AvA: Resurrection

Ch. 14 - The Murder

Cobalt was taking a nap.

In his dreams, he was falling, yet he knew where he would land.

Sure enough, a torch appeared. He fell into a pool of water, splashing it everywhere.

A cough caught his attention. He turned to see a red stick standing where he usually would've: in the center of the granite room.

Even Cobalt had never seen the stick, he knew who he was:

The Dark Lord.

"Why are you here?" Cobalt demanded, climbing out of the pool.

"I am here to take your place," Dark replied calmly.

"Why do you want to take my place?"

"It is necessary. The void is killing us, and so is the Interspace. You of all people must know that."

"I know nothing of the sort. It's the other way around, Dark. WE are killing- more specifically, YOU are killing the Void, and the Interspace's fate is intertwined with the Void's; if the Void dies, it'll drag the Interspace along with it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever." Dark covered his ears.

Cobalt glared at Dark. "Are you aware that the Void will swallow the Interspace and everything on it will die? Do you want to die, Dark?"

"I don't die."

Cobalt sighed. "It's your choice. But I warned you. That's all I can do."

His vision suddenly turned black. It was one of these "tours of the future" again. He saw Multi killing Uni, Ragey fighting Disaster Guy, Red and Shaira pushing Yellow and Blue over a cliff, and Dark glitching out of existence.

He sat up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. He was still in his room. No one was in there with him.

Or so he thought.

In the far corner of the room, a ViraMorph crawled into a crack in the wall.

The door opened. Metsa poked her heed into the room. "You awake?"

"Yep. What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing. Just dinner."

Cobalt immediately leapt out of the bed. "That's not 'nothing'!"

Metsa laughed.

Cobalt followed her to the dining room, where everyone was already gathered.

Silver, Uni, and the Color gang were serving food. Everyone was chatting happily.

Cobalt and Metsa sat between Chosen and Deserved.

"Hey, guys," Deserved greeted.

"Hey, Deserved," Metsa replied.

Chosen glanced sideways at Cobalt. The stick didn't look very intimidating. Chosen wondered how he could've gotten to be guardian of the Void. Also, the stick was quiet and didn't seem much for conversation.

He decided to worry about that later.

Uni had volunteered to bring the tray covers back to the kitchen.

Cobalt watched him closely. He had a feeling that something bad was about to happen.

Uni set the covers in the sink, washed his hands, and turned to see Multi standing there.

"Multi," Uni exclaimed, "I– you should've at least made some noise!"

Multi stepped forward. Uni started to feel uncomfortable, but he had no idea why.

Multi held out his hand. "Want a cookie?"

Uni looked down, startled. Multi was holding a cookie.

"Uh... sure," Uni replied, taking hold of the cookie.

The next thing he knew, he was in a place really grey. All he remembered was a sharp pain in the gut and forehead.

"Multi? No. Impossible."

Multi waited for Uni to come back. As he waited, he watched Plasma and Ditzy exchanging food and talking cheerfully. It was an adorable sight.

As the sticks finished dinner, Elemental leaned close to Multi. "Where's Uni?"

Multi looked over the heads of the sticks. No Uni in sight.

"I don't know."

"You don't think-"

Multi got up abruptly and snuck out of the room. Elemental followed.

Multi crept towards the kitchen door. "Uni?"

Slowly pushing the door open, he looked down and gasped.

There lay Uni. Blood flowed out of two puncture marks, one on the forehead, and one on the chest. Blood was also splattered across the floor, seeping into the cracks between the tiles.

Multi fell to his knees. Tears spilled over his eyelids, sobs escaped his throat.

Elemental put a hand on his back as comfort.

The others gathered in the doorway. Purity gasped. Lime and Vermillion covered Plasma's and Ditzy's eyes.

Elemental turned to look at the crowd. "If anyone has any information about this, please come forward."

Cobalt stepped forward nervously. "Um... may we speak in private?"

"Of course," Chosen replied, who was standing conveniently near. Turning to face the crowd, he raised his voice. "Let's give them some room!"

The crowd dispersed. Cobalt and Elemental stayed behind along with Multi, who was still crying.

"What do you have?" Elemental asked Cobalt.

"I had a dream this afternoon," Cobalt began, "and... I saw... Multi killing Uni." He gulped.

Multi overheard and immediately stopped crying, his sadness replaced by anger and confusion. He looked up, and Elemental looked down at him. He gave him a look that said, "Wait."

"Um...," Cobalt began again, looking at Multi's expression with terror in his eyes, "Look, I'm not sure what I saw. It could have been... M- Multi, or it could've been an impostor." He had to finish the sentence as fast as he could, as Multi now looked downright murderous.

"Mmm." Elemental looked dead into Cobalt's eyes. "Why are you so sure these 'dreams' of yours come true?"

"Because they have," Cobalt stated, "Not just this time. I once had a dream about a sacrifice being made by two stick figures; that came true, didn't it?"

"Okay," Elemental said slowly, "So, what should we do to prevent this from happening again?"

"You should trust me," Cobalt stated, "Trust my dreams. If we don't trust each other, this war will be lost. I trust you; it's up to you to decide whether we win this was or not."

Elemental thought for a moment. Multi's expression had softened. Now, he asked, "What you're saying is... this is Dark's doing?"

"Most likely," Cobalt replied, "I mean, who else would do such a thing?"

"I guess that makes sense." Multi stood up. "Dark... is going... to pay."

"Right," Elemental said, holding out his hand, "We'll trust you."

Cobalt shook Elemental's hand.

"I did see other things," Cobalt admitted as he let go.

"Speak of them later," Elemental said, "At the meeting."

"'K."