#eomw

I shrugged before lying down on the Anti-Void's floor.

“theres so many places u can go !”

“You're decision.”

“wrong ‘your’”

“Shut up.”

“o now we got grammar police!? where were u before!?”

“Annoying Other People, I Bet.”

“L-M-A-O”

“I thought it was pronounced ‘lumao’.”

“Guys, now’s not the time to get distracted! We need to think of a fun AU for Jupiter to go to.”

“Um, if it helps, I think I could use some furniture around here. It's kinda depressing otherwise.”

“YEAH! commit CRIME! THIEVERY!”

“AU souvenirs…”

“How did we get to this conclusion!?”

“we're agents of chaos. obviously.”

“Its not like she has G to buy anything with”

“There's a countless amount of universes out there! What's one less Underswap couch in the multiverse going to affect? Nothing!”

“thats oddly specific”

“Well, in my defense, I heard Swap couches are more comfortable! Not sure from where, though.”

“Uh…how about I just go to another random AU? I'm…indecisive.”

“careful. it seems like dangerous aus make up the bulk of the multiverse. odds say that youll be looking for a while.”

“So long as you can steal things im on board”

“Go, Jupiter…Commit a crime…”

With a flick of my wrist, another portal opened up. My eyes widened slightly as I came to realize something.

“This is still so surreal…” I walked through the portal, too lost in my own thoughts to pay attention to my surroundings. “Portals feel…too easy now.”

“Woah, hold your horses!”

“where is this? the backrooms?”

I snapped out of my thoughts, immediately noticing a captivating melody echoing through the space as the portal closed with a faint electronic whir. It sounded so, so familiar…Had I heard it before? I was sure of it.

There was a fountain in the center of the huge, oval-shaped space. Clean, white tile covered the floors and walls. Looking up, there was an open space, escalators and elevators going up to the floors upon floors I saw, appearing to go on for infinity. Stores littered every wall, some I recognized, others I didn't.

…A mall? Unusual.

A sense of awe, similar to the feeling I got when I first traveled to Outerswap, filled my very being. Unlike the other AUs, a name came to me, all by itself.

“Vaportale…”

“You know this place!?”

“I do! I only made the Sans and Papyrus of this AU, though…I'm not sure where the mall strip came from.”

“Made?”

“Yeah. I…never expected to see my own creation.” I approached the fountain, noticing that the water reflected the expanse above like a mirror. “I wonder who could have expanded upon it?” I felt tempted to look into the water at myself, but I instead opted to sit on the edge. A few palm trees were scattered about the area.

“you really like vaporwave, huh?”

I nodded, kicking my feet like the schoolgirl I was. “Liminal spaces, too. Maybe I can make this place my home instead of the Anti-Void…No, scratch that, this is my home now. There's no doubt about it.”

“Where's the skelebros you mentioned?”

“I don't know, but maybe it's for the best that they're not here right now.”

I felt a frown creep up onto my face. My legs returned to stillness, heels resting against the fountain.

“What's wrong?”

“I can't help but be curious about the water. It's like a mirror, y'know?”

“whar about it?”

“...Whar”

“I can't help but wonder what I look like.”

“Look then! I think you look nice.”

“yea!! you're adorable methinks”

“why are you asking us about it?”

“Yeah, so, the thing is…” I hesitated for a moment before mumbling, “God, do I really want to admit this?”

The voices were quieter than usual. They seemed to be listening intently.

“I always felt…this…disconnect. With my reflection. Before…all of this. I could never really figure out why, and I guess I'll never know now.”

“Maybe you were meant to be like this all along. Your fate, if you will.”

“Yeah!! It will be better now!!”

“:thats stupid. i am willing to bet actual money on the fact that that's not how that works.”

“YEAH!!! We need to stop pressuring her to look!!! Let it be her OWN decision, for GOD'S SAKE!!!”

The volume of the voices began to swell once more.

“Hey! Stop! I'm not letting all of you get into another argument! Be civil!”

