Serendipity (Karlnapity Fantasy AU)

Chapter 31

He was pretty sure that the moment the door slammed shut, his heart stopped beating. He was now trapped alone with this monster and the worst thing was that his entire memory had come back. With a jerk, Karl was pulled to his feet and pressed against the walls. Dream stood across from him, the poison green lights of his visor, burning into his eyes. With a groan, Karl tried to ignore the headache in his head and focus on what Dream was shouting at him.

"Give up already, idiot! No matter how many times you try, each of your attempts will fail in the end," the angel shouted at him and Karl would have preferred to pretend that he didn't know what his counterpart was talking about. He would have asked him what he was talking about and why he couldn't just leave him alone. But it would have been a lie because by now Karl had gotten his memories back.

The questions of why Dream had killed his family, what he had done to make him suffer all this, were no longer necessary, for he already knew the answers.

"This is your 15th and final attempt," Dream said, pulling out his gun, which glowed blue at the sides, "You will not destroy this universe any further."

Karl didn't even try to free himself from the angel's grip. Shocked, he watched the weapon buzz with energy and realized how the ancient magic in his body immediately tried to protect him from the imminent attempt to kill him.

Quackity had been the first one Karl had remembered. At first, it had been only the name. The name that had scratched at his brain and had to be shouted out as if it would help to release the memories. Then when he had seen the boy in the room, with his black hair and golden wings, everything had crashed down on him like a missile fire.

This was not his first time in this universe. Dream was also wrong with his score, although Karl didn't know any better himself. After the 34th attempt, he had stopped counting. Again and again, he had come here to save his lovers. To finally find a proper run in which he could live peacefully with them.

Each time they had either died in front of him, Karl was almost killed by the angels, or Quackity and Sapnap were the ones, that had tried to kill him. So many deaths, so many timelines, and each time he didn't realize how he was destroying the universes, ripping through their shells, and changing history.

The current attempt almost failed, because, unlike the past, Karl had lost the memories of the previous times and the ability to use his power. Dream had tried to intercept and kill him with a troop of angels before he could enter the universe. It almost worked.

What Dream didn't count on, however, was that both universes were badly damaged from his travels, causing unpredictable events to occur. One example was the tornado that destroyed his school and killed his classmates. Also unexpected were Quackity and Sapnap, which were able to tear a small hole in the universe, big enough for Karl to feel the pull and be able to escape before the angels could kill him.

Now he was standing in front of Dream and all the power in his body was pulsating in his veins, preparing him to disappear again in front of his eyes. It was a piece of cake to escape from the angel and turn back time and disappear into the other universe, but Karl also knew the consequences that another attempt would bring. What if he couldn't come back this time? What if his memories were completely lost and he and his family were killed by the angels before he could use his powers?

With a high probability, the universes would also simply collapse and Karl would not only have failed but also would have wiped out two universes by abusing his power. For a moment he considered giving up, dying here on the spot. But then his possibility to save everything would die as well. His power had already activated by itself, he was unable to restrain it or to cancel the reset.