"Fuku ... Fuku, can you hear me?"
Fuku mumbled something incomprehensible, her mind still thick with the fog of dreams.
"Are you okay, Fuku? Are you hurt?" Said a warm, familiar voice. It was her boyfriend Sans. She smiled and slowly opened her eyes.
"Ah, good, you're up." Error said, a wicked twist to the grin plastered across his skull. He floated in the air in front of her, his appearance as jarring as ever, though Fuku noticed that the ropes were still spreading over his ribs. Blue threads could be seen weaving around the rope, slowing its progress, though it was clear Error's right arm wasn't going to be moving anytime soon.
Fuku's eyes went wide. She tried to rise, only to realize she was already vertical. Blue threads bound her hands and legs and held her immobile. She looked around in panic only to see ... nothing but white. It surrounded her in all directions with no visible sign of ending.
She didn find something, however; Artie, the poor bunny man strung up and floating in the air beside her, a worried look on his face.
"Well, now that you're awake ... be quiet."
Fuku opened her mouth, ready to fire a choice insult at Error, only for several thick threads to wrap around her head and open mouth, reducing her to unintelligible mumbles.
Nodding in satisfaction, Error stepped back from his prisoners and produced the crystal with the imprint.
"Shoulda know this hunk of ice would be a problem." Sans said, tossing it in the air and catching it with his one free hand. "I still remember how excited Gaster was when we found it, back when it was more than just an imprint."
Error glanced at Fuku. "But you don't know about Gaster, do you?"
Fuku couldn't respond, not even to shake her head. It didn't matter; Error's focus was on the crystal again.
"No one does, no one 'cept me and my fellow abominations. Poor Ol' Gaster. He used to be the Royal Scientist, you know, before Alphys his place."
Error chuckled and shook his head. "I bet the old man would go nuts to find out that gibbering anime-loving freak has taken over his lab. Oh well, he's hardly in a position to complain, seeing as he fell into the lava surrounding the Core."
Error's smile faded slightly. "An accident. An unfortunate accident caused by the original crystal. When we found how much power the thing could produce, we thought we'd found our freedom."
Error's gaze turned back to Fuku. Chuckling, he said, "Sorry 'bout that. Bein' in the void gets you monologuing like there's no tomorrow. Oh, where are my manners?"
Error snapped his fingers. the threads holding Fuku and Artie fell away, dropping both of them on the floor. Artie let out a groan as he slowly rose to his feet.
"Why have you brought us here?" Artie asked.
"Me?" Error said, sounding legitimately surprised. "I didn't bring you here. I'm not exactly the visitor type, if you know what I'm sayin'. You can understand why this makes me curious."
Fuku shook her head. "I don't follow."
"Then I'll be blunt." Any trace of a smile faded from Error's face. "I've jumped dimensions enough to know the sensation, and it don't take a genius to figure out this rock had something to do with this. Now I was holding your fat rabbit friend when the rock went psycho, so I get why he's here ... and just before the switch, I felt someone grab the back of my coat. From the scorch marks ... thanks, by the way, it's not like I can send my clothes to a tailor ... I'm guessin' that's why you came here too."
Error waved his hand at the void. Instantly, the whiteness twisted and swirled like a whirlpool until the very air seemed to tear apart, revealing a curious image; Sans, Fuku's Sans, was running through a white hallway behind what appeared to be another Sans, this one in torn and more worn clothing. Several human soldiers in black gear appeared in their path, only for the new Sans to fire a blast from his Gaster Blaster, incinerating two of the soldiers and sending the rest scurrying for cover.
"Now, I recognize 3177 there ... abomination one forty-six, I like to call him. Mean piece of work, though I can't say I blame him. I also recognize your boyfriend there. Now this lovely Void you see around you, it's not exactly another dimension; it kinda attaches to realities at my whim, like a small bubble attached to a bigger bubble. Site 37 is part of the reality we're currently 'stuck' to, which leads me to my question: how did he follow us? I know me, I know how fast I am, and I know there was no way he could reach me, even with a shortcut, before the rock sent us here."
Error turned to Fuku and crossed his arms. "So how is it that he's here too?"
Fuku opened her mouth to say she didn't know, only to realize that she in fact did. Glen told them she'd bound them together: Fuku, Glen, Error, and UNDR-Papyrus. She wanted to make sure they stayed together, in addition to binding Error to their reality ... only now, it looked like it simply bound them in such a way that if one traveled between realities, they all made the trip. Fuku could almost see Glen's sheepish expression as the human said, "Oops."