Their volume dropped to a murmur once more.

“Thank you. I understand you're all trying to help, but sometimes I need to be able to come to my own conclusions. Especially if it's about something nobody understands. Got that?”

“what about looking at urself?”

“I'm in a procrastinating mood right now. Which also means, in this case, that I'm in the mood for some exploration!”

“If it's that bad, then you should get it done with. So you can say you did it. The other voices are only going to annoy you about it if you don't.”

I sighed. That voice had a point. “Fine…I'll rip off the band-aid. But if I get upset, I'll blame it on you!” I got up and turned around, facing the fountain.

“:fair enough tbh. these people can be so annoying sometimes.”

“HEY!!! We're not the worst…there's DEFINITELY worse. 100%!!!”

With a deep breath, I leaned over the fountain, my head turned to the side as if the water was about to explode in my face.

Speaking of…

I blinked.

What I saw was…quite expected. It still made me jump ever so slightly, however.

I put a hand on my cheek. The reflection matched the motion to a T.

“Holy shit. No wonder you guys didn't know I wasn't him…”

I saw the reflection's expression shift to discomfort.

Large, red, expressive eye…sockets, a mouth that always showed yellowed teeth, a vaguely heart-shaped nose hole…

I blinked again. The sight caused me immense discomfort, yet somehow I was entranced in it.

“It's you!”

I scoffed amusedly. The reflection smiled for a brief moment. I blinked again, sockets widening.

“see? you have a cute smile! now you get to see it for yourself!”

I finally tore my gaze from the water. “Stop that!” I spoke in a playful tone.

“no! lol”

“We will only stop when we're DEAD! And we're just voices in your head, so that's not happening any time soon.”

“we're a lil more than just voices but ok”

“SHHH. that's a secret”

“I think I have enough meta knowledge to know I'm in some kind of ask blog type deal. Oh! Right! Can you…hear everything?”

“SHIT SHE FOUND OUT”

“wasn't that you that mentioned OS chara sounding like the chocolate guy?”

“YEAH…SORRY…”

“So, if this isn't an ask blog, what is this? Some kind of strange livestream? A comic dub?”

“unfortunately we can't say. pensive emoji”

“What's stopping you?”

“We will be destroyed if we try to tell you.”

“Geez, okay.”

“uhh, exploration time? i wanna see whats up with this au as much as you do.”

“Sure.” Looking around, I quickly spotted an escalator. I walked on it, allowing it to bring me to the next floor. I looked around at the stores, noticing that most of the shelves and stands that would hold products were empty. Eventually, I found a clothing store with something in the window.

A mannequin, wearing a long coat and hat.

The coat was a button-up with a deep, rich purple hue, fading into blue on the bottom. It had a cut that made the front shorter than the back and long sleeves that I knew would go past my hands. At its longest, the coat went down to a little below where the mannequin's knees would be. I could faintly see my reflection in the window's glass, noticing that the yellow buttons matched one of my eyelights.

The hat, meanwhile, was a matching, dark blue newsboy cap, the kind with a larger brim that could shield my eyes from the sun. My favorite.

I finally spoke up again as I walked into the store, a huge grin on my face. “These are mine now.”

As I got to the window, I noticed that there was the outline of wings sewn onto the back of the coat with yellow thread.

“Well, isn't that ironic?”

“pretty, though…i wonder where it came from?”

“This AU, obviously,” I responded as I took off the jacket I already wore, leaving me with only a plain black t-shirt on.

“no, i meant…nevermind.”

As I slipped my arms into the coat, I immediately noticed that the fabric on the inside was…soft. Smooth. Silky, yet it still felt like it could block out the cold. It was as if it was made for me, I thought. The coat flowed around me, almost feeling like a cape of sorts. Closer inspection showed that it also had hidden pockets!

After buttoning up the coat, I placed the hat upon my head. It felt secured to my head; as if even wind would have difficulty knocking it off.

Just like everything else here, it felt like home.

