Chapter Three: Ambitions

Blueberry wasn't sure how long he had been out for. His head ached, he could barely lift his arms and his vision was blurry. He felt that he was on the soft cushion of...a BARE mattress?! As he struggled to move his legs, Blueberry felt a soft quilted blanket had been put over him. It looked a little dusty, like it were were taken out of a closet that nobody ever used.

As his head throbbed with a creeping headache, Blueberry tried to peice together what had happened to land himself here. It was all such a haze. However, he could remember that Sans had taken him to a tavern full of dogs he didnt recognize. He remembered sitting on a whoopie cushion...picking up some ketchup...

Suddenly, it all came flowing back. How he yelled, the burger spewn across the bar, that look of hurt in Sans's eyelights... He had to apologize right now! He couldn't leave Sans upset in him!

Blueberry jolted up, feeling his skull pound followed by a light-headed feeling. He shook his head a few times to clear it. Luckily, his vision finally came into focus to see his surroundings.

The bed he was in was parked by a window, the snowy trees of Snowdin seen in the background. The outside was about the only thing that even remotely looked tidy in this place! Socks were spewn in a large pile in the corner opposite him, a running treadmill sat sloppily in the middle of the room, a lamp meant for the floor was sitting atop the messy dresser, and was that a tornado of trash in the corner?! How could anyone live like this?!

Well, anyone except his brother that is...

Blueberry glanced at the clock on the nightstand beside him. 4:15PM. A note is also sitting there, written in almost illegile handwriting:

my bro made me go back to my patrol. stay here for now.

He didn't even capitalize his letters. Just like Blueberry's brother...

Regardless, Blueberry wasn't about to let this messy room just go on. If Sans wanted him to stay here, he would. But he will stay in a CLEAN room! Just looking at the socks spewn carelessly in a corner made Blueberry want to swoop them up and run a washer. However, after checking that he was indeed locked in this room and there was no key to be found in this mess, Blueberry settled for gathering the socks up and putting them in the hamper that was parked by the closet. It was overflowing with dirty shirts, pants and especially socks. Good god how many pairs of unwashed socks did Sans own?!

Blueberry wondered if Sans even kept a single article of clean clothing in the dresser drawers. Seeing one of them half opened though, he reasoned not because what he could see inside were two trumbones and a pile of letters for Santa in a corner.

Sans knew Santa?! Blueberry made a note to ask Sans to tell Santa about his own Christmas wishes when he gets back. AFTER the apology, of course.

A bit excited now to talk about his Christmas wishes, Blueberry began to hum his own battle tune as he continued to tidy up the monstrosity that was Sans the Skeleton's bedroom.

"You can pester me all you want, Error." Ink sassed for the umpteenth time. "I'm not telling you what I did. Why should I? We both know that the moment I say a word about Blueberry's whereabouts you'll go there and kill him. You never give mercy to my children."

It was truly something else that Ink could still muster up the strength to sass. Why, with being tied up by every part of his body and hanging from the ceiling in Error's Anti-Void, any other monster would likely not have the courage to speak let alone sass at Error. But Error kept a patient, almost amused face. He knew he had the upper hand.

*YoU dO kNoW mE qUiTe WeLl InK. To Be ExPeCtEd fRoM mY lItTlE bRoThEr...

"Don't call me your brother. We might have been created by the same person but after all of the lives you took, the lives of my children, I would NEVER call you brother again." Ink glared.

*ThE fAuLt iS yOuR oWn, BrOtHeR. YoU wErE wHo StArTeD tHiS - yOu WeRe WhO pIcKeD uP yOuR pAiNtBrUsH aS sOoN aS yOu ReAlIzEd It HaD pOwEr. YoUr FiRsT cReAtIoN eNdEd Up A gLiTcH. Or HaVe YoU aLrEaDy FoRgOtTeN aBoUt GeNo? ThE cHiLd YoU kIlLeD yOuRsElF?! ThE rEaSoN yOuR LV wEnT uP tO tWo?!

"Geno was a FAILURE! A MISTAKE!" Ink shouted, his rage rising. Hints of hurt were in his voice, it cracking with tears. "He went mad! I didn't have a choice on what happened to him! I was young then! I didn't know that it was bad to go creating things when I wasn't in the Doodleverse!"

