, eye sockets still their lurid red. "the same way i met you!"

Um.

Oh.

Sans looked at the puppets and wondered at their respective universes, their own friends, and…their own brothers.

"i'm glad i have someone new to talk with now. these guys were getting a bit predictable after a while. boring, really." He looked at Sans straight on. "it's nice to hang out with someone much different. ya know, to keep things interesting."

And he really would need to keep things interesting, wouldn't he? Or he would end up-

"yeah! i'm the most interesting guy around! as your newest friend, i'll make sure you'll never be bored again! mwe heh heh!"

Error-Sans smiled, laughing along. Sans hoped that was a good sign.

It was a little difficult to tell when the days passed. The place was literal nothingness, and when Sans had asked one time if there was some kind of clock hanging around, his error self said it didn't matter. Time was practically useless in here. A lot of it was filled with silent questions from the empty void, or playing cat's cradle. Error-Sans was quite good at it, (as expected) and tried showing his new friend how. It was actually kinda fun, even though he was weirded out that those same strings he played the game with would make his soul shudder every once in a while.

Sometimes, Error-Sans would leave. He'd wrap up Sans (or Blueberry Sans, as he was now called) in his strange, blue strings that sometimes pulsed with their light. It was kinda like a snug blanket, a blanket that kept his limbs mostly locked and hovering in endless white. Though Error-Sans was kind enough to let him move his hand just enough to scratch at an inconvenient itch, but that was pretty much it. The quiet seeped its way inside him. The puppets would hang along with him, but they weren't much for conversation.

After a few of those frequent comings and goings, Sans called out to him. "uh, actually, do you have any food… anywhere? i'm getting hungry."

More like dying from starvation, but it brought across the same message.

"ohhh, whoops! i totally spaced out on that." He swiped his hand behind him, square tiles sprouting off the white to form color and substance, a window to a world that Sans had never seen before. Error-Sans stepped through, leaving him back to that suffering silence. But, maybe, since time was meaningless, he felt none at all pass when Error-Sans came back. In his arms was a large, plastic bowl full of popcorn.

"hope you like it stale! because that's what it is!" He shoved it at Sans' chest, letting the strings go slack.

"uh, thanks! and i don't mind at all." Seriously, he was just happy he could have some food. He accepted the bowl. "where'd you get this?"

"just from another dirty glitch universe."Error-Sans grinned widely, the strange beat of his voice skipping like a corrupted audio file. "better make that last though. there won't be anymore left after this one."

Sans knew it was a bad choice to ask but, "how come?"

"guy who usually makes it is, uh, not in working order." He said that way too happily. "you know how it is."

Sans flicked a glance to that edgy-looking puppet, eyes sharp, its grimace very wide. It lay on the floor, discarded and useless.

He focused quite adamantly on his chewing technique.

They were answering questions again. This seemed to happen randomly. No set schedule or anything. Sans wasn't even sure when was the last time he fully slept. Hard to do so when you're constantly hung up.

And the questions seemed to be going well, for the most part. There had been a weird little issue with Error-Sans just slamming a pair of glasses onto his face, cheeks all puffed out like a jealous baby. Then after a moment, he smiled and said, "i still pull off the look better." Yeah, Sans always let stuff like that slide anyway. No reason to start now with a maniacal-version of you that could literally rip your soul to shreds! Yeah, good life choices.

And then Error-Sans asked, or rather the voices asked, "Do you hate Error-Sans for what he did?" And Sans was understandably upset, understandably worried, and missed his brother to the point where he felt close to weeping some days. But no, "I will never hate anyone." It was what he had left of himself, and he could not, would not, change it.

And then, "Can Error-Sans be a good person if they tried?"

Why, of course. "every soul has the potential for terrible evils… and incredible good. just sometimes, we don't always know the way." Even Papyrus had doubted such a thing, though he would never say that to Sans. But again, it was all he had now to hold onto.

Error-Sans, voice long faded from his question, started to distort, to blur, to glitch out.

"whoa!" Sans held up his hands, watching those jerky movements, hearing the sound of a thousand computers fizzing from overheating. And just as suddenly as it came, it stopped. Error-Sans' eyes were blank.

Then, "ahahaha! you aren't a threat at all!" Release, pure and whole. His soul pulsed in freedom, his breath moving evenly, without hindrance, without stress. "no need to tie you up." The blue tendrils retreated, dangled loosely from his fingertips.

