The Stage is Set

A psycho plays with you as I die pt.6

POWER - Ethan Ganderplay this as I die - Ethan Gander

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Blue heaves for breath from where he stands. His legs are weak, and pain faintly buzzes in his mind. He stares at the mutilated body of Creation in front of him. Blue's shoulders shake with anger at not being strong enough. Not being enough. How could he not be enough to protect Creation? How could he let this happen without more of a fight? Swap has no soul to use blue magic on nor does he have the training Blue does. So why is he still winning? How can he keep throwing Blue around as if he were nothing but a handful of grapes? Blue moves to look at the distraught expression on Creation. Their clothes are torn and pulled apart as if Swap had no interest in them. Blue would say he didn't, not after what happened. He feels an ugly emotion rear its head at him. A sense of failure chaining him to the ground where he stands. Self-hatred makes it hard to breathe and talk. Shock takes his tears from him. Leaving him a hollow gasping shell of the warrior he's supposed to be. He can't do anything but stare at Swap as he laughs.

Why did he do this?

Didn't he love Ink? Blue doesn't understand. He doesn't know if he could ever understand. It's a gruesome scene. One that makes him stare only at Swap. He doesn't want to disrespect Creation by looking down at their bare body. As monsters return to dust, Creation returns to the ink. Blue hopes that it only means that they're healing. That they're safe. Instead, Blue looks down at his scarf, the one that has surprisingly stayed intact this whole time. It's still the same perfect shade of baby blue. The same one that Ink made him after his original scarf got destroyed in training.

He pulls it off his neck, unfolding it to the full width. He uses it to cover the last bits of Creation's torso as it slowly disappears. He wipes his face before looking back up at Swap who licks his hand as if he had just eaten a good meal before crying. It makes Blue sick. It makes him angry. How dare Swap do this. How dare he do this. How dare Swap do this to Creation, to a part of Ink, and feel entitled enough to cry about what he did after? Swap had done nothing but hurt Ink and Creation, and now he feels sorry. Now he feels like he has the right to cry over them? Blue has never understood the phrase 'seeing red' before.

Now he does.

Blue growls as he glares at Swap. "The fuck is wrong with you?!" Swap stops, blankly staring at him. Blue takes a step closer, ignoring all the groans his bones give him from the stab wounds that had nailed him away from Swap and Creation. "How could you do all this and then cry about it?!" He feels his face growing hot with anger as something in his soul screams with resentment. "You don't deserve to cry! You don't get to mourn this! YOU CAUSED THIS!" Blue heaves with breath, pausing enough to feel small tendrils of ink from the floor rising to heal his wounds as discreetly as possible.

Swap stares before smiling. He starts to laugh as he begins to cry again. He runs a hand through the flames that cover his skull. "Oh, you poor little copy." Blue recoils in confusion and slight offense. He hasn't heard that insult in a while. "Don't you see? All of this doesn't even matter anymore! All of this," Swap raises his arms as he gestures to everything in the room before looking back at Blue. "All of this is nothing more than an illusion. Nothing more than words on a page. Little pixels on a screen meant for other being's pleasure. What I do is not my own will. Neither is what you do. All of it is planned. PLANNED! WE DON'T EVEN MATTER! NOTHING WE THINK IS OUR THOUGHTS! EVERYTHING IS SOMETHING THAT SOMEONE ELSE PUTS DOWN IN A DOCUMENT FOR OTHERS TO SEE!" Swap leans forward towards Blue as he cackles and grips at his face.

Blue takes a step back as he listens to the rambles of what seems to be a crazy man. "You've lost it, you truly did."

Blue doesn't try to deny it. He knows. Something out there is always watching them; always wanting to see what happens next. How else would the Rewrites happen? Yet, he doesn't let it bother him. He knows that they could never affect their Multiverse again. He knows too much. Yet he doesn't remember how he knows, he just does. Yes, the Creators do have some effect on them. Yes, sometimes it feels like the Creators do something to see what or how they respond, but he knows. At least here in this Multiverse, in his home, everyone writes their own actions. No one is pulling any strings, or writing out how they respond. Blue knows the Creators have no more power here; not like that. Not anymore, nevermore. He knows everyone writes themselves, the Creators could put them in the situation, but what they do is all them. He doesn't understand how Swap could jump to that conclusion. Everyone already knows that the Creators tend to create them for their amusement.

Swap only grows louder in his fit of laughter. "You can't hate the character that stands before you! For it was written in my script! I am merely the actor used in this play that is our lives!" He calms down, running a hand through his fire again. "You also can't hate this game we're playing. You can only hate those who control you. They use you as their character. The ones that play you, who lead you astray!"

Blue sighs. There is no reason to Swap anymore. That's not how it works anymore. That's not how their home works anymore. Ink made sure of it. It's why Error was given silence for so long. Why no creator bothers them anymore. Blue draws his sword, he's not ready to fight. He's tired and injured. Everything hurts more than it should. He's low on magic. He can only pray that Swap doesn't call his bluff by standing tall and ready to fight.

His luck isn't that good.

Swap launches faster than he was expecting. A sword was now drawn, aiming for Blue's neck. If a budget replacement of him is going to die, then it's going to die the same way he used to die to the human of his AU. Swap will savor the feeling of his blade taking off its skull, for everything it has taken from him. He'll enjoy stomping on its skull just like his human used to do. He's going to enjoy every bit of this and then he'll find Ink. This worthless copy can't stop him if it's destroyed. It can't keep Ink from him forever. Ink is his until he decides that they have lived long enough. This copy can't decide that, only he can. He'll take the soul piece that Blue hid and find his queen. His angel.

His sword never makes contact.

Blue cries out as a hand shoves him backward and out of the way of the attack. He stumbles as he tries to stay standing, almost falling over as he tries to see who pushed him. To his horror, he looks up to see the AU-size Creation standing before him with the length of Swap's sword sticking out from their back. Swap's face changes to one of grief and anger. Blue doesn't dare to try and think about what Swap must be thinking. He stands still, horrified and unable to move as he watches their form shudder and melt. They draw in a weak, shallow breath before moving to look at Blue from over their shoulder. They mouth the word "run" to him. A simple command that he wants to fight. Blue knows he can't; he isn't as strong as Swap. Stars, does he want revenge, but if Creation tells him to run; run he will do.