Work Text:
Well, there is an island here.
There are two scientists, who live there.
They’ve always worked on various things, but most importantly, at one point, they began looking into something called “Wish Craft”.
It wasn’t new and the two weren’t pioneers by any means.
But they did a lot of work on the subject.
Over years, stretching into decades, as they and others did more and more work on it, publishing papers and studies, the subject of Wish Craft became quite popular on the island.
It became common knowledge, more and more people learned how to do it properly, learned how to manipulate it, learned how to use it to do impossible things.
Soon enough, Wish Craft went from an odd curiosity, to a well known type of Craft, to an inseparable element of the island’s culture.
Soon enough, more and more people began to misuse it.
Soon enough, tragedy was about to strike. It was only a matter of when.
The two scientists, felt guilty about their contributions.
They vowed to one another never to use Wish Craft again, and, to do anything in their power to avoid anything truly awful happening because of it.
As a result, their following works became much more cautionary in nature.
First, asking people to practice restraint with their use of Wish Craft and to be as careful as they can.
Then, attempting to portray Wish Craft as dangerous, stating that it should only be used by people who are experienced and can make sure to avoid catastrophe.
Then, asking people not to use it at all.
Then, asking parents to shield their children from the knowledge of Wish Craft entirely.
Their publications became increasingly desperate, and eventually, the desperation felt by one of them had reached a tipping point.
“There’s just no other way.”
“But, there must be! You can’t do this! You promised!”
“Did you wish for it?”
“Don’t say such things! You know there’s a better way!”
“I’m afraid this situation calls for fighting fire with fire, water has proven not to suffice and even if it can suffice, the two of us don’t have enough of it.”
“We can get more! We can get more people on board with our cause! We can-”
“We’ve tried that already. Stars, don’t you understand?”
“You’re making a grave mistake. What if your wish is the one to cause that catastrophe, that horrible tragedy we’ve been trying to prevent?!”
“Then so be it, if that’s what the Universe wants. I’ll be going to the nearby favor tree now, do not interrupt me.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
“Stars. How much do I just wish you could get off my back!”
Then the desperate one got an idea.
“Get off my back! Get off my back! Get off my back!”
The other scientist took a step back. It was as if the Universe itself was stopping them from proceeding any further. The desperate one made their way to the favor tree.
There, they picked their favorite leaf.
There, they breathed their wish into the leaf.
There, they folded the leaf.
There, over the leaf, they said it, three times, or six, or... they weren’t sure, they said it however many times felt right.
Their wish, was for it all to, please, simply be forgotten. Let it all just be forgotten, let it all just be forgotten.
Well, there is not an island here.