It was the first good news to happen since his imprisonment here. He took the chance, and smiled widely. It wasn't forced. He could feel the stars themselves light up in his eyes. "mwe heh heh! the lovable sans thanks ya!"

He would be Error-Sans' friend for sure.

Again, not much to do in the bright, empty void besides answering questions and playing games. (One time, they had tried shadow puppets, but lights and shadows didn't actually exist here, so that had been a failure.) And then Error-Sans had an idea.

"let's tell stories. like we're on a camping trip. without the stars, or the campfire, or everything else." He plopped back on the floor, legs outstretched, hands planted next to his sides. "that's what i've been doing when you first got here. with my other friends. they really, really liked the underswap one. told ya no one would've guessed that ending!"

The pain at the remembered look of despair in his brother's eyes, the fear he felt as he was sucked away from all he knew, gnawed deep at his bones. But, he smiled! Sometimes, you just had to see the best in things! "i'm sure they did. i mean, i didn't expect it either!"

"i know!" Error-Sans sighed contently. "well, tell me one. and maybe i'll share one just with you instead of the voices."

"um…" Usually one for detailing his best exploits, he found himself very quiet. all his stories were of a home that just barely existed now. still, maybe he could… "there was this one time i was training with alphys. she has this huge ax. like, really huge! she'd start swinging it around like a boomerang, and cut clean through half her house! mwe heh… almost sliced my skull clean through one time. paps was a little angry about that."

Error-Sans leaned forward, arms wrapped around his knees, red eye sockets all aglow. "that's neat. tell me more, though. about alphys. i didn't get to see much of her, ya know, cause of my job and i was on a tight schedule."

Sans ignored that last part. He ignored a lot of things, and regaled his Error-self fabulous tales of Waterfall, of Hotland, of Snowdin, before it was all brought to ruin. Yet each time, he couldn't stop going back to his brother.

"i do hope papyrus is alright," he said, one hand unconsciously tugging at the blue bandanna tied around his neck. "you think one of your… one of those voices told him i was okay?"

Error-Sans didn't answer. He didn't say anything for a while.

Then he got up, opened a portal, and left.

It was a while before he came back.

Sans had been left with some food; some hot dogs, hot cats, and plain water sausages that hadn't been picked from their stems yet. The presence of actual sound, the scent of otherworldly air, brought him to his feet.

Error-Sans zipped up the portal before anything else could be seen. "heya. waiting up for me?"

Sans clenched his fists, puffed out his cheeks as he did whenever Papyrus did something so lazy or indifferently. "you had me worried so much! you could've left me a message. i thought, um-" that I was going to be stuck here, all by myself. He had even gone so far as to make the two Sans puppets talk with one another, kinda. Yeah, he was not mentioning that to anyone ever.

Error-Sans shrugged. "hey, don't fret. just needed a long walk." A charred slipper scuffed against what might have been the floor. "just wanted to look at the stars."

Before Sans could open his mouth, Error offered, "maybe I can show ya?"

Error-Sans called this universe, 'Outertale,' as he called Sans' universe, 'Underswap.' There were a multitude of others apparently. There was 'Underfell,' from which he gathered was a not-so-nice place, and some strange sounding one called 'Undernovela.' Apparently, things got very dramatic there, and Error-Sans liked to watch the events unfold, thinking it too entertaining to just eradicate – at least just yet.

But this universe, 'Outertale', was certainly something else. It was not a place underground, but out there in the stars! And so many of them, a paintbrush of twinkling lights that colored the dark sky a melting blue, and a tinted purple. Error-Sans admitted he liked to just sit here on the dusty ground, sift through the moon rocks, and star-gaze for hours.

Sans did the same. He had been staring at the panorama of far-away galaxies for over an hour before he realized his jaw was still open. Snapping it shut, he turned to Error. "so, how come you decided to bring me here?"

"seemed like a, uh, friendly thing to do." He leaned back, arms linking behind his skull. His voice didn't skip or freak out so much right now. "i'm just that nice of a guy."

The words came out of Sans before he meant them to. "heh, you kinda remind me of my brother."

Silence fell, not unlike the silence of the void, and then, "yeah… you, too."

