God of Restoration

Chapter Eleven

A portal opens up, and out comes a mopping God of Balance. He's pouting like the child that he is. Nightmare and Dream follow behind along with, surprisingly, Reaper.

"This is your last chance to back out, Reaper. You don't know me very well because of the...... I'd understand," Alloy straightens to face the Death God.

"No, I want to help. We were close before, weren't we? I'd like to get to know you again, and if it means dealing with Fate first, so be it," Reaper nods. Everyone who meets Alloy seems to care for him alarmingly fast. Perhaps it's a remnant of friendship from before Fate spilt him into the two halves of the balance.

"But why are we in Dreamtale of all places!?" Dream asks, nervously and confused. He looks around sadly at the decaying AU. The four stand before the stump that was the Tree of Feelings. Nightmare winces, the ends of his tentacles flicking in agitation.

"Oh, I did forget to mention one, TINY detail," Alloy chuckles nervously. He memory isn't bad anymore, but he's just forgetful, as kids tend to be. "Each Deity has a 'champion' of some sort. Ink is Fates, and Karma's is Blue, for example. Every alternate version from different Multiverses are also champions. A Deity will always pay special attention to their championship's AU."

"So that means Dream and I.........." Nightmare trails off.

"Yes. You two are champions for a Deity known as Feelings."

"Mom?" Dream and Nightmare say at the same time.

Alloy grimaces. "I know that you two might remember her differently, but Deities aren't like us. They don't feel the same way. Even I........ didn't quite get it. I don't want you to be disappointed."

"You keep talking about the Deities with such apprehension. Fate sounds bad, but they can't all be horrible if you were one of them, Alloy. I believe that they will see through Fate's betrayal," Reaper says comfortingly. Alloy nods, thankful.

Alloy leads the way closer to the tree's stump. It looks insignificant now, but Alloy has the feeling that they've already gained some attention. It's not every day that so many powerful beings visit the tree. The only living beings now are from visits for meetings. Alloy steps up right to the stump, and Dream and Nightmare both wince when he steps right up to stand on top.

"Hey Feelings! We all know your watching! Could you cut me some slack and weaken a Multiverse wall for me?" Alloy shouts out his request, looking all around since he doesn't know which angle he's being watched at. "It's Balance, remember!? You and Destiny helped me get in here?"

Nobody answers. Reaper and Nightmare exchange an uncertain look. Alloy is standing on a stump and screaming out at nothing. It makes all three uncomfortable. Alloy huffs, annoyed. Then, he jerks his head to the left and locks on to an empty spot in the air. He can feel them.

"Feelings! I see you! It's me, Balance!" Absolutely nothing happens. Alloy sighs. "If that's how you want it." In an instant, Alloy has drawn out his strings as they shift to bright blue. They fly out and entangle bits of the codes all around. Dream swallows a protest. He trusts Alloy not to actually destroy this place, and he doesn't. Alloy twists the codes to turn a dead patch of grass bright pink, a blackened bush a soft read, and gives the stump he's standing on a striped pattern. Ink could not manipulate code after he created it, and Error could only destroy. This is not the power of a simple Monster. The ground shudders.

"Something's quite annoyed" Nightmare comments. He can faintly feel the emotion, but it's strange and uncomfortable to focus on.

"Oh, so now you believe me?" Alloy huffs. A rift-like distortion opens near the ground. It looks like some sort of extremely thick heat haze. A magic aura unlike anything Dream knows oozes out of the tear. He can only assume that it's the magical pressure Alloy mentioned. It makes his own aura seem like nothing more than a breeze.