“How do I look?”

“nice”

“Boots instead of slippers would work much better. Some pants too.”

“there you go! now you don't just look like a regular error”

I felt my heart stop.

Or…soul. Whatever. That didn't matter. Yet.

Turning around slowly, my shoulders raised, and my posture became defensive as I braced myself for the worst-case scenario.

Looking down, however, all I saw was a child with short, brown hair, a yellow shirt with a blue stripe, matching blue overalls, and brown boots. Their eyes were brown, but I could see a hint of red close to their pupils. Rosy cheeks decorated their face.

They looked like a Chara to me. It seemed to me like my portal abilities were a little off. Oh well.

My posture loosened up for the most part, still a little tense and awkward due to my lack of mental preparation when it came to talking to anybody but the voices.

“Oh, uh, hello there…” I smiled anxiously. “What are you doing here?”

“Exploring.”

“Nice,” I responded plainly, trying my best to keep my tone from shifting outside that of casual small talk.

“Hey, you look kind of like somebody I know! His name is Sans.”

“Oh, do I?” I tried my best to feign surprise, but the child I assumed was a Chara variant didn't seem to fall for it.

“Yeah! Here,” the child grabbed one of my sleeves with their smaller hand, “We should go meet him! I bet you'd like him!”

“Well, I don't know, I'm kind of busy–”

They tugged at my sleeve. “C'mon…please? You don't look busy.”

I glanced in a random direction, hoping the voices could help.

“Hey, who knows? It could be fun. Give it a try.”

“don't make the kid sad!!”

“You can leave at any time if something goes wrong.”

I sighed. “Alright, alright…take me away, then.”

I let out a yelp as the child began to run, my sleeve still in their hand. I felt myself almost fall on my face, yet somehow I caught myself. “Hey! Slow down!” The kid didn't seem to hear me. Either that, or they ignored me. As we approached civilization, I quickly used my free hand to pull my hood over my head. Various houses, buildings, and people almost seemed to fly past us as we rushed by.

Finally, we stopped. I quickly saw the building next to us as I regained my composure.

It looked to be about two stories high, with bricks painted a light purple. It wasn't quite the wooden cabin that would usually be found in Snowdin. Despite the place’s seemingly cold atmosphere at first glance, I quickly discovered that it was given a warm sense of life with various decorations scattered about the house, like the colorful Christmas lights that outlined where the edges of the roof were and a sign hung on the door with “Bone Is Where The Heart Is” carved into it.

My posture shifted as I easily became uneasy by the second. The child seemed to notice this, as they quickly spoke up about it.

“What's wrong?”

“I don't know about this…wouldn't they be…well…suspicious of a stranger suddenly being at their house? I don't think the more serious brother would be so welcoming…”

The child looked like they were about to ask a question, but quickly decided against it as a skeleton, about my height, opened the door.

He appeared to be a Swap variant, wearing a large blue cape with constellation patterns littering its deep blue coloration. The rest of his outfit, including a t-shirt, gloves, pants, and boots, were all blue as well, with yellow accents that matched the cape.

“HELLO, HUMAN!” His voice was loud and booming, which caused me to flinch. “DID YOU MAKE A NEW FRIEND?” His eyelights scanned my form, seemingly making sure I meant no harm.

Chara nodded vigorously, a smile spreading across their face. “Yeah! This is…” They looked at me. “What's your name?”

Oh.

I glanced away, a hint to the voices. “Um…”

“go with error for now. you never know if youll decide to change your mind about acting like yourself later.”

“...Error.”

The Swap variant reached out to me, offering a handshake. I accepted tentatively, giving him a nervous smile.

“IT'S NICE TO MEET YOU! I'M SANS. SAY, I'VE NEVER SEEN YOU AROUND.”

I mentally scrambled to think of an excuse.

“Oh, yeah, um, you see, I just…don't go out much. Not really the most social person.”

“I SEE…IN THAT CASE, I COULD BE YOUR SECOND FRIEND!”