*He WaS mY fRiEnD - tHe OnLy oNe WhO eVeR vIsItEd Me HeRe! ThE oNlY oNe WhO cArEd! HeCk, ThE oNlY oNe WhO kNeW I sTiLl ExIsTeD bAcK tHeN! BuT yOu DiDn'T tHiNk aBoUt ThAt, DiD yOu? He WaS a GlItCh To YoU, sO hE hAd tO gO! WhO cArEs AbOuT tHe FrIeNdS hE hAd, RiGht?! WhO cArEs AbOuT tHoSe ThAt WoUlD bE bRoKeN wHeN tHeY fOuNd HiM dUsTeD oN tHe FlOoR cOvErEd In RaInBoW pAiNt?!

"I didn't know a single thing about the Anti-void then, or that he was going there!" Ink yelled. "I didn't want him to hurt anyone! I didn't want him to go off escaping and hurting our other brothers! I did it to protect them - to protect everyone who was in that lab - from his rage!"

*YeT iN tHe EnD, aLl YoUr MeDdLiNg DiD wAs HuRt. YoU kIlLeD a MoNsTeR. OuR bRoThErS sUfFeReD tHaT aCcIdEnT. ThEy LoSt ThEiR fAtHeR dUe tO yOu. BeCaMe LoSt OrPhAnS wHo NeArLy DuStEd On ThE sTrEeTs! ThE oLdEr oNe iS sTiLl tRaUmAtIzEd bY iT! AnDd iT's YoUr FaUlT!

"It's not! It's NOT!" Ink yelled now, yanking at the cables. His right eye sparked red for a moment. "I didn't know...! I didnt plan on everything else-"

*To ToP iT aLl OfF, yOu IgNoReD mY wArNiNgS tHaT cOnTiNuInG tO cReAtE bEiNgS tHaT dO nOt BeLoNg wOuLd CoRrUpT tHe TrUe TiMeLiNe AnD yOu CrEaTeD aLl ThEsE aRtIfIcIaL wOrLdS! CoUnTlEsS aRtIfIcIaL sOuLs... GlItChEs... EvErY tImE iNsPiRaTiOn StRuCk YoU, aNoThEr AU aPpEaReD. EvEn WhEn YoUr IdEa WaS hAlF dOnE, yOu StIlL mAdE aN AU! LeFt wHaT wAs UnDoNe FoR tHe InHaBiTaNtS tO fIgUrE oUt. MeAnWhIlE tHe TiMeLiNeS cOnTiNuEd To CoRrupT dUe To YoUr AUs. SoOn pEoPlE iN tHe OriGiNaL woRlD cOuLd RESET. SoOn FoLkS I dIdN't KnOw WeRe ApPeArInG iN tHe AnTi-VoId. SoOn RESET aFtEr RESET wAs GoInG oFf iN yOuR AUs. I cOuLdN't KéE0 tRáÇk õF êM áLl! AnD aLl BeCaUsE oF yOu aNd YoUr InSpIRaTiOn! I hAtE yOu, InK! I wIlL mAkE yOu sUfFeR fOr ThE cHaOs YoU hAvE cAuSeD! I wIlL DESTROY aLl AUS, tHeN DÉẞTRØY yØú...ThÉñ...THÉÑ...!

Error's voice buzzed out, his eyes showing many ERROR messages as Ink broke down crying in rainbow tears at his accusations. All of this mess being his fault...over his abilities, his constant inspiration... Even the RESET ability was his fault. He only wanted to create new stories, allow others to live different but happy lives...

It was just a glitchfest in the end...

The ERROR messages clouding Error's eyes faded out at that moment, leaving him shaking and confused a moment before he shook his head, turning his back to Ink.

*I'm LeAvInG. GoT yOuR gLiTcHeS tO cLeAn Up. If YoU'rE dEcEnT, mAyBe I'lL bE nIcEr ThAn YoU aNd GeT yOu a FrIeNd.

Error threw his hand up dismissively as he walked away, opening a portal and going through. Ink was soon left alone to drown in his sorrows and worries.

