Why destroy when you hate it?

Chapter 42

  "WeLl WeLl WeLl WeLl WeLl. LeT mE gEt A lOoK aT tHe MeNaGeRiE." I say as I summon my strings. My eye lights land on certain Sanses and I smile. "YoU muSt Be Kin. YoU mUsT bE bEaTs. YoU mUsT bE tOne. AnD tHe RiNgLeAdEr HiMsElF iS hErE! iSn'T tHaT jUsT sWeLl!" I say the last part with as much fake happiness and sarcasm as I can muster.
  The Sanses, Swap Papyruses, and Sans equivalents summon bone attacks, not firing them just yet.
  The Bad Sanses and Nova Sanses start lashing out with attacks of their own and the battle begins, Error starting to sing Other Friends from Steven Universe The Movie.
  "ThAt'S rIgHt I hEaRd ThE sToRy OvEr AnD oVeR aGaIn. GeE iT's SwElL tO fInAlLy MeEt HiS oThEr FriEnDs. ThAt'S rIgHt I hEaRd ThE sToRy, DoN't ReAlLy LiKe HoW iT eNds. GeE, iT's SwElL tO fInAlLy MeEt HiS oThEr FriEnDs."
  Dust grabs ahold of BlackBerry and starts spinning him in circles, causing him to get dizzy. "What did he say about me? What did he say?"
  Horror chases Bird around the room, nearly cutting off one of his wings. "What did you do without me what did you do?"
  Cross goes over to Epic and pins him to the wall with his knife. "Did you play games without me? What did you play?"
  I grab some of the Sanses in my strings and bash their skulls together, not hard enough to knock them out but enough to daze them. "DiD yOu ThInK aLl ThIs TiMe ThAt I wOuLdN't FiNd OuT aBoUt You?!" My insanity is starting to come back as we fend off more and more Sanses.
   "ThAt'S rIgHt I hEaRd ThE sToRy OvEr AnD oVeR aGaIn. GeE iT's SwElL tO fInAlLy MeEt HiS oThEr FrIeNdS."
  "They're running circles around us!" Outer exclaims, clearly worried.
  "I'm rusty! Give me a break!" Storyshift Chara snaps.
  "I-It really i-is him. B-But he c-can't be s-serious." Beats stutters out, hiding behind Kin.
  "You know him Beats?!" Lust, well Unlust says. He knows of Error but he's never met him much. "Can you tell us who he is?!"
  My eye lights shrink as I get mad. "WhO aM i?! WhO aM i?! WhAt ArE yOu EvEn SaYiNg?! I'm ThE lOsEr Of ThE gAmE yOu DiDn'T kNoW yOu WeRe PlAyInG! lEt'S pLaY aNoThEr GaMe! ThIs tImE i GeT tO wIn!"
  "LiVeS oN tHe LiNe! WiNnEr TaKeS aLl! ReAdY oR nOt LeT's BeGiN!" My insanity fully returns and I lash out, stronger than ever.
  Nightmare notices and quietly curses.
  "Oh, ThAt'S rIgHt, I hEaRd The StOrY oVeR aNd OvEr AgAiN! gEe It's SweLl To FiNaLly BeAt HiS oThEr FrIeNdS! oH, tHaT's RiGhT i HeArD tHe StOrY, DoN't ReAlLy LiKe How It EnDs!"
  "GeE iT's SwElL tO fInAlLy BeAt HiS oThEr~ OtHeR~ oThEr FrIeNdS!"
  I tie all of the now wore out Sanses, Swap Papyruses, and Sans equivalents up in my strings, laughing insanely.
  Nightmare rushes over to Error and uses his tentacles to restrain Error. "Error come on! Snap out of it! This isn't you! This isn't the Error we've all come to know and love!"
  I start thrashing, trying to get out of Nightmare's hold, still laughing. He's wrong. This is who I am! I am Error! The feared God of Destruction!
  Nightmare does the one thing he can think of, controlling Error by singing Come Little Children. It's only used as a last resort if one of the Bad Sanses refuses to calm down.
