Entropy [5]

Perfect Match

20
Perfect Match

CADMUS

Vosh and Conner remained in the exam room for another 30 minutes. In that time, the young couple were forced to hash out their deeper issues. Starting with the question that's been on Conner's mind since the merge.

"Why?" He asked Vosh.

Vosh knew full well what he meant when he asked. To buy himself time, he pretended to be confused. "Why what?" He asked back.

"Why didn't you erase my memories like everyone else?" Conner elaborated. "You could've wiped them like nothing and our relationship wouldn't have any problems. So why didn't you?"

Vosh turned away from him. He played with his fingers on his lap. There were a million different reasons. None of them would change the truth.

"I love you." He said. "I don't know much about love, but I know that in order for any relationship to work, you can't have secrets. So I didn't erase your memories because I didn't want to lie to you. I didn't want to have to keep the merge a secret from you."

"So you can't lie to me but you can lie to everyone else?" Conner asked. His tone was accusatory even though he tried not to be angry.

"I did what I had to do," Said Vosh. "I know that's not enough for you, Con, but it's the truth. If I didn't merge the universes there would be no way to stop..."

"..What's coming, yeah I know. I just.. I just wish you lied to me instead. So I wouldn't have to look everyone in the face every day and lie about what I know."

Vosh sighed. He feared for every Titan. He feared for the entire multiverse. While Darkseid was a boogeyman under Vosh's bed, he wasn't the true monster in this fight.

Vosh wasn't afraid of Darkseid. He was afraid of himself. Afraid of what he'd do in the near future.

"Do you really think you'd be better off? If I lied, would that have been any better?" Vosh asked, gaze lifted to Conner's.

Conner shrugged. "I don't know. It's been on my mind every day and I try to talk to Jericho about it, but he couldn't understand. Nobody else understands. Nobody but y-"

His breath caught in his throat. He looked into Vosh's eyes and for the first time he understood. He understood why Vosh didn't erase the burden from his shoulders. Because it was never truly his burden to bare.

Conner put his hand on top of Vosh's. "You didn't want to be alone." He said.

Vosh nodded and looked away. "It didn't change a thing, in the end. You left me alone anyway." He said.

"I blamed myself for this, you know?" Conner confessed. "Back on Oa, you didn't want to use your cosmic powers because you knew how consuming it could be and I pushed you to do it anyway."

"Then you started looking into the future, altering realities and merging universes. I thought I encouraged you to become addicted to that kind of power and I couldn't look you in the eye afterwards. So I took my anger with myself out on you and that's not okay."

"Conner your faith in me is what made me strong enough to save Oa in the first place. To save all of us. Using my powers on that level did feel good but knowing I had you to anchor me felt even better. The merge is going to save us, Con."