The RESET ability. Ink thought it was some magic ability determined creatures had. How wrong he was. The ability was a glitch in and of itself. A glitch created by his own endless desire to create, to leave things half-done for others to finish. His refusal to not create when a new idea struck him...

That was all in the past. Recently, Ink has been doing his best to not create many more AUs. Just seeing his cams in the Doodleverse alone was enough to show that he has created way too many. Too many stories were unfolding at once. Too many disasters. Too many RESETS. Just seeing the cams for a second would be enough to make any normal monster's brain want to explode out of their skull. Heck, if Ink was feeling tired enough, he would sometimes get a headache himself from viewing his cams. Yet he would not delete a single AU. Deleting an AU would mean either killing or leaving countless children with nowhere to live. Ink would not accept that.

Yet Ink could not resist inspiration's call either. He remembered reading in an old journal that he was created with the purpose of creating new things and an odd magic known as INSPIRATION. He was sort of a test run of a new concept. If Ink recalled correctly, INSPIRATION was meant to be similar to human DETERMINATION, except INSPIRATION was safe for monsters and humans. However, neither he nor his creator was able to learn much else about INSPIRATION, for the tragic CORE accident had occurred shortly after Ink's creation. Ink had created his first lifeform with his paintbrush - the failure of a lifeform it had been - and the rest was history. Only sheer luck let him discover the Doodleverse, the one place where he could use INSPIRATION to create people and universes that were stable. Why was it that he could only use his INSPIRATION in the Doodleverse? It was a mystery...

Ink sighed, letting his weary eyes close. The cables stung with how tightly they were wrapped around his bones. Error wanted to make sure there was no means for him to escape and so far he had done more than enough. Ink barely had the magic to keep breathing, let alone escape. Now, with fresh reminders of the tragedies of Geno and the CORE and the glitches using his INSPIRATION has caused, Ink could not muster the strength to even tug at the cables anymore let alone break them. A few hot tears dripped down and disappeared before they could hit the empty floor below.

Part of Ink hoped that Blueberry never found him and that he just dusted here, alone...

"Sans! You have kept me here waiting on you for TWENTY MINUTES!" Papyrus yelled when Sans had finally exited their house. "Did you even change your shirt like you said you were going to or did you use that as another excuse to boondoogle?!"

"No, no, I really did change the shirt, see?" Sans told his brother as he showed him a fresh sweater beneath his hoodie. "It wasn't done drying so I had to wait on it. Must've dozed off again."

"Sans, I am seriously starting to get concerned about your work ethic!" Papyrus went on as the two began to walk out of town. "You're getting lazier and lazier every day, coming up with more and more excuses not to be at your station! First I find you in your room after being gone from for station for hours and then you take twenty more minutes changing a shirt! That's TWO whole hours that nobody was watching the entrance to Snowdin for a human!"

"Hey, hey, "chill" out, bro." Sans had to throw a pun out there. "Besides, a human probably wouldn't have made it far. They would be chilled to the "bone" if they got through the woods, through your puzzles and past town!"

"Sans, this is serious!" Papyrus continued. "I can just feel that today's going to be the day that a human shows up, and I, The Great Papyrus, will be the one to capture them! Then I will be a member of the Royal Gaurd! I will have everyone's respect and bathe in a shower of kisses every morning! And everyone will be my friend!"

"You can just feel it in your bones, huh?" Sans continued to joke, which made Papyrus grit his teeth at the unneeded jokes his brother was spewing. Sans chuckled as he pointed at his brother. "You're smiling!"

"I am and I hate it..." Papyrus sighed. "Anyway, if you're finished with your shirt, get back to your station! I will not miss the human!"

"Okay, okay, I'll get right on it." Sans said honestly this time. "We won't miss the human, I promise."

"Good! Today will be the day, Sans! After today, everyone will call me a Royal Gaurd!" Papyrus said proudly as Sans began to shuffle off towards his station. "Oh, and one more thing..."

"Yeah?"

"Clean up those condiment bottles all over your station!"

