Aaah new chapter, new chapter! Release the stockpile before I lose my internet! Go, go GO!

It was long, long ago that you lost your own world. So long, in fact, that you couldn't remember who you had been or what that world had even been like-

"yeesh, pal, that 's a long time."

"... Did I say you could interupt me?"

"oh, sorry. go on."

Anyway, back to what you could remember...

You could vaguely recall the feeling of floating in a dark void before it was ripped away and you were left in the bitter white of the anti-void. As alien and unwelcoming as it had seemed at the time, the darkness had been the last remnants of your reality before it completely fell apart at the seams. White static filled the edges of your vision for the longest time, travelling further and further away as the matter of your universe was devoured. That, at least, was an experience that you never truly forgot.

Just like what happened immediately afterwards.

As soon as the last of your universe had been destroyed you had the displeasure of meeting the one who had caused it all: Error.

"that's the guy, right? the one who looks like-"

"Didn't I just tell you to stay quiet?"

"look, i got questions-"

"Then maybe listen and you'll get answers to 'em! Jeez, you-! Ugh, just- only ask things if you think it's completely necessary OK?"

Ahem… You had a lot of choice words at your disposal to describe the being that called himself Error: a complete psycho, for one. He was basically an overpowered sociopath with a hatred of everything that wasn't already dead.

Error was Sans shaped-

"what the hell do you mean sans shaped-?"

"Unless it is important. You. Ssssshut. Your face. I mean what I say. You want an elaboration?"

"uh, yeah, but-"

That meant he had the appearance of a skeleton monster who was almost identical to a Sans in height and shape. The main difference was their colour scheme: where Sans had normal white bones and a blue hoodie, Error was mainly black with a scattering of red and yellow over certain parts of his body- specifically his fingers, teeth and eyes.

"i know what i look like, pal, i just wanted to know how you-"

Speaking of his eyes, Error had very noticeable blue strings hanging out of his. You assumed it was a part of his magic from the way he could manipulate them to grab people- specifically their Souls- and painfully trap, manipulate or even kill them. He never liked to actually touch other people and anyone stupid enough to touch him payed for it dearly.

Despite all of that, the scariest thing about Error was undoubtedly his ability to dissolve entire worlds into nothing. That was how you had ended up in the anti-void. It was also how everyone you had ever met afterwards had ended up there too. Error just liked to take entire realities and wipe them out of existence with no if's or but's. It seemed he did this purely out of hate and the need to destroy the things he called 'glitches' or 'anomalies'.

You had never really understood what he meant by those two things, but you guessed that from Error's point of view everything that could be considered 'alive' was a glitch. Anomalies, however, seemed to be a bit of a different story.

As far as you could tell, Anomalies had something to do with red hearts, or 'Souls' as they were known. Error collected a lot of them, hiding them away in a specific pocket of the anti-void that you had only ever seen once or twice. Each heart was wrapped up tight with dozens of his trademark blue strings. A majority of the red hearts were what you understood to be human Souls, though you could vaguely recall seeing some that weren't human, or at least some that were just very odd. Variation in shades was common but the more eye-catching Souls dripped with unknown goo, changed colours or were sometimes different shapes (you could have sworn you saw a soul shaped like a small sapling with three red leaves at one point). Still, the vast majority were undoubtedly human Souls.

"..."

You had once entertained the thought that maybe Error simply hated humans above all else; it would certainly explain why it was so hard for your kind to escape their misery while in the anti-void. It was as though even the realm that Error lived in supported his cruel tendencies. But that was just a bitter theory you had come up with before you found out otherwise.

The reason behind the collection was that each Soul existed as an individual trophy from an obliterated world. While no one would argue if you said that Error was a simple lunatic who collected the essence of his victims as proof of his 'hunts', that wouldn't be the whole story. In truth, Error's memory was complete shit.

"huh, really?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. Guy's a complete mess. Not that I think you could find a way to use that against him, but the signs are pretty obvious."

More than once you had seen him floating lost around in the vast whiteness of the anti-void, spinning circles whenever he forgot where he was going. More than once Error would start gloating about his latest genocide to whatever poor sap had been left over from the destruction, only for him to trail off mid-boast and simply leave. More than once he had attacked you, demanding to know how you had entered his realm, completely forgetting that he had brought you there himself.

Strangely enough he would always remember who you were right before he did any real damage. You were Error's prisoner in the anti-void just like every other unfortunate survivor who ended up there, to do with as he pleased until he decided otherwise. Even if you didn't understand why.

"so you've been here long enough to know his habits and behavior, but not long enough to know why people like you 'n me get trapped here with him in the first place."