“Oh! …Really? I mean, we just met, and–”

“I MEAN IT. YOU SEEM LONELY. I BELIEVE THAT EVERYONE DESERVES A FRIEND OR TWO!”

I let out a short chuckle as I grabbed my scarf again. “Thanks.”

Sans stepped to the side, holding the door open for us. He used his free arm to motion us inside. “COME ON IN! I'M ALMOST DONE WITH SOME TACOS. FORTUNATELY, I MADE EXTRA THIS TIME!”

Chara eagerly entered the skeleton brothers’ home. I tagged along right behind them, scanning the area out of curiosity. As I sat down on a chair in the dining room, I tapped my fingers on the table in front of me.

After a series of noises from plates colliding with each other harshly to what sounded like plastic packaging being torn to shreds, Sans finally strutted into the room, holding two plates with tacos atop them, one in each hand, and carefully set them down in a smooth motion that would make a waiter at a restaurant blush. “BONE-APPETIT!” He punned, eliciting another smile from me.

As Chara began to dig into the taco, I reached towards it but froze.

…The tongues.

I shook my head, grabbing the taco. Why would those be a problem? I doubted they would act on instinct. If anything, I could use them to mess with people…

That final thought made my smile return as I took a small bite out of the taco. It had burger patty meat, cheddar cheese, lettuce, green onions, and sour cream inside its crunchy tortilla shell.

I let out a satisfied noise as the ingredients and flavors melted in my mouth, seemingly dissolving inside it and giving me a refreshing wave of energy that felt similar to the stuff I used for the portal or the bones. Magical energy, I promptly dubbed it. I knew the name wasn't that original, but I didn't really care.

“PAPS!! THE TACOS ARE READY!! GET OUT OF YOUR ROOM!!” Somehow, Sans yelled even louder than usual.

I continued to eat the taco, relishing in its flavor. It was quite similar to the tacos my dad used to make for me a few years ago, minus the green onions and lettuce.

A muffled “coming” could be heard from another part of the house, followed by a collection of soft footsteps. A taller skeleton shuffled into the room, wearing an outfit with the same colors as his brother's. He wore a blue hoodie with yellow sleeves and a fluffy hood, navy-blue shorts, and a pair of matching sneakers.

His relaxed demeanor momentarily faltered as he gave me a brief suspicious glare while I stuffed my face with another bite of taco. I gave him a nervous wave before his gaze shifted to his brother.

“who's this?” He stuffed over to the free seat on the table, which was on the other side of mine.

“A NEW FRIEND! THE HUMAN BROUGHT HIM HERE TO MEET US. HE'S VERY NICE!”

Papyrus scanned me one last time before his expression softened. “if ya say so, bro.” He took a bite out of the taco that sat in front of him. Oddly, Sans hadn't eaten any tacos–did he even make one for himself? I wasn't sure.

I thanked Sans for the food as I (swallowed? dissolved? consumed?) the final bite of the taco. He gave me a thumbs up and a “YOU'RE WELCOME!” in response. Soon after, I got up, pushing the chair I sat on back into the table.

“I'm sorry, but I really need to go. I have some things I need to do.”

Sans nodded understandingly as Papyrus continued to eat his taco.

“Aww, already? There's so much stuff left for us to do, though!” Chara complained, a slight pout on their face.

“Yeah…Again, I'm sorry. If things go well, though, I should be back soon!” I looked at Sans. “Thanks for the hospitality, I appreciate it.” He nodded, his huge smile not shifting in the slightest.

“YOU'RE WELCOME! IT'S THE LEAST I CAN DO FOR A NEW FRIEND.”

I walked over to the door, saying my goodbyes as I turned the doorknob and left. After a few minutes of walking, I found an alleyway where I was able to create a portal back to the Anti-Void from.

I stretched my arms contentedly as I walked through.

“Ahh…that went better than I expected it to.”

“Yeah!”

“Wait A Second…”

“jupiter? theres somebody behind you.”