  "Come little children. I'll take thee away. Into a land of enchantment. Come little children. The time's come to play. Here in my garden of shadows."
  Some part of me recognizes the song and my thrashing gets slower as it gradually stops.
  "Follow sweet children. I'll show thee the way. Through all the pain and the sorrows. Weep not poor children. For life is this way. Murdering beauty and passions."
  "Hush now dear children. It must be this way. Too weary of life and deceptions. Rest now my children. For soon we'll away. Into the calm and the quiet."
  "Come little children. I'll take thee away. Into a land of enchantment. Come little children. The time's come to play. Here in my garden of shadows~"
  I slump against Nightmare, a very loose grip on his jacket, my skull where his SOUL is. I can hear his SOUL beat and even that's calming. I don't even care that we're in the meeting room of the Good Sanses.
  Nightmare sighs in relief, rubbing Error's spine to try and get him relaxed enough so he falls asleep. He shoots a look to the Bad Sanses who nod in understanding and explain what just happened to the Nova Sanses.
  I notice Nightmare is rubbing my spine, my tail attached to my jacket swishing in contentment. I give a happy sigh and yawn a little. Snuggling up against Nightmare I quickly fall asleep.
  "I-Is he o-okay? His e-emotions. They w-were everywhere. A-And n-none were good." Beats says, hesitantly peeking out from behind Kin.
  "He'll be okay." Nightmare says. "He just got overwhelmed and his insanity came out. We're all insane. Us Bad Sanses are anyway. And it's all because of what happened to us. We're better now that we have each other but we still have...episodes."
  "Now. As for the reason we're here. There's a balance. The balance between creation and destruction. The Multiverse is like a sketchbook. Each page can hold a sketch."
  "But what happens when the sketchbook is full? What happens if there are no blank pages? The drawings get ruined. Keep in mind this is a representation of the Multiverse."
  "Without destruction, all of us will die. And it's all Ink's fault. He never listened to HER. Forcing Error to become the God Of Destruction."
  "He's trying to save us and keep us alive and all you're doing is letting the Multiverse die by stopping us!"
  Medic decides this is a good time to intervene before Nightmare gets too mad. "Nightmare. Calm down. Remember what I told you?"
  Nightmare nods and hugs Dream, who came over to Nightmare when he saw him get mad and quickly calms down.
  Medic clears his throat, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "I, Medic Sans of MedicTale, pledge my allegiance to the Bad Sanses and Nova Sanses. As an ally I will make sure they will always have a place to go if one of them gets hurt."
  He can hear the Good Sanses gasp in shock but he ignores it as Cross helps him out of the strings and leads him to where the group is standing.
  Reaper looks deep in thought. Should I join them? I know Geno is with them but is it a good idea? Well. No one else here likes me. I have nothing to lose. "I, Reaper of ReaperTale wish to join the Bad Sanses."
  Cross helps Reaper out of the strings and takes him to Nightmare.
  Nightmare puts on a pair of gloves before extending a hand for Reaper to shake. "Welcome to the family."
  Reaper cries tears of joy as he shakes Nightmare's hand, happy Nightmare went out of his way to make sure he can touch him. Once the handshake is over Geno approaches Reaper and pulls him into a hug, comforting him.
  Unlust is next. "U-Um. I, Hearts o-of Underlust wish t-to join the B-Bad Sanses. I've changed! R-Really I have!"
  Cross helps Hearts out of the strings and takes him to Nightmare.
  Nightmare sees how nervous Hearts is and pulls him into a hug. "It's okay. You don't have to be scared anymore. We won't treat you any different than how the rest of us are treated. Welcome to the family Hearts."
  Hearts bursts into tears, hugging Nightmare tightly until he calms down. "T-Thank you. Thank y-you so much."
  Beats stops whispering to Kin. "K-Kin and myself from U-Underbeats w-would like to pledge our a-allegiance to t-the Nova Sanses."
  Cross frees the two Sanses from the strings and takes them to Dream.
  Dream smiles and pulls them into a hug. "Welcome to the family Beats and Kin."