Ten minutes later and Sans had actually gone to his station like his brother asked. The same spot he always ended up at the beginning of every RESET. Ketchup bottles that he spewed there some 380 timelines ago around him, an old jacket he never wore spewn at a worn down stool...he hated his station. He didn't hate it because it was his station, he hated it because it was always where he was whisked to at every RESET. One moment peacefully talking to Papyrus at his car on the surface, the next whisked back to this crickety old station with the barrier back up and the memories erased from everyone's minds but his own. One moment literally dead and free of pain and sorrows with everyone who had been murdered by the human, the next back here and ready for round 289. He wondered what path he would be stuck dealing with this time. Will the child fake kindness and mercy, or will they show their true colors with another genocide route and him failing again to stop them?

Sans shook his head as he flung open the drawer in front of the chair he was seated at. It was supposed to have his puzzle plans in it but Sans no longer saw a point in doing them. The human would either happily do Papyrus's puzzles or the flower would solve them for them. Instead of puzzle plans, Sans's supply drawer was filled with ketchup bottles. He grabbed one out and popped it open, flinging the drawer back closed.

In all 380 RESETS that Sans had lived through, not one had he actually met another Sans. Sure, he knew about them. Ink and Error both visited many times before, during and after the era of Flowey's RESETS. They mentioned AUs, other Sanses, abnormalities in the regular timeline... His own research, research that he quit conducting back during Flowey's RESET Era, proved that the timeline was glitchy, that other people and universes were responsible for these glitches. He didn't even begin to understand who was responsible for some of these glitches until the human had completed their first Genocide Route. The one that resulted in the deletion of the timeline and a forced RESET.

But meeting another Sans in person, a Sans not only from another timeline but from an entirely different universe, was something else entirely. He knew that Blue was another Sans. The looks were just the same,save for the age, eyes and outfit. Yet...the personality reminded him of Papyrus's, though the poor guy was clearly delerious from hunger when they first met. Yet the same basic likes were there: love for ketchup, magic flare-ups when upset...luckily Blue got Papyrus's HP stat and not the standard 1 HP he had. He wanted to get Blue to talk more but his efforts to ease the child only resulted in Blue yelling across Grillby's about dog's toilets and how he was being a clown.

Being a clown. Heh. That was what he's been for 200 RESETS now. He doubted he could be any other way. It was Sans's way of maintaining sanity. He's the only one who remembers, afterall. It's not like he can actually tell anyone the truth. Especially not his little brother. So he hid behind his jokes and like Papyrus, Blue got mad at him.

Perhaps he would have better luck once the kid recovered and was less delerious...

Sans sighed, the ketchup bottle now emptied. His head hurt with all of this thinking. He was ready for a break. He couldn't go to Grillby's. First of all, he still had to apologize to the dogs about Blue up and calling the place a dog's toilet and second, to get to Grillby's he had to go past Papyrus's patrol route which would mean likely running into Papyrus and having him get upset that he wasn't at his station again. Sure, Sans could always shortcut but with how he was feeling right now he wasn't so sure that shortcutting somewhere wouldn't cause him to collapse right then and there after all of the healing magic he'd just used on the kid.

Well, he might as well check on the old lady. With any luck, she'll have a nice joke to tell and the two can tell some fun knock knock jokes together for awhile. He could sure go for a joke session right about now. Tell some bad jokes and ignore his worries. Yeah. That sounded nice...

Sans threw the empty ketchup bottle alongside the others at his station and got up, heading down the wooded path to the old lady's door...

KNOCK KNOCK!

"Hey, I've got some new stuff for ya!" Sans called to the large door as he sat in front of it, back leaned against it. "I wanna go first this time. Knock knock!"

No response. Perhaps the old lady hadn't heard him. He knocked again.

"Knock knock! Are you back there, old lady?"

Again there was no response. Good God...not now. He just talked to her a few hours ago!

"Old laaaaaaaaaaaaadddddddddddyyyyyyyyy!" Sans called at the door.

The only response again was silence. A wind blew, sending dust from somewhere in the ruins out onto Sans's gloved hand. He knew full well where it came from, clutching the dust in a fist.

"Just my luck. The kid is doing another genocide route..." Sans muttered as he picked up his phone, a contact called "Fishface" already highlighted and ready to call.

Genocide Route #281, here we go...