God of Restoration

Chapter Ten

Alloy once went by the name Balance, a young Deity who gave up much of his divine power to become a part of his Multiverse. Fate feared what his influence would bring. She ripped him apart into creation and destruction before resetting the Multiverse.

He won't meet anyone's eyes. Alloy stares at a spot on the floor of the Anti-Void, fiddling with a few black strings that he's weaving through his inky black fingers. Pain and newfound grief burn at his soul. The friends and family he once knew are gone. Torn away by Fate. The people he knows now are different than before, but Alloy still cares for them as well. Fate will know by now that he's escaped her strings. Will she come back and do the job all over? Alloy isn't strong enough to stop her.

Everyone knows it now, too. They know how he failed. They know that he's not really one of them. Of course, they did know before Fate's reset, but that as different. Alloy knew what he was and explained it to those who asked. There were no secrets. This time, not only did Alloy take Ink and Error away from the people who loved them, but he's summoned back a huge threat to all their lives by just simply existing as himself. This is not good.

"Is that all? You were acting it up like you'd done something unforgivable. I actually feel a little let down. I did kill off my whole AU for EXP, after all," Dust grunts, crossing his arms.

"Wh-What?" Alloy looks up in disbelief.

"Huh. So does that mean that CC and I weren't stuck together?" Cross tilts his head, curious, "I've gotten pretty used to the sarcastic comments."

"So what do Deities look like? Are they like Monsters?", Killer asks.

Alloy doesn't know how to respond. How can they all be so nonchalant? "B-But I- Fate-"

"None of that was your fault, Alloy," Dream assures kindly.

"But I let you all down! Well, not you guys exactly, but I couldn't protect anyone. I'm useless. And then Ink and Error both made people suffer in their own ways," Alloy argues. He can't handle he guilt coiling tightly around his soul.

"You're gonna have to do a lot worse to scare me, kid," Nightmare snickers.

Alloy is hit with the sudden, mind blowing realization that these people who he loves won't run away or bow down to him after knowing the truth. Even in the old Multiverse, there were many who worshiped Alloy or hated him for having too much power. The young Deity never wanted that. He's always loved meeting new people on equal ground and learning about what makes them amazing and unique. Deities don't work like that. The hierarchy rules over all. Everyone is just a cog in a machine, and Alloy only played an incredibly small part when he was still in the Omniverse. Scales pats one of Alloy's shoulders in reassurance. He had no doubt that Alloy would be accepted.

"There's just one more question bugging me," Blue speaks up. He had been attentively listening to everything his friend says. It sounds really cool! Not so much the Fate part, but Alloy being a Deity part! "How are you only remembering this now? Why not when you first reappeared?"

"Fate, again," Alloy rolls his eyes, "She kept her chains tight around my- Error's soul. He might have remembered me if she hadn't. Their effects still lingered after I tore them off. Ink's always been unstable without a soul, and his shifting eye lights were a sign of it. Getting killed actually reset my soul. I'm stable, and my eyes are back to how they're supposed to be."

"So Fate is quite the annoyance," Nightmare says, deep in thought, "The next thing to do would be to discuss what to do about them.

Alloy flinches involuntarily, hard enough for everyone to notice. He doesn't want anything to do with Fate. 404 scared him before he regained his memories, but Fate is worse in so many painful ways. Doing something about her might also mean leaving the Multiverse. Alloy, no, Balance has always been an outcast among them. Who would ever stand at his side? Scales speaks before Alloy can argue against any sort of action.

"The way that I see it, we have two options. We can ignore Fate entirely, and just hope that she doesn't wander in and split Alloy permanently," Scales gives his brother a pointed look, making it clear to Alloy and the others that he won't go along with that idea, "..... or we confront Fate."

"Can we do that? How do we even touch her if she can't enter the Multiverse?" Reaper asks. The question is directed towards Alloy, but he squirms uncomfortably. Scales sighs.

"Alloy, I know you are still able to find some way out and back to the Omniverse. And you know how to get at Fate, too," he chides.

"............ When issues rise up between Deities, they're handled in a system of judges. The Old Ones lead, of course. Deities are not meant to harm each other. Technically, I could make a case for Fate's actions."

"Well she's definitely guilty! What are we waiting for?" It sounds pretty straight forward to Dust.

"B-But how would I ever prove it? And the, um- I haven't had contact with other De-Deities for centuries! And-and......" Alloy twist to look at Scales and grimace, "you wouldn't be able to come......"

"I know, and I really don't like it, but Fate's not gonna leave you alone unless you get help from the others," Scales looks up to explain, "The Omniverse has a certain 'magical pressure' in the air. It's a side effect of all the powerful Deities being in one area. The air is thick. It can crush anything that doesn't have powerful enough magic."

"But Alloy can't go alone! There has to be a way we can help," Dream cries.

"There is. I could use my magic to put a protective seal on anyone who comes, but it will only help so much." Alloy twiddles with a bit a string. He can't believe that Scales and the others are talking him into this.

"Which of you can teleport freely from AU to AU?" Scales asks.

Dream, Nightmare, Reaper, and Cross all raise their hands. The three former all have magic levels well above the needed amount to travel across AUs, but Cross is just barely above that point. Error 404 can also do this as well, but he doesn't volunteer. He's still reeling over the fact that he can simply sit and calmly listen. 404 isn't keen on entering a battle again so soon.

Cross looks over at Nightmare coldly. "Are you kidding me? You're not going anywhere, Boss. You couldn't even walk this morning."

"Oh really? Are you going to try and stop me?" Nightmare tilts his head, grin widening. "You're the one staying home."

"But-"Cross plans to argue and even force Nightmare to stay back if he has to, but Cross is forgetting one thing. Nightmare is the King of Negativity and his boss.

Nightmare stands up abruptly. His aura flares back to life and makes Dream wince. The heavy feeling hangs in the air. Black tar oozes quickly from Nightmare's joints until he's back to his half corrupted form. He grabs Cross's foot with one long tendril and swings him up to dangle in the air.

"Still feel like disobeying my order?" Nightmare says coldly, single cyan eye light glowing powerfully. Cross shakes his head frantically from side to side, and his boss drops him. Cross sits back up and looks just in time to see another tentacle coming towards him. He tenses, waiting for the blow, but then he feels a light pressure on his head. Nightmare rubs his head affectionately. "You need to stay here and look after the 'troublesome trio' over there. They'll burn down the bloody mansion if no one's there to babysit."

"Okay," Cross finally agrees.

"You all know I haven't agreed to this, right?" Alloy squeaks.

"But you're gonna have to do it anyway," Scales says back.

"I know........"