God of Lost Stories

#9 X-Factor

"....... Are you taking notes?" Red asks in confusion, a grimace of disgust on his face.

"Well, I've been trying to write down something for everyone, but most don't give me a chance to sit down for a real interview," Alloy hums, scribbling hurriedly in a notebook. His hand writing is horrendous.

"That's........ actually a little creepy," Lust squirms a little on the couch in his spot next to Red.

Alloy glances up at them both briefly before looking back down. The 'ultra powerful' god is sitting on the floor of Red's living room, legs crossed with a notebook balanced on one knee. All this AU hopping is getting very repetitive. Alloy thought he saw Red and Lust fighting together at that big battle, so he decided to multitask. Red looks largely the same as Alloy's used to. Lust, on the other hand, looks very different. He wears a purple baggy hoodie and sagging sweat pants that don't give his body any shape. His hands are hidden by a pair of gray gloves, and his hood is pulled up. Lust covers up every bare part of his body that he can short of wearing a mask. Alloy refuses to comment on it.

"So what's your deal?" Red asks when the silence become uncomfortable.

"What do you mean?" Alloy chirps.

"Don't play dumb," Red rolls his eyes, "You dragged this idiot over here and started bombarding the both of us with all these questions about the frick'en Multiverse and who's with who and all that junk. Were ya born yesterday?"

Alloy actually snorts at that, and fights not to laugh. His real age is hard to figure due to more than a few complications. "I just want to understand. It seems to me that a little understanding might go a long ways to stop you all from wanting to murder each other."

"You're trying to stop the battles between the AUs?" Lusts asks in disbelief.

"Yep. That's the reason I'm here," Alloy nods nonchalantly.

"B-But you can't just make them stop! Ink and Error have been fighting since..... since forever! And then there's Nightmare and Dream, and all the neutrals. On any given day, so many AUs are getting destroyed, terrorized, or are just suffering from their fates. Ink keeps creating darker and darker worlds all the while." Lust looks away and hugs his arms tightly to his chest. His support on the bad guy's side has cost him greatly.

"Everyone has their reasons and stories," Alloy says confidently, "Everyone has something that's driving their actions, good or bad. Understanding can only come with revealing those drives to others. Understanding is the gateway to acceptance, and eventually, forgiveness." Alloy's childish facade abruptly pulls back to reveal a glimpse of something........ older. Something ancient with more compassion than anyone could possibly comprehend. Even Red is suddenly overwhelmed with the sudden understanding of how far Alloy will go to help anyone but himself. He and Lust are speechless. " I don't expect it to happen overnight, but I can certainly plan to push everyone in the right direction."

Alloy then stands up. He closes the notebook and flicks it up into the air with a strange motion of his wrist, making the notebook and pencil both disappear. "Anyways, I've got another dozen AUs to hit today, so......."

"You're leaving?" Red asks.

"Dusty calls!" Alloy chirps, "Hey Lust, do you want me to send you back to your AU, or do you want to stay here? Underfell is safe enough if you don't go outside."

"O-Oh, um, could I stay here, please?" List squeaks out, surprised that he gets a choice.

The god nods. He's noticed that Lust and Red prefer to keep a healthy distance between themselves on the couch. Even so, Alloy can sense a mutual understanding between the two. Most days, they hate their AUs, and on some days, their brothers. They might even become friends it left alone with each other.