mykidisthebest

[ Probably if this were not a dream, this is where he'd dive for a window ]

Why?! It's mostly just shitty! And it's over anyway.

[trapped in a dream there's no escape!!!! the headlock isn't really doing anything to keep Minuet there, honestly, it's pretty loose, but it's just making Lethe feel better]

It's just what people do for each other! I can't change what happened in your past any more than you can change what happened in mine. But I want to hear about your sister, and your brother, and why you have that stupid heavy metal arm, and I want to hear more about your other sisters too. I want to hear about the best and worst things you've ever experienced. I want to know about the things you love and the things you hate. That's what friends do.

[ He sorta gapes like a stupid goldfish, which seems to happen a lot around Lethe actually ]

...

[lets him out of the headlock]

You probably didn't know since you haven't had a lot of friends growing up. But now that I've told you, you have no excuses. Remember it.

... Sorry.

It's just -- hard.

You don't have to apologize. It's not like I think it's easy either.

How 'bout we make a deal... I practice sharing, and you practice sharing.

It's not like I don't wanna know too.

Deal. But if there's something specific you want to know, you'll have to ask.

. . . There is, actually.

Really? I'm all ears, then. What is it?

[ A hesitant pause ]

You showed me a bunch of memories during that ritual where everyone turned into kids. One of those people-- that was your brother, right?

I've just... always wondered what happened. You've never mentioned the fact that he was dead.

[there's a flinch as his fingers dig into the blanket; it is far, far, far harder to hear the words spoken aloud without fear resistance than he'd realized]

Ah...yeah. I turned back time. Have I mentioned that before?

[ Motherfucker you did WHAT NOW ]

... No.

[the words come out slowly, quiet, carefully spaced out so that there's no hitch in his breath or wobble in his voice as he speaks]

My little brother...Yoohyun came into a dungeon to save me. He died protecting me. Killing the bast--boss monster in that dungeon granted me a wish stone. The description said that it couldn't bring back the dead, so I wished to go back in time five years instead. The twenty-one year old Yoohyun is alive and well.

[ "Wow Lethe is really poised about terrible situations" actually just Fear Resistance-induced statistical error. This man is NOT coping. He has not even ATTEMPTED coping. ]

So, then-- it's like it never happened?

[do you not also carry the grief and guilt of losing your brother with you for all of time, this seems normal]

That's what I was hoping for when I made the wish. Turning back time is a lot messier than they make it out to be in science fiction movies though.

The events that happened still took place. The world was reset, but that just means that those who died were discarded outside of the world to not cause irregularities.

[ Briefly considers the first draft of his hypothetical wish

Moving on ]

You said you know people from outside your world. So-- you can you find him, right?

Ah...normally, discarded means deleted. The system administrators--the people from outside of my world--originally told me he'd been deleted entirely. We found out later that someone took his body, but...that person is in a place I can't reach. So I can't ask her to return him to me.

Deletion... System administrators...

[ good fucking lord ]

Is your whole universe some kind of simulation?

No way. I'm as real as you are. How should I put it...I don't have the whole history, so it's hard to explain. There are five different universes, each with its own "source" that it was born from. Within those universes are countless worlds and galaxies, as big as you'd expect. The source at the center of each universe creates and destroys worlds indiscriminately. Like a fire burns everything to ashes, or a whirlpool sucks you under the water.

But, naturally, the people on all of those worlds want to live. Enough of them grew strong enough to stop the source from destroying their worlds, or escaped their worlds before they were destroyed. A group of them banded together to create the "system" that triggers when the source starts to swallow up a world. It's supposed to help worlds fight back against being swallowed. My world is real, but these people are powerful enough to remake or reshape parts of reality like that.

[ Frowns after mulling this over for a minute ]

That's a lot of power for anyone to have.

Do you trust them?

[can't help but throw him a Look that says "wow obviously not"]

No. But I do need to use them for a bit longer. At least until my world is safe. There are multiple factions of Transcendentals--like the people who run the system--which makes things complicated. Some of them are neutral, and others want to help the source destroy worlds. I'd like to keep some of them on my side while I can.

[ JUST CHECKING ]

How much more do you think it's gonna take for your world to be out of hot water? That's a full-time job for you.

I'm on a five year time limit before the world is swallowed up. So, five years at most.

[ Five years is like. Zero time whatsoever.

Starts looking SO FUCKING STRESSED, oh my god ]

Oh.

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