"I'm gonna be patient about this." Error said, threads weaving around his hand and inching toward. "But not for long."
"I'd be more worried about the rope, if I was you." Artie said, a slight smirk on his face.
Error's gaze slid to the bunny-man. He slowly floated toward Artie, a very unpleasant look on his skull.
"You got something to say, bun-bun?"
"It's already covered, what, half of your body? It's not gonna stop you know, not until it has you completely immobile."
Error looked to his bound arm. He moved it slightly, though it was clear it took a lot of effort.
"You know how to get it off?"
Artie shrugged, attempting to look humble. "Well, yes. It's easy, actually ... we'll need to return to the Warehouse, though, and grab a few things."
"Uh-huh." Error floated right up to Artie's face, causing the bunny-man to recoil slightly. "You think I'm an idiot, hoppy?"
"Not an idiot, no." Artie pulled something from his pocket that looked like a watch. As it flipped open, however, Fuku recognized it as a compass, the kind used on ships.
Error reached to grab the compass, but Artie was a moment quicker pressing the button on the base of the compass.
"Hey!"
Fuku jumped; Artie seemed to have appeared right in front of her, his hand holding hers to the barometer. She glanced back at Error, only to find him frozen in place, still staring at the space where Artie had stood only a moment ago. "How ...'
"Barometer of the U. S. S. Eldritch." He said. "C'mon; we only have … twenty-seven seconds before time goes back to normal. Fortunately, our friend was kind enough to open the door for us."
3177 blasted the heavy bulkhead from its hinges, knocking the heavy metal back into the guards waiting beyond and crushing them under the slab of wrecked metal. The sight echo flowers and glowing mushrooms distracted Sans from the pool of blood rapidly spreading from beneath the pile of scrap that was once a door. The sight of the Underground he was somewhat familiar with did much to ease his concerns, but nowhere near as much as Fuku did when he found himself hugging the flame woman's warm body.
"What the ... where'd you come from?" He asked.
She let out a nervous laugh. "Underfell, remember?"
Sans caught sight of 3177 raising his hand and quickly said, "Relax, buddy; she's my girlfriend."
"Uh-huh." 3177, looking at them suspiciously. "And the tubby rabbit's your uncle, right?"
"Okay, I get it! I'm a little overweight." Artie said, rolling his eyes as he slid something in his pocket. "I'll go on a diet once we get back to the Warehouse."
"He's a friend too." Sans said, slipping his hand into Fuku's. "Not sure how they got here, but I'm not complainin'"
3177 seemed uncertain for a few moments before he shook his head and said, "Fine. They're clearly not human, so I guess it doesn't matter. We need to keep moving."
"He's right." Sans told his friends. "We'll talk once we're safe."
As if to punctuate his statement, another group of soldiers appeared from within the facility, these wearing heavy combat armor with metal plating similar to that of the containment chamber previously imprisoning and carrying much fancier-looking guns.
"Crap." 3177 said, "Null squad. That armor dispels magic; even the Gaster Blaster-"
"Artie, the compass!' Fuku said.
"Needs time to recharge." He said, though he was digging through his pockets for something else.
It looked like a tough spot to Sans; 3177 was summoning bones, and even Fuku seemed to be preparing herself to fight. Worried for her and Artie, and even more for the strangely callous 3177, Sans quickly thought of a better solution, one he found he was a bit surprised 3177 hadn't thought of first.
"Relax." Sans said, putting his hand on Fuku's shoulder. "I'll close the door on those goons."
Sans gestured toward the soldiers ... or more specifically the bulkhead door. The soldiers rushed to the exit, but Sans managed to slam the remains of the door back into place. Granted, it was a wreck, and would never open properly again without some serious work, but it would definitely keep the soldiers occupied.
"That'll work." Artie said, looking a little shocked as he nodded appreciatively at Sans.
3177 nodded as well, though Sans couldn't help but detect a note of disappointment on his other self's face as he started walking briskly away from the facility and into the caverns of Waterfall.
The group hurried through the caverns of Waterfall. Sans caught sight of quite a few cameras, most noticeably different from those Alphys used back in his reality, but not all. The somber air that normally permeated the chambers of water and stone felt unnaturally tense now, and Sans soon found himself on edge.
