Dreamcrash

Thirty Two: The Truth

I open my eyes. It looks like the Antivoid, but I know it's not. Something tells me so. To my left, a few feet away, is Three.

"Where are we?" I ask.

"So you remember how to get here but not where you are? Shame. This, my friend, is the ruins of a place those Protectors thought to be destroyed. The remains of the very first Underfell AU to end up here. Pen thought we destroyed it, but no, we only cleansed it of its code."

"We?"

"Yes, Thread is around here somewhere."

I get chills. Three seems to notice. "Don't worry, he has no interest interfering with our business. In fact, he'll be leaving around now to go distract the Protectors. Come, let's walk."

I follow him as he brings me through the remains of the AU. The more we walked, the more I could tell what it used to be. Glitches, flickering about, showed me small parts of what this place used to be. The occasional monster or scenery would appear, only to flash out of sight a moment later.

"You know, this is a rather historic spot. This was the place where Thread first learned of Pen's true potential, and his ability to use Godmoves. This was one of the first AUs Thread destroyed. Not far from here is where we found your friend Patch and tried to kill him. And of course, this is where you and I made Blackout."

I don't respond. I'm not sure how to. Three leads me to a space where there's no glitches, and that's when I start to see it. What I guessed to be the ceiling of this place had yellow strings dripping from them, Souls wrapped up in them, a faded red.

"What are those?" I ask.

"The Souls of the various humans from AUs we've destroyed. When the Protectors reboot and AU, a new Soul for the human is made, so Thread's taken up to collecting the discarded ones."

As I look around, I see there's quite a lot. It makes me wonder just how many AUs Thread has destroyed, and how many more he will.

"Ah, it seems we're almost there." I hear shouting in the distance, mostly insults. I sense annoyance from Three. "Don't mind them, they don't get along."

I hear the sounds of laughing and then someone teleporting away, followed by multiple curse words. I don't see anyone, but Three looks up and then sighs. Following his gaze, I saw Blackout hanging from the ceiling, wrapped in yellow strings. 

"Oh my god..." Three says, exasperated.  

"HE STARTED IT!"

"Yeah, I'm sure he did." Three waved a hand and the strings disappeared. Blackout fell down and landed on his face. He gets up, looking like he intended to do that, and then his eyes find mine.

"So you actually came? I thought you'd be too scared to." He sneered. Just like that, he's gotten under my nonexistent skin. I felt a spike of anger which I quickly tried to push down, but apparently not quick enough, because Three laughed.

"Glad to know Blackout has the same effect both in and out of the Dreamscape. So, now that you're here, what would you like to know?"

Being the genius I am, I looked at him confused. Blackout snorts. 

"You're here so I can explain things. What would you like to know."

"Oh," I say, slightly embarrassed. Why am I feeling this way? I'm in front of a freaking destroyer, two of them, and I feel embarrassed? "Well, everything. Like what happened, why I can't remember some things, why Blackout seems to mess with my emotions, and why he wants my Soul so badly!"

"Speaking of, can I have that while you're here?"

Three sighed. "Why are all my workers imbeciles? No Blackout, we talked about this a million times, you can't take Night's Soul while he's here."

"So I can get it the moment he leaves."

Three took a deep breath in and exhales. 

"Can I?"

"Blackout. Shut up or Creators help me I'm going to tear your code into shreds. Now, Night, to answer your questions, The reason why Blackout wants your Soul is because of... well, an error in his coding. He was created with only half a Soul, and I certainly didn't mean for him to want another half. The reason why he wanted yours specifically is because you helped me with him."

"He has only half a Soul..." 

Three nods.

"So... why did you make him with just a half? Why not settle for a whole one?"

"You see, there are certain things, Night, that even Codemasters such as myself can't do. One of them is making a perfect copy of a Soul. If I make a copy, it won't work as well as I want it to. So I had to use a real Soul."

"A... real Soul..."

It hit me. It hit me harder than anything ever has. I forgot how to breathe, how to work, how to do anything for a full moment. Three just watched me, his grey eyes suddenly sinister looking. Blackout, who had been sulking around, now had a grin on his face as he watched me panic.

"You see, that's why he messes with your emotions. It's because your Souls are tied together."

"Oh no. No, no, you're lying, that can't be..."

"Well, I'm afraid I'm being fully honest, Night. And I can prove it." Three flicked a finger and lime strings flew out, wrapping around Blackout's Soul. He jumped, then shot a quick glare at Three. I saw it, a dark maroon, with a slightly transparent black thing covering the Soul. It was, as Three said, only half a Soul, with part of it being chipped where it had broken off. Three then looked at me. I had started backing away without realizing it, and when he caught my Soul in strings too, I was pulled towards him. It was a full, purple and yellow Soul. Keeping an annoyed Blackout's Soul held in strings, Three began what I guessed to be Codewriting me. A tingling feeling spread throughout me.

"Now, you see, I couldn't just use the part I had. That wouldn't work at all. So I ended up infusing it with hate, which is why Blackout's Soul appears to have a thin layer of black over it. That's also why he messes with your emotions. The hate in his Soul rubbing off on yours. Then, of course, I had to mess with your code so it wouldn't be too obvious... and done." He pulled up my Soul again, so I could see it clearly. "That's also why he knows your every location, and can get to places other destroyers can't go. Because, technically speaking, Blackout isn't a destroyer."

Looking at my Soul, I felt all the memories Three had blocked out coming back. I could remember it, every word, every feeling, and I knew, staring at my Soul, cracked down the middle, perfectly lining up with Blackout's, that every word Three was saying was true.

"He's you."