The Stage is Set

Contacting A Past Life pt.7

Cross blinks as he comes back to himself. That wasn't how it went. That's not at all how Ink looked back then. Nor did Ink ever look that hesitant to talk to him. There was always a look of familiarity in Ink's pips. There was already unconditional love there. Not a look for hesitance. Not the worry and fear that something could go wrong. Cross didn't like that feeling the memory gave him. He tunes out everyone else as he tries to sort out the memory. It was as if Ink was meeting Cross for the first time without knowing him. That's different than when Cross met Ink for the first time. Something has changed his memory of their meeting.

If he can't trust his memory, who can he trust?

A thought comes to him. What if it was a memory from a past rewrite? Are they technically still there? If Swap was deleted but is still here, what's the chance that all the memories from past rewrites are gone? What if they're just subtly influencing them? Like the unexplainable fears or quirks of everyone? The hyperrealistic dreams some sanses have that feel like they last lifetimes? The way that Ink would know something about them before they even knew?

Was that the way their meeting went the first time? Ink was pregnant? With whom- Swap. Swap claims that the two were together. That they were going to get married. If Ink, younger Ink, didn't know how to properly control his magic as well as he does now, then... Oh. He would've had a kid. It's possible. He wonders who it would've been. Cross steps back. He would've been an uncle. The very first time they met. Does going to X-Tale hurt Ink? Does it remind him of what he's lost?

Is he hurting his older brother?

"-NO!" Cross startles out of his thoughts. "You can't do that! You'll endanger the Multiverse! It'll collapse if you do that!"

Swap's laugh rings through the room before smirking back at Error. "You think I care?!" Swap leans against the dome, "It wouldn't matter if Ink and I just leave before it collapses. We'll be together forever, and there will be nothing you can do to change that."

"Is that what you'll do with my power?"