What's Worth Saving (Is Never Worth Letting Go to Waste)

Chapter 23: Caught in the Lapse Again

"Time travel for me."

The request had become familiar, ringing through his skull, haunting him even in his dreams. He closes his eyes and hears the question, haunting him like a ghost. Karl sighs, fingers digging crescents into his palms.

He faces Dream in the cell, standing with his chin tilted up. He refuses to yield. He cannot yield. There's too much riding on his defiance, his constant refusal.

"Why should I do anything for you?" Karl asks, his tone clipped. Dream tilts his head, looking past him and over at the corpse Karl had been refusing to acknowledge. Tommy, who died for nothing. Again.

"Because I'll bring Tommy back." Dream says silkily. "I'll prove it now." He brushes past Karl, the revive book in hand. Karl wonders how he missed it when the masked man stepped into the cell. He steps back slowly, keeping his eyes firmly on Dream. He's almost afraid to blink.

Dream flips open the book, humming to himself as he works. Karl watches him skim the pages, muttering under his breath as he sits next to Tommy. Faintly, he wonders if he's vulnerable enough to be killed in the moment. If he's in a trance, if using the book takes something away.

Karl shakes the theory off almost immediately. Even if it were the case, Karl doesn't know how to use the book. He can't bring Tommy back. And he doesn't even know if he's strong enough to kill Dream, anyway.

So he watches in silence, watching as the very laws of nature are defied.

Tommy wakes up slowly, the white streak in his hair noticeably wider than before. Karl wrings his hands together as he sits up, almost immediately pushing himself back from Dream. The masked man pays him no mind, but he doesn't walk away from him either. He simply snaps the book shut and spreads his arms, grinning at Karl.

"I am a man of my word." He says with a small laugh. "I just want one thing, you know? And I will fulfill my end of the deal." Karl stares at him mutely, unsure of what to say. He can feel a hundred questions and a thousand doubts cloud his mind, all to form a cacophony of nothing.

He can't time travel for Dream.

He can't.

Tommy looks past the masked man, his eyes still glazed slightly. He sits back against the obsidian walls, face buried in his hands. Karl tears his gaze away, locking eyes with Dream. He smirks slightly; Karl can practically feel the question in the air, the upcoming words palpable.

"Time travel for me." His tone is almost friendly, inviting him to do a simple, menial task. Not shatter the universe, not break everything Karl's worked so hard to preserve. It's laughable, how absurd his request is.

And yet, when he looks at Tommy's shaking form, his resolve falters. It's slight enough that he knows he can't act on it, but he still feels regret. Loathing for Dream, and raw hurt for Tommy. Karl cannot save him.

If only it was just him at risk. If only Dream had kept killing him. If only he didn't have to choose between the server and one life, a life that's already fraught with suffering and grief and death. It's a horrible trade, but Karl has to refuse.

Surely Dream will realize killing Tommy over and over again does nothing? Karl has to tell himself that, and has to believe it. It does little to ease his conscience, but what else can he do?

"I will not." Karl says firmly. He doesn't look as Dream snaps Tommy's neck, keeping his gaze glued to the ground. He doesn't pull his gaze up until the lava cascades back around the cell, leaving him trapped with his thoughts and blood that should be on his hands.