Given An Unwanted Second Chance

Chapter 38

"Eclipse, I doubt you know how, but could you allow me to portal to this AU?  I'm...not very comfortable with the idea of Gradient living in the Anti-Void."

"Um...I mean, of course, yeah, you can portal here, but, uh...how do I allow that?"

"We could just bypass the learning process as I doubt you'll be letting anyone else into this AU."

I tilted my head.  "Wait, if Cross and I are the only ones who can access this AU via portals, why wouldn't I allow Killer, Dust, and Horror?  Why weren't they allowed before?"

"That's actually a matter of magic."  Cross spoke.  "I have the ability to traverse AUs because of my soul magic.  The murder trio over there don't have portal magic.  Normal portal magic, anyway.  They can only access this AU if you or I are here because of the bonds.  They are allowed here if they ever developed the ability to portal about.  Hasn't happened in the centuries past, though, so I doubt it will happen."

"We get it, Criss-Cross, you're stronger than us."  Killer grumbled.

Cross rubbed the back of his head.  "We all have similar strength, Killer..."

I shook my head slightly.  "How do we bypass the learning process?"

"If you could show me your soul, I can give myself access to this AU via your coding."

"Ah, okay."  I replied, pulling out my soul.

"Woah.  I mean, I know Error just told us everything, but that is actually...really cool looking."  Dust commented, looking at my multi-colored soul.

I smiled weakly.  "Hopefully, it'll never develop more colors.  I don't...like the idea of being able to reset the multiverse.  That kind of power is...scary."

Error reached forward and lightly tapped my soul, pulling back as a coding screen appeared.  He did...stuff...with it for a bit as we continued talking.

Killer hummed.  "I guess resetting the whole multiverse was the thing you weren't telling us before."

"Yeah...pretty much."

"It is a...tad unsettling to...know I died...yet I don't...have the memory OF...dying."  Horror murmured.

"I don't think I could ever accurately describe the terror and pain I felt watching that.  KNOWING that happened.  FEELING your deaths through the bonds.  I mean...I don't want to go into specifics about what happened.  Just that you all ended up dying."

"So what happens when Cross dies? "  Chara asked as he appeared, looking curious.

"Chara..."  Cross muttered.  "Don't make her have to explain that."

"What?  I just wanna know!  Did we both just die?  Did I take over and then consequently die? "

"The latter..."  I replied quietly.

"Huh.  Interesting."

I gave a humorless grin.  "You called everyone idiots because we couldn't work together."

"Sounds like Chara."  Cross muttered.  Chara just stuck out his tongue.

I closed my eyes, taking a shaky breath.  "I-I don't wanna think about it.  It hurts."

"Soooo...what ARE your stats now?"

There was a thwacking sound and Killer whined.  "Owww, it was a genuine question!"

"And insensitive."  Dust grumbled.

I opened my eyes, sighing.  "I don't know what my...HP?...is.  I'm unsure of how to know that.  But...my attack is around mid-7000 and defense is a little over 900..."