In an unconscious mirroring of his mate, Reaper had to force himself to turn away from Goth, Red, and Edge as he headed through the portal back to Reapertale. He wished he didn't have to do this (it made his soul ache), but with someone around destroying universes, he would be busy for a long, long time. Goth's happiness came first, and his son hated to be left alone. Grim was handling the regular stream of death, so Reaper had to handle this. Thus, Goth needed to stay with his relatives, and Fresh was… not an option.

Reaper had only just closed the portal to Underfell when he felt another universe dying. He sighed, grabbed his scythe, and opened a portal to the dying world. When he got there he felt a pang of pain. This world… it was an abandoned world, yes, like so many of the others had been. But abandoned didn't mean without significance, and this one had that.

It was IceScreamTale, a Horrortale variant of IceCreamTale. The inhabitants had killed each other off for food a long time before their human savior could fall. Why wouldn't they? They'd been made of ice cream. Their bodies hadn't melted, either, in this Underground under the Antarctic. That was morbid, but good for Geno. He'd had an insatiable desire for ice cream when he was pregnant with Goth. Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that Goth was so sweet if that had been Geno's major craving. Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that he was Reaper's son given that he inspired such a morbid fulfilment.

Reaper was so absorbed in looking around and basking in the memories of that time that he forgot why he was there… that is, until he bumped into someone he'd been dying to meet. Literally; he'd physically walked into the back of them, and they were probably going to die now that Death had touched them.

He was absolutely flabbergasted, therefore, when the other turned around and glared at him. The other skeleton opened his mouth to say something… then stared, shocked, at Reaper. He looked just as stunned as the god was.

The other was a black boned creature with multiple wounds that hadn't been tended in a long time. He was bleeding red blood from several contusions and one major crack. His right eye socket was swelled shut with what Reaper recognized as a "black" eye. But beyond that, he looked like he was in so much pain it was crippling. Reaper ached to help him, but-

Wait. Black bones, red eye socket, yellow phalanges, glitchy bars? This had to be the skeleton that Red and Edge had run into a few days ago. What was he doing here? This was a dead world! Not only that, but it was actively dying!

"hey, sans, isn't it? this world isn't really safe for you… heh, not that it looks like you've had a good time there lately, huh? how about this: why don't you come with me to somewhere safe…er? this world's empty and about to die, anyway. you could say i've got a good sense of dead reckoning. no point in staying here, huh?" Reaper said.

The black skeleton laughed, his voice skipping and glitching as much as his body did. "Shouldn't one bringer of ends recognize another? Even if it's only with hate? I'm the one destroying this universe. Now, fuck off."

That was all the warning Reaper got before he found himself being shoved through someone else's portal and into the deep forest of Red and Edge's world. He sat, stunned for an entirely new reason, in the snow for a while. Minutes? Hours? He had no idea. He was too busy raging at the audacity that this strange, immortal skeleton (and damn it if he didn't want to know their name) had thrown him through their portal without his consent. They had better be new to the Multiverse, because if they weren't they had just about picked the most insulting thing to do to a God that they could. The only being he let get away with that was Geno. The rest knew better than to try.

That was when he felt it. The ripple of death… no, destruction that he had become all too familiar with of late ripped through the fabric of the Multiverse. IceScreamTale was no more. Reaper scowled… then, strangely, felt good. It was as though that death of a universe, that destruction, was good for things. He needed to find out why. He needed to do some research, but first, he needed to reap the universe's soul.

The minute that Error finished destroying the code of IceScreamTale, he dove through a portal back into the Anti-Void and collapsed on the floor, panting. His mind was screaming at him, full of the voices and their confusion. They didn't get why he'd been so mean to Reaper.

His soul was screaming at him, too. It was screaming, and he couldn't understand it. Then the first thoughts were translated into his head. He wish they hadn't done so.

he doesn't recognize me. HE DOESN'T RECOGNIZE ME!

OF COURSE HE DOESN'T. DID YOU THINK I WOULDN'T DO MY JOB WELL?

He winced and responded with what was his standard response now: absolute subservience. "No, Fate."

GOOD.

Then the next thought trickled into his mind. He knew it was his because it sounded like him. Not him, now, but him a long, long time ago, before he'd ever met Reaper or lost his Papyrus.

he must still think geno is still alive.

That thought hurt, and yet… it wasn't as though it wasn't true, was it? He was still Geno, he just had a new na- Crap, he hadn't told Reaper his new name. Did he need to tell him his new name? He wanted him to know it. He wanted him-

i can't steal him from myself, especially not when i'm like this.

That one wasn't entirely him, there was definitely some of Fate in there. They didn't seem to want him to like himself much. He didn't, but he was going to fight to keep what little self respect he had, thank you very much. He might not be Geno anymore (yes he was!) but he could still like who he wanted to.

i should let reaper and goth go and move on.

That one hurt more than all the others, but maybe it was only a matter of time before he thought it. Reaper wouldn't ever want him back like this.

Slowly, with shaking hands, he pulled the photo he cherished out of his pocket. He'd handled it so much. He was constantly pulling it out to look at it, and now his mismatched eye lights had worn it thin. He could barely make out the faces anymore. He needed to move on from this. He closed his only working eye socket and tore its code apart. He felt it disintegrate in his phalanges. They closed on the emptiness of the Anti-Void. His socket snapped open-

E.

GOOD. I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU WOULD STOP WASTING YOUR TIME ON THAT. NOW, INK IS CREATING SOMETHING BIG AND NEW, SO YOU HAD BETTER GET OUT THERE AND DESTROY A UNIVERSE WITH PEOPLE IN IT THIS TIME.

"Yes, Fate," Error's glitched voice filled the space. Then, still shaking, he opened a portal to somewhere he thought would be safe and stepped through.