He could tell Fuku felt the difference as well; the flames of her fingers flickered with unusual intensity, a sure sign she was nervous. Artie seemed nervous, though there was a resolute look on the bunny-man's face. Given the nature of the Warehouse, Sans was certain that Artie had found himself in his share of bad situations. He also looked winded, and was clearly struggling to keep up with the group.
When they reached the expanse overlooking Home, Artie stumbled and nearly fell before Sans caught him.
"Easy there." Sans glanced at 3177. "Hey, other me, we need to stop for a minute."
"There's no time." 3177 said. "We're still in neutral area."
"Neutral area?" Fuku asked. "Neutral from what?"
"From the fight between the Underground and the SCP Foundation." 3177 looked over Artie, who looked close to passing out, and let out a sigh. "Fine. Five minutes."
"Thank you." Artie breathed, sinking down to a convenient rock. It was a large rock, so Fuku and Sans sat down beside him.
"Not used to this much running." Artie said. "Even the zip-line's better than this."
Chuckling appreciatively, Sans said, "Not much for jogging myself. I'm more of a nap kinda guy. A shame you don't have some kind of anomalous skates or skateboard in your warehouse."
"Tony Hawk's skateboard accelerates as long as you're riding it and pushes the user to try increasingly dangerous tricks." Artie chuckled, his floppy ears shaking along with his head. "Besides, can you really see me on a skateboard?"
They stared at the distant facility; there was no sign of Dreemurr Palace, just the white windowless walls stretching from the cavern floor to the ceiling.
After about a minute, 3177 sat down beside Artie and stared down at his worn slippers.
"It's strange." He said, his voice quiet. "We wanted to go to the surface so much. It never really occurred to anyone that we might be better off down here."
Trading glances with Fuku, Sans asked, "What happened here, anyway?"
"First things first." 3177 said. "Where are you from? I can feel the same power in you, so I know you're not some kind of cheap copy."
"Yeah, I'm you, just from another dimension. Alternate possibilities and all." Sans said. "In my reality, the monsters were wiped out by a human named Frisk possessed by this black gunk. Fuku here's from a reality where King Asgore was a tyrant, and our brother's a massive jerk."
3177's face twitched silently at the mention of Papyrus, but he said nothing. Sans continued, "Artie here's from a different reality too. I'd go into detail, but I'm guessing it's all top secret, unless there's a Warehouse here too."
"Warehouse … of course!" Artie fished around in the pockets of his coat before pulling out his farnsworth.
"Wait." Fuku said, putting her hand over the device. "We're in another reality. Even if the Warehouse exists, there's a chance they won't even know who you are."
"I'm not trying to contact the Warehouse." Artie said as he twisted a knob on the device. "If I'm right …"
The screen of the farnsworth lit up, revealing the face of Claudia Donovan.
"Artie!" She said, clearly surprised to see him. "Artie, you're not gonna believe this, but we're in like some kind of alternate …'
"Reality." Artie finished. "Yes, I know. Are Jinks and Glen with you?"
"Well … kinda." Claudia said. "Glen's a little … stuck at the moment."
"I'm here too!" Said a familiar voice. Sans was only a little surprised when Papyrus's skull appeared on screen. "Hi, Sans!"
"Hey, Paps." Sans said, only to be pushed aside as 3177 moved to look at the screen.
"Oh!" Papyrus said. "Hello other Sans! You look tired. Are you getting enough rest?"
3177 seemed speechless for a few moments before catching himself. "Are … are you okay?"
"Oh, we're doing fine. We're a bit … stranded at the moment, but a brisk walk is good for the constitution."
"Where are you, Artie?" Claudia asked. "And how …"
"I'm where the Warehouse was in our Universe. Unfortunately, the SCP seems to have taken root down here."
"The Foundation? They have control of the Warehouse?"
"Not exactly. Where is Glen?"
"She's uh … under a lake. We're working on it, but our gear is still in our car … y'know, back in the other reality."
"I'm sure you'll think of something. Just … be careful, okay?"
"You too, Gramps."
Artie grimaced as the communication cut off. "I'm not her grandpa. She just, with the nicknames … ugh, never mind."
3177 shook his head and said, "Five minutes are up. Just a bit further, and you'll hear everything from the Queen herself."
ns 15.158.61.16da2