“What–”

I turned around to see Chara once more. Deja-vu.

“…SH–”

The voices cried out in outrage.

“–HOOT. Shoot! What are you doing here!? It's not safe for you here!” Chara looked around, puzzled.

“It isn't? It doesn't look like anything's here to hurt me.”

“But that's the point! Oh, God, I don't know what'll happen if you stay here for too long…We need to get you back home as soon as possible!”

I frantically opened another portal, immediately noticing that it was an Underfell. Closing that portal, I tried again, only to see an Underground caked in monster dust.

Many attempts after were met with failure. Only once did I see the starry skies of an Outertale, and it was a regular variant, not an Outerswap.

Finally, I sighed loudly, my posture becoming a resigned slouch.

“What were those places? Other planets?”

My anxiety spiked further. My voice wavered and distorted more than usual, shifting in pitch at random. “…Yeah, let's just say that. It's…easier.”

My voice seemed to catch Chara off guard. “Sheesh, are you okay? You…”

“I'm fine. Just voice cracks.” I felt my glitches intensify slightly as I crossed my arms. I turned around, giving Chara a nervous smile and a thumbs up. I could practically see their thought process on their expressive face as they seemed to shrug it off.

“Well, if you say so.” They still remained a little suspicious, but it seemed like they didn't want to pry. Thank God for that…

“Okay, um, hold on–”

“Focus.”

“I'm trying. Shut up.” I waved with one of my hands dismissively, as if the voice was a bug.

“Who are you talking to?”

I felt another spike of glitches, a little more severe than the last, wrack my body before coming up with something on the spot.

“Uh, myself.”

I tried my best to focus once more, attempting to block out the voices until I could finally portal to the right AU. I opened another portal.

However…

“Chocolate?”

Wait, really?

I squinted.

Yup.

“Chocolate!?” Chara ran up to the portal. I stretched out my arm, a motion to stop them from going further.

“LOL???? THEY SOUND LIKE THE CHOCOLATE GUY FROM SPONGEBOB???”

…Oh my God. They did.

Wait, they could hear–

“Hey! We have to go there!”

“Well, I don't know–”

“C'mon! It's chocolate! I know it is! Who doesn't like chocolate!?”

I sigh. For whatever reason, chocolate sounded very good at that moment.

“Well, you got me there. Just make sure to be quiet, and stay hidden. Who knows what could be on the other side?”

They nodded vigorously, running through the portal. This place appeared to be a variant of the woods near Snowdin, made of chocolate. The ‘snow’ was made of tiny white chocolate pieces, the bark of trees was made of dark chocolate, the ground made of…perhaps cookie crumble..? Either way, this place looked delicious. Chara immediately started chowing down on a tree.

“huh never heard of this au before”

“me neither,” I mumbled, making sure I was quiet enough so Chara couldn't hear me as I scooped up a handful of ‘snow’, “but i'm not opposed to it…i explode if i don't have dessert after a meal, anyway.”

“Explode!?”

“r u ok, jupiter???”

“…metaphorically.” I specified before letting out a small, satisfied noise while I shoved some of the false snow into my mouth. “Hmm. This tastes better than I thought it would.”

I wondered if this meant a fragment of Error was still…there. Likely not, I concluded, as it could easily be a change in taste buds. An odd thought, indeed, but one I'd have to get used to along with everything else.

“I know, right!?” Chara yelled whilst chewing on bark. “This place is paradise…” They took another bite of the bark they tore off.

I wasn't sure how much time went by as Chara and I stuffed our faces with candy. The voices murmured to themselves as we did so, but I was too focused on how good everything tasted to listen to them. If I had spit, I was sure my mouth would be watering. The flavor was almost enchanting; a perfect balance of sweetness, bitterness, richness, and salt.

Suddenly, I heard an odd, melodic whistling noise. I could see Chara turn their head to stare at it at the same time I did. The sound of the voices was muffled, but they seemed panicked.