"Yeah, I pretty much stopped paying attention after a while. The only reason that I can even remember that other people come through here is 'cause he goes out of his way to throw them at me every time."

"really? every time?"

"Yes. Stop laughing."

It was just one of Error's hobbies; besides the collection of Souls, he also collected living people. You honestly didn't know why he did it when he already had the Souls from the 'anomalies'. He hated being touched and never showed any interest in conversation (besides laughing at his latest victim), so he wasn't doing it for the company. The people he kept trapped in the anti-void were always the survivors from whatever universe he had recently erased, though he rarely ever kept more than two individuals alive at a time.

From the way that Error so flippantly mocked and killed the living trophies he kept imprisoned in the anti-void, you knew that his actions were based purely in cruelty. Though sometimes you did wonder if there was another reason.

"uh, ya mind if i have a little input?"

"... Fine."

"heh, well, 's just that ya said the guy's constantly mocking or murderin' people, but when i got dragged out here he didn't really say anythin' to me… it kinda seemed as though he didn't even care?"

"Yeah. It's rare, but he does that sometimes. It's like… he has better things to do? But it still doesn't make sense…"

A lot of the time it seemed as though Error couldn't be bothered with the survivors he left to wander the anti-void. It was as if he considered them to be either a burden or simple pests; like flies that had somehow made it into his house and annoyed him by repeatedly slamming their germ-covered faces into his windows. Despite the glee he displayed while taunting his victims, it was as if he truly hated leaving anyone alive, but held back on his murderous tendencies for some unknown reason. You were a pretty good example.

Like you, many a human victim had found it hard to kill themselves in the anti-void. Unlike you, however, some of those humans had hunted Error down and managed to piss him off enough that he snapped and killed them. It wasn't a painless end but it worked. Well, it worked most of the time. Some people had to make many, many attempts before they succeeded. You yourself had never managed to convince the guy to kill you, no matter how hard you tried.

"... that's horrible. i'm really sorry you-"

"Oh man, just when I was starting to believe you could say things that weren't annoying or pointless! Looks like we're gonna have to start the counter again from zero!"

"fuckin' jeez- i get it!"

The point was, if Error was really only keeping people prisoner just to torment them, why were you still alive? Even if you couldn't get Error to try and kill you, asking another survivor like yourself would only result in blue strings shredding whoever attacked you. You knew the guy hated your guts just as much as any other prisoner he kept in the anti-void. It made no sense that you would continuously be 'spared' while so many others were slaughtered without a second thought.

You still didn't know the pattern to Error's murders and you were long past the point of having the energy to continue caring. The anti-void was endless, inescapable, and seemingly ruled over by a mass-genociding basket-case with some kind of monster Alzheimer's disease.

Anyone who ended up there could only pray that they would be allowed to die, just as their universe had before them.

…

"... so that's it, huh?" Sans asked you, staring blankly into the whiteness around you as he digested your story.

"Yep, that's all of it. Unless I forgot something. But hey, you could always wander off and maybe go find something I missed."

Now that you were done monologuing you lazily flopped onto your back. When was the last time you'd been so active? You had talked so much that you could almost consider it exercise. You deserved a nap.

"there's still one thing you haven't cleared up yet."

You groaned but didn't bother to lift your head, "Yeah?"

"how'd you know my name?"

"Ha. Like I said, lucky guess." You rolled your head to the side to look up at the sitting skeleton, "Did ya hear the part where I told you about other people being trapped here before?"

"yeah?" said Sans who was looking down at you quizzically.

"Well, up until a while ago, you lived in your own universe. The same happens with everyone else: one survivor per destroyed world. It's just multiverse theory. 'Cept I guess it's not just a theory to us…" you laughed dryly to yourself, "Point is, you're not the first Sans I've met. I mean, sometimes I meet someone who has a different name or is a different species or gender or whatever- point is that Error is kind of a crazy version of a Sans, so he has some kinda bias when he picks a survivor to keep as a trophy. I think that it's like how the Souls he collects are mostly red and human. When it comes to his prisoners Error likes to focus in on people who are just you from different realities."

"what? he collects… me? from other- s-so you mean… you're...?" Sans was suddenly staring at you with wide sockets. It took you a moment thanks to your odd point of view from the imagined floor you were lying on, but you finally caught on to his train of thought...

… And immediately burst into laughter.

"No, no! Not me!" You chuckled from the floor, "I might not remember my name but I'm pretty sure it's not Sans."

Above you, Sans looked kind of offended. Obviously he'd thought that if everyone else you'd met in the anti-void was a different version of him, then logically you must be a 'Sans' too. It was an easy conclusion to come to if you didn't know better. Unfortunately for him, you did know better, and that was what made it so funny.