  Ganz and Melancholy come to a decision. "I Ganz." He begins.
  Melancholy takes control. "And I Melancholy." He gives control back to Ganz.
  Ganz finishes and Melancholy appears beside him. "From GZ!Tale pledge our allegiance to the Bad Sanses."
  Cross helps Ganz out of the strings and takes him to Nightmare.
  Nightmare shakes hands with Ganz. "Welcome to the family you two."
   Pup looks from Blackberry to Nightmare to Blackberry to Nightmare several times before making up his mind. He hesitates but quickly steels his resolve. "I-I Pup of SwapFell, p-pledge my allegiance to the Nova Sanses."
  Blackberry shouts in rage. "Don't do it mutt!"
  Pup flinches and looks scared, like he's regretting every decision he's ever made.
  Cross frees Pup from the strings and takes him to Dream.
  Dream pulls Pup into a hug and comforts him until he calms down. "Welcome to the family Pup."
  Tone finishes his call with Phenex, sighing in relief.
  (Flashback)
  "Tone I'm not going! You know how they treat me!" Phenex exclaimed.
  "Please Phenex! They won't treat you differently! And we're all tied up so no one can hurt anyone while we work things out! Cross is freeing those who join or ally themselves!"
  Phenex thought about it for a minute. "Fine! But if you're lying I'm not coming out of my Anti Void other than to kill humans for a whole month!"
  (End Flashback)
  "Um. I have a friend who should be coming any minute now."
  True to Tone's word, a portal opens and Phenex steps through it.
  Phenex quickly frees Tone from the strings. "I Phenex, pledge my allegiance to the Bad Sanses." He walks over to Nightmare and shakes his hand.
  Nightmare smiles. Welcome to the family Phenex."
  Tone looks nervous as he speaks. "And I Tone, from Undertone, pledge my allegiance to the Nova Sanses."
  Dream walks over to Tone and pulls him into a hug. "It's okay. No need to be nervous. Welcome to the family Tone. I'm sure everyone's gonna love you."
  Outer also has to think about it. What do I choose? My choice can affect everything. Ink already looks extremely ticked off that six of us have defected and become traitors as he put it.
  But they're all nice. Error's told me stories about them. And they did tell us they're trying to save the Multiverse. I've made my choice. I'll join them.
  "I, Outer from OuterTale, pledge my allegiance to the Nova Sanses."
  Cross frees Outer from the strings and takes him to Dream.
  Dream smiles and shakes Outer's hand. "Welcome to the family Outer. It's great to have you."
  Nightmare looks anxious, almost as if he's waiting for someone else to join them. Come on Classic. You're the last one we need. Well. Last one we want. Hurry up and make up your mind already. I don't know how much longer we can go.
  Squid already looks mad. Surprised he hasn't tried to break out of the strings and kill us. Probably a good thing we decided to tie everyone up.
  Classic sighs, finally making a decision. "Look. I know I'm the original and all and am supposed to be neutral but even I have to pick a side in this. And I suggest you all do the same. But I know what my choice is. I, Classic of Undertale, pledge my allegiance to the Nova Sanses."
  Cries of outrage erupt from Ink but they fall on deaf ears since no one is paying attention.
  Cross frees Classic from the strings, being extremely careful due to Classic only having 1 HP before taking him to Dream.
  Dream shakes hands with Classic, smiling brightly. "Welcome to the family Classic!"
  Classic smiles as well. "It's great to be part of it Dream. Now. Has anyone else decided?"
  The Good Sanses all share a look with each other, coming to a decision. Silently they elect Bird to do the talking.
  "We've made a decision. We'll ally ourselves with you."
  The Bad Sanses and Nova Sanses cheer and Cross cuts the strings.
  All the Good Sanses and Ink land on their feet but Ink looks mad.
  Ink growls. "Why are you all siding with them?! They're trying to brainwash you!"
  Dream growls as well, annoyed. "No Ink! We've told them the truth! It's you who's brainwashed!"
  The Good Sanses start to surround Ink.
  Ink gets an idea and uses a portal to escape, leaving nothing but a puddle of ink on the floor.