Sans' universe was apparently quite an exception. Most other Sans-es were his very opposite. Laid-back, chill, with a penchant for never putting effort into anything, while other Papyrus-es were the up-beat, optimistic one. How strange! Though, other Sans-es still shared one thing with him though. They all liked terrible puns.

"yeah, underfell dude was never very happy with me." Error-Sans giggled slightly, juggling the puppet in his hands. "guess you could say i, uh, pulled at his heartstrings too often."

Though Error-Sans' humor was a bit more morbid than most.

"hey, why don't you tell me something else?" This was the tricky part, but if Error-Sans taking him out to the stars that one time was any indication… "what about your universe? what was it like?"

Error-Sans' eyes flickered. "heh, that abomination?"

To say that of his own home? "w-well, even so, you must have had some awesome times there! like with alphys or undyne, who are apparently quite different from mine! and papyrus-"

"i really don't wanna talk about him." He tossed the abomination sans #13 to the side. "the voices tried asking me that, too. you'll get the same answer, bud." He shook his head, sealing the deal.

But, "are you sure? i mean, i would just like to know… about something else then?"

"alright, fine. one thing." Error grinned. "make it count."

"why did you do…what you did?" Sans gulped. "to all that you cared about?"

Dead silence again. In that silence was a keen ringing, far-off, distance, but steadily growing louder. Sans pushed forward with, "you really must have been hurting… to do that, right?" The ringing bore right through his bones. "it might help… to talk about it, you know?"

From the white void came the screams.

They rang inside his skull, piercing and devastating, and all in his own voice, but lower, and skipping unnaturally. He stared wide-eyed, and knew who it truly belonged to. Error-Sans put a hand to his face, the flies of 'errorerrorerror' flickering all around his body like ghosts. Eyes went blank, filled with that same error-message, the static and the screams mixing into one, horrible entity. It slid around them, suffocated them both like a hungry snake.

Sans didn't dare touch him, but he held out his hands, waiting for the panic episode to go. Error fell to his knees, shuddering, his glitching voice constantly interrupting himself. After much too long, he finally calmed down.

Still standing, Sans waited, uncertain, and frightened for his life. Error raised his head, back to smiling.

"heya." He held out one hand, the blue strings dangling like several fishing lines. "did you know you could learn to do this too?"

No, he hadn't known. Blue attacks only came up in the form of bones, and Sans knew how to adjust the soul to render it groundless, infusing it with gravity, and to manipulate it to the attacker's will. Not that Sans would ever do so. No one ever needed to get hurt like that.

It took a while, but Sans learned how to manipulate the strings too, extending them from his own soul with his magic. It was a little uncomfortable, but he got the hang of it to make the strings long enough to enact a lone game of cat's cradle.

"mwe heh heh! this is really amazing! and you just found this out by yourself?"

"yeah. had an infinite amount of time left to me, so ya know, why not experiment?" Error used his own strings to lift up Classic Sans from its resting pose, and have it dance around. "heh, this has actually gotten fun again."

After a bit more magic manipulation, Sans dared to ask something else. "so, now that we're friends. do ya think maybe we could go back to my home? just for a little bit! i'd like to let papyrus know i'm okay, and show him this new trick!"

"don't ya remember? i said to have him come find me. if i bring him to you, that's no fun at all!" He waved a finger in reprimand. "gotta keep with the competition."

"oh, y-yeah, sure." Sans relented, but still, "we're friends though, right?"

Error looked at his other self thoughtfully. "yeah, we're friends. and friends never leave each other's sides. what kind of friend would they be?"

Sans felt like he was going to cry, but he didn't. He wouldn't. "yeah, I won't ever leave ya!" He was still Error's friend, despite it all. Despite those discarded dolls, lifeless remains of 'unworthy' universes.

He- he had time, still. He did.

The next thing he asked him was so miniscule, and probably really invasive, but he had to know. It worried him too much. "sans, how come you… always seem to be crying? is there anything more i can do to help?"

"crying?" Error looked quite puzzled, until one hand ran across those blue lines that streaked from his eyes. "ohhh, those! oh, don't worry. they ain't tears!"

He pulled at those lines, lifting them from his face, pulling them taut from his eye sockets like thin, never-ending spaghetti noodles. "just my magic. leaks out sometimes. hard to keep myself together." He winked slyly. "don't you worry about me, though."

At least, he was warning him. And that's what friends were for, weren't they?