"you said that some of the people who come through aren't named Sans though…"

"Yeah, but I meant like Error." You clarified, still snickering, "like you'd call him Error!Sans. Some of the others I met were called things like 'Blueberry!Sans' or 'G!Sans'. Sometimes you can go even further: Edgy!G!Sans, Genocide!Sugar!Sans, and so on- But that's just to clarify what subsets they are. So you get people coming through who introduce themselves as things like Blue, Sweets, Geno- whatever. But no matter the name they're still a part of the Sans base. I'm not a Sans subset because I have a completely different base from you."

Sans was nodding even though you could see that he had no clue what any of the subsets you had listed meant. But instead of asking what the heck a 'Blueberry' or a 'Geno' was, he seemed to be analysing you instead.

"then, if you're not a, ah, 'Sans'... what are ya?"

"Something called a Reader."

"the hell's a reader?" Sans asked with a confused look.

You smirked, "No idea. But if I had a name like you it'd be set up like 'insert-subset-here'!Reader, not 'insert-subset-here'!Sans. 'Reader' is my base, so my most important traits- like my personality or whatever role I had in my universe- that would be my subset. I, uh, kinda forgot what my subset was though..."

"huh," Sans quietly hummed in slight understanding, "but my name is already sans, so what am i classified as?"

"You're what's called a 'Classic!Sans'. It's not just to do with your name though. For example, if someone ended up here and had a foul attitude and wore red, they'd be called a 'Fell!Sans' even if they introduced themselves as just 'Sans'. You meet the criteria for a Classic: you're just a basic guy with a blue jacket who exists."

"hey, i resemble that remark." Sans chuckled above you.

There was silence after that. The skeleton was obviously mulling over what you'd said, staring silently out into nothing. You, on the other hand, were feeling quite relaxed. You hadn't been able to pinpoint just what kind of 'Sans' the monster was from your first few interactions, but now you were sure he was a Classic you could finally calm down. It was very unlikely that a true Classic!Sans would attack you for no reason while you lay around.

Very early on you had learned that looks could be incredibly deceiving. Sometimes you had met a Blueberry that acted more like a Fell type, or a Classic that had the personality of a G. If you were going to be honest, Classics were generally the easiest to deal with.

Horrors, Fells, and Edgies were violent and often tried to maim you for random reasons. Blueberries, Gs and Bitties were more likely to bother you, always demanding attention and making you feel guilty until they wandered off or fell down. So yeah, Classics were just fine in your book; they were quiet and gave up faster than most. They were also the most thoughtful in the way that they usually tried to place themselves out of your line of sight when they completely gave up. It was always a bit sickening when you fell asleep with a monster in front of you and woke up with a face full of grey dus-

"maybe it's 'cause you're a reader?" Sans suddenly muttered beside you.

"What's 'cause I'm a Reader?" you mumbled back, half asleep.

"the reason that you're stuck here and that error prick won't kill ya. maybe it's 'cause you're a reader when everyone else seems to be a sans like me." he elaborated as you yawned.

"Huh, yeah. Maybe you're right. That sucks."

"you don't care? i thought-"

"Nah, I'm past caring," you sighed, "knowing won't make a difference at this point. It doesn't help me escape or anything. I mean, where would I go anyway? Everyone I probably knew is dead and I have no idea who I am. At this point I'm just kinda waiting for my turn…"

You stared blankly with half-lidded eyes into the vastness above you. Much like you couldn't tell how long you'd existed within the anti-void, it was impossible to tell how long you would have to wait until you were finally erased from it. You knew that it would have to be eventually, and if not you would just have to lose your mind so you didn't have to deal with eternity. If you'd been a monster you were sure you would have crumbled to dust long ago.

Everything was just so… hopeless.

Beside you Sans' clothes rustled as he stood. Finally. It seemed that it was time for him to leave you be now. With him gone you might even be able to fall asleep again.

It was… kind of a melancholy feeling. Past experience had taught you that even if you befriended a Sans it wouldn't really matter in the long run. Anyone who ended up in the anti-void had nowhere to go and nothing to do until they were inevitably killed or worse. You had a vague memory of heartbreak when such things had happened in the past.

As interesting as he'd been, this Classic Sans was just another blip in the vast whiteness. In time you would forget about him and your guilt for being so rude would fade away until the next time Error suddenly left you with another survivor.

You let out a sleepy sigh right before a boney finger jammed itself into your ribs.

"Augh, what the hell?" You hissed, reflexively curling in on yourself to protect your fleshy body. You looked at the skeleton standing above you and flinched back slightly as he casually held his left hand out to your face.

"heh, sorry 'bout that," he winked, "can't have ya fallin' asleep when we've got places to be."

…

"... What?"