Was it a person making that noise? My vision of the whistling object was almost a strange blur, as if I didn't have my glasses on. I knew I did, however, when I reached up to feel them.

The whistling object looked…appetizing. Was it alive?

“JUPITER.”

I supposed I'd have to find out.

“JUPITER!!! SNAP OUT OF IT!!!”

“You need to leave right now, this place is dangerous.”

“open a portal below you before you two eat a person!”

Shit!

I leaped at Chara before quickly opening a portal below us. I had no time to think of a specific place to go to before we went through, landing in snow.

Real snow this time, thank God.

I had my arms wrapped around the child. Their pupils, which looked a little too dilated moments ago, returned to their regular size. I quickly let go of them, getting up and surveying our surroundings. They simply stayed on the ground, disoriented.

“...What was that.” I didn't know how to process what just happened. The glitches made themselves known once more.

“there was an enchantment of some sort on the candy. i think. idk.”

“Whatever It Was, It Seemed To Do Something Strange To You!”

“i'm glad you got out of there. ty, loud voice!”

“YOU'RE WELCOME!!!!!!”

“Bro you almost ate somebody”

The sound of the so-called ‘loud voice’ made me flinch. Well, it wasn't like the other voices were wrong…

Wait, hold on, I was getting distracted!

“Wait, WHAT!?” Ohhh, shit. Fuck. A person!?

“yea…”

“Shush! Don't attract attention! If even we had no clue what AU that was, then who knows what else could be out there!?”

Oh.

I heard a noise, followed by a groan. Chara was waking up. I didn't even know they were unconscious in the first place?

“Ow…” They held a hand to their forehead as they sat up.

“Let's…not do that again. Where are we, anyway?”

“It looks like a Fell AU”

“yup, red sky in snowdin.”

I turned around, the cold breeze sending a shiver up my spine as I came to a realization.

It's empty.

Abandoned. Particles of dust and snowflakes were almost indistinguishable from one another. Bones impaled various structures around the area.

Footsteps in the distance. I turned around.

A human child, covered in dust with a knife in hand.

I looked back at Chara. They looked frozen in fear, like a deer in headlights. They knew what the dust meant.

The footsteps, suddenly, became faster.

Faster.

I didn't waste any more time.

Once more, I ran to Chara, opening another portal and dragging them through it with me.

I tripped on my own foot. Right before the portal shut, I heard something fly right by where my head just was. It landed on the floor of the Anti-Void with a clatter.

Oh. We're back. Finally. Took me long enough. I rolled over onto my back before sitting up, eye sockets wide.

Chara stared at me in shock. Their expression alone told me everything I needed to know.

“I'm…so, so sorry! I didn't want to…put you in danger like that.” I hoped they would understand what I said, as my voice shook and stuttered at an almost-constant rate. They seemed to get the gist of it, nodding understandingly.

“It's okay! I…think I'm ready to go home. Are all other worlds that scary?”

“No, no…” I opened another portal, “We just got…unlucky, that's all.” The AU on the other side looked like Chara’s original home, but I couldn't know for sure yet. “Stay here, alright? I'll scout ahead and see if this is your world or not.” They nodded wordlessly as I stepped through the portal, finding myself back in the alleyway. A decently-sized group of monsters wandered about, calling Chara's name. Seemed like it was.

I let Chara follow me through the portal. They held out their hand, offering for me to hold it. I accepted their offer, wondering if they did so to comfort the both of us. Maybe, maybe not.

As we got to the end of the alleyway, I stopped.

“Are we still friends?”

They nodded, eliciting a small smile from me. “I know you didn't mean it. You said earlier that you're still learning.”

“Thank you. Go on ahead. I'll see you later. I gotta catch a break at home.”

They let go of my hand, walking away. They looked back at me and waved goodbye. I responded in kind, then went back into the Anti-Void. As soon as the portal closed, I let out a huge sigh.

What a long day, if it even was a full one. Time in the Multiverse was probably very strange.