Chapter Text
A Divergent Path — The Countdown For Reset
—-
A familiar mask tilted its head, the halos shifting with it.
“Hmm. I will be going to the admin. In the meanwhile, you humans may want to prepare yourselves.”
.
.
.
He laughs a laugh filled with bitterness and resentment, and sits on the coarse ground, too tired to try getting back yet.
“Too bad this couldn’t be prevented. You might be stuck here for a while longer now, admin.”
He gains momentum in his movements and rage, as well as grief, are clearly shown.
“Hah. As if I care at this point. Do any of them care? The lot of them. The COWARDS! He—“
The man sucked in a sharp breath.
“I thought they cared. Maybe not Punz or Dream…but—“
He shakes his head and slumps down, a posture of giving up, and goes: “Heh.”
“Maybe I was wrong…”
The masked figure seemed to stare for a moment, before letting out a soft exhale.
Luminescent arms cradled themselves around a bloodstained green hoodie.
He shakes the deity off.
“…”
“…
“…?”
The carved letters, “XD”, tilted slightly to the left.
“…I don’t want to return.”
Hands curled in on himself.
“I’d rather stay in this hellhole than go back to some damn traitors.
“…’suppose Dream was right…I was too naive. Well…HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED! ANOTHER MISERABLE WRETCH TO ADD TO HIS COLLECTION!”
The man huffs and lays near the portal to his world, still not wanting to return and let his “friends” see this traumatized, messed up version of him.
No, they would see the calm, composed, and clear headed version of him. The version that wouldn’t hold any speck of hope for them. The one that would bring cool headed judgement for their crimes.
“I might just support this restart of the server now. I don’t need these memories once I get back to my world. My real friends don’t need to see this.
”Remind me after things are fixed when the portal is open, will you?”
The glowing figure stayed quiet, but nodded.
His vision began to blur, and the world spun on its side.
His last recollection was of cold hands once again reaching out to catch him.
The deity decided to wait until his admin awoke.
He jolted awake, tensing as he comes back into reality, and away from the world of dreams.
“…!
“…”
Seeing no current threat, Clay flopped back on the floor.
“Phew, I thought there were more mobs to kill. Seems my makeshift routine for the past few days has left a toll.”
Clay raises his hands to cushion his head.
“Might as well rest a little while longer, as my injuries heal themselves up. Can’t have those traitors figure out anything’s wrong.”
Meanwhile, a certain blonde and a mercenary have a little chat.
“Dream. How are you now? I know the attention has shifted away from you, with what happened to Clay and all…”
“Punz. I’m fine. I didn’t want to bring him up again, but I suppose I’m starting to accept it. He’s not me, and I’m not him. I can see that much by his bad reactions.”
“…again with this? Dream—“
“Let me get to the point.”
“…”
The blonde mercenary nods.
“With whatever residue power left in me as the former admin, I detected some error with that portal he went in.”
“…!
“You mean…?”
Dream shooks his head.
“No, he isn’t back to his world. At least, not permanently. I told you, there’s something off with that portal. The aura I sensed from it was very sinister. Almost like it was stopping Clay from doing something. Why did no one else get sucked in? Only that copy of me? You also thought it odd, didn’t you? Of course, the rest of them assumed it was because he was too close, but not you, right?”
Punz scratched his head.
“I suppose…but no one would’ve had that amount of malice toward Clay, and be able to pull something like that off. Plus, if you had done it, you’d have told me.”
Dream tapped the bedside table.
“Which leads me to the conclusion: the world itself has started to see Clay as a threat. Either that, or some higher being doesn’t want him here. Which works out perfectly. Either way, he’ll be gone. And even if he returns, we have a higher chance of getting him on our side.”
“That’s…that’s good then. I hope he didn’t…die. I mean, he’s still another version of you after all. I wouldn’t bear being able to see any version of you dead.”
“I doubt he’s dead, considering he has the admin position. Mostly likely he’s back to his world, or something. Either way he’ll be fine, probably. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but, I don’t want him to die either. It would be too…anticlimatic and pitiful for a version of me.”