I didn't sign up for that shit

I must be dreaming 'cause I don't believe in ghosts

Hover reluctantly helped most of the villagers with problems that they could very well have solved on their own. The fur on his tail always stood on end when he thought of the satisfied faces of these monsters when he was doing another of their tasks. Hover was aware of what they were doing. The longer they could keep him away from his brother, the more chance the villagers had of abusing his brother.

Sometimes Hover wished he could undo all those centuries to the point when it was just him and his brother Despair. Those were some of the best years of his life. But on the other hand, he couldn't do that to Despair. His brother didn't deserve to feel that pain of loss again.

So Hover was a little amused when the villagers told him how children had been stealing goods from them for days. It amused Hover. He wanted to shake hands with the children for doing it so well. Hover didn't have such breaks often.

Hover couldn't follow their emotions because he didn't yet know which belonged to whom. So he searched the traditional way. Lo and behold, Hover actually found someone. He just wasn't ready for it yet.

"Axe ...?"

There in front of him stood the former member of his brother's gang, Axe, though that should be impossible. But Hover took a closer look and found more and more similarities. The hole in the skull was still there, even if it looked a little bigger. The bright red eyes that looked at him in surprise also looked so much redder than Axe's. Axes' eyelight had always been a pale pink, so Hover actually had trouble seeing the color as red. But not with this eyelight. This could look straight into his soul and Hover would still not find a spark of gray in it.

It honestly confused him.

Hover watched Axe move slowly back, holding the stray cat close to him. Hover remembered how Axe used to have a tendency to feed small animals. But why should Axe refrain from him? Didn't he know who he was?

Maybe-

Before Hover could finish his thought, Axe turned and ran as fast as possible away from him, towards the tree. Hover then hastened to follow up as quickly as possible. Even if this miraculously were to be Axe, Axe himself couldn't pass through the barrier without express admission.

Instead, Axe turned into the woods just before the barrier and Hover automatically followed. But what he found there, he would never have expected. There, in front of a tree house on a large swing spun from Mistake's threads, sat four other skeletons that Hover had never thought he would see again. He was so surprised by it all that Hover didn't notice Frezh approaching him from behind and wrapping his tail around the horned skeleton. This had brought Hover back to the present and with wide eyes he looked first at Frezh and then at the others, with the four pushing Axe further behind them, weapons ready. Hover used this time to take a closer look at the other four.

As always, Slaughter's red soul stood out from the surroundings. But that was what Hover had always liked about him. So it was much easier to find him in larger quantities. Though he couldn't remember Slaughter having such tarry black tears streaming down his cheeks. Somehow the liquid reminded him of Despair.

Murder himself, other than the burn scars, didn't seem very different from what he remembered.

X didn't seem too different from what Hover remembered, either. Except for the bright red scar. Hover is very certain that it used to be black. In the same way, the red eyesight wasn't there before, both eyesight were a bright white.

Mistake actually had one of the biggest differences from the past. For one thing, his bones used to be a little lighter than they are now. And before there were none of these scars on his bones. Oh, Despair wouldn't like it if he saw Mistake's condition.

"Why did you follow Horror?" Murder asked, a growl in his voice. Hover just looked at him, confused. He hadn't followed anyone named Horror here. Did he mean Axe?

“I was worried that he might try to run to the tree. Without a special admission, the barrier wouldn't have let him through and I didn't want him to hurt himself." Hover just hoped that Axe was meant. Otherwise they could really talk past each other.

"I don't remember ever having a barrier around the tree of feelings." The statement confused Hover even more. Didn't Mistake remember helping build that barrier himself?

Something suddenly felt very wrong about the situation. And it wasn't the fact that Hover was firmly in the grip of a lamia. If he really wanted to be free, he could easily be. No, it was the fact that those skeletons in front of him looked and acted like his old friends, but seemed to lack essential memories. And if those in front of him were really the ones he thought they were, then this loss of memory would be bad. Although... There was one thing Hover wanted to try before he had to inform Balance that the attempt was a failure. Maybe then Balance would stop trying to make the impossible possible.

“Would you come with me? I would like to introduce you to someone." Hover just hoped they remembered him enough, even if it was just subconsciously, to trust him.

Notes:
And for those who found it inconclusive now, here is the explanation:
Hover = Dream
Despair = Nightmare
Axe = Horror
Murder = Dust
Slaughter = Killer
X = Cross
Mistake = Error
Why the baby gang was named here by Hover by the names of their counterparts in this multiverse, even if these are not their names, is explained in the next couple chapter.