I opened my eyesockets and sat up suddenly. Medic jumps back. "Fuck! You scared me kiddo! Give a doc a warning. Nearly gave me a soul attack." Medic said holding his hand to his soul.
"Sorry. Woke up from, well, a bit of a nightmare." I told him. I looked down at my hands. I wasn't goopy!
"Oh, are you ok? You want to talk about it?" He asked me.
"Right now, I'm fine. In the future... That's up for debate. I just confirmed something that I had a suspicion of. I should actually talk to Core about it." I answered.
"Oh, well they aren't here this second. They should be back soon though. You haven't been asleep too long, but they said they had to get something. The others are just sleeping in the other beds." Medic told me.
"I'M AWAKE! THE MAGNIFICENT BLUE DOESN'T NEED TO SLEEP! I SUSTAIN MYSELF OFF OF PURE WILL POWER AND COFFEE. LOTS AND LOTS OF COFFEE." Blue yelled, practically vibrating, from down the room. He was holding an empty thermos of coffee. He was radiating positivity.
"Blue! You woke me up! What have we said about drinking coffee! You know how you get!" A drowsy Geno could be heard as he sticked his head out from under a blanket.
"It's better than when he gets an energy drink. The last time that happened we had to call reinforcements from fifteen Aus. The path of destruction went through seven universes and the Omega Timeline before we could stop him." Reaper said sitting up from next to him.
"RED BULL GIVES ME WINGS™!" Blue screamed, swinging his arms in the air.
"Good thing the walls are sound proofed." Medic commented.
"For who?!?!" Geno said groaning. He covered his face with a pillow.
"I got this." I said, getting up.
I walked over to Blue and put my hand over his soul. Then I proceed to absorb his excess positivity. He started relaxing. I stop when I can feel him back to his normal level. "There we go. All the energy, none of the extra. Watch out for the crash though." I told him.
"Where have you been all our lives!" Reaper said in awe.
"Trapped in stone for a thousand years, in a dead universe." I say to him, dead pan.
Core then appeared. "I'm back. I got what we needed." They said.
Saved.
Is what everyone thought, as they sighed in relief. I looked to Core. "What'd I miss while I was out?" I asked.
"We discussed what we would do to proceed. Your still a child, so you need an adult to watch out for you. We also need you to stay with someone for your safety. We'll need to get you things we currently don't have on hand. Cloths, toiletries, and anything else you might need. That's why I went and got my multiversal credit card. It works in all the Aus allied to the Star Council." Core explained.
"Fine. Who would I be staying with?" I asked.
"You would be staying with Reaper and I in our home in Reapertale. It's one of the only Aus Nightmare and his ilk can't enter." Geno tells me.
I think about that. I would stay with the two of them. It would be the three of us, together. In their home. I have an epiphany. "Does that mean you two would be my parents now?" I ask, looking at them with with big eyelights. I started to tear up.
I was full of more hope than I've had in a long time. I had wanted parents this whole life. I thought I wouldn't get any though. I knew what parents were like, so I didn't really connect with the tree like Nightmare did. Nim wasn't really a parent to us since she was stuck in a tree. She couldn't do the kind of things I longed for. Hugs and kisses. Stories and movie time. Parental advice and someone to tell you it would be ok. Maybe a dad joke, or a scolding when I did something stupid. Protect and nurture us. And as a consequence, I was forced to grow up before I was ready.
I was an adult before I died. When I was reborn I went back to being a small child. The Autistic Spectrum Disorder in my past caused me to be emotionally immature. I had reached the point though, that I could function as an adult. I sort of, lost that progress. I had to readjust to being younger and more prone to emotional outbursts. I didn't think I had the disorder anymore though, since I had an easier time identifying my own emotions, though the other symptoms can get mixed up with schizophrenia. I still had all my tools, but I had to relearn how to use them. If I didn't have the knowledge and skills I learned from my last life, I wouldn't have been able to handle myself half as well as I did all this time.
I forced myself into the mold of Nightmare's rock. I had to be the mature one. The one who gave him love and affection when he needed it. The one who told him stories and and spent time with him. The one who gave advice and told him it was ok. The one who told jokes and scolded him when he was stupid. The one who he cried on when he was sad. The one he came to when he was happy. The one who listened when he was mad.
I didn't have anyone to do it for me. The villagers were never an option. So having someone who could, was something I had only dreamed of. Pun not intended. I looked at Reaper and Geno hopefully.
The two looked at eachother in silent conversation. They seemed to come to an agreement. They looked back at me. "If that's what you really want. I wouldn't mind being your dad, if you'll have an old bag of bone like me." Reaper tells me.
I couldn't hold back the tears. I run over to them and jump. Reaper and Geno seems to tense and get a panicked look as I land on them. I give them a tight hug. Reaper let's out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. I look up at them and smile wider than I have in over a thousand years.
"What? You think Reaper's death touch would affect me? I'm immortal conception, sillies. Only Nightmare can kill me." I told them giggling.
"You scared the heck out of us kiddo. You may be a goddess now, but with your HoPe we shouldn't take any chances. We just agreed to be your parents. We don't want you to dust in the first five minutes." Geno tells me.
"I'm confused. I thought I was a guardian, not a goddess." I say.
"That was something else we needed to fill you in on. It seems you elevated to goddess of emotion instead of a spirit. Though it doesn't surprise me since Nightmare is a god of negativity. The universe is likely trying a last ditch effort to repair itself making you a guardian of the balance of emotion instead of positivity like you were. Though it already seems to be working passively by you just existing. Hopefully you won't have to do any fighting before we leave the multiverse. I'd rather not chance anything happening to you." Core explained to me.
"That's a lot to process. Being an immortal guardian is one thing, but a straight up goddess is another. I don't know anything about being a god. My job was just to guard a tree. I get making sure that the balance doesn't tip, but I don't know the first thing about fixing it. I think we reached past the point of no return by now. What is it with putting children in charge of multiversal balances? This is the second time!" I said, crossing my arms in frustration, pouting.
"I Think At This Point, It's Not Trying To Completely Fix Itself. But Just Buy Us Time. Nightmare Has Been Making Moves, Spreading More Negativity In Our Allied Aus. This Way, They Will Not Continue To Strengthen Him. We Can't Concentrate Our Resources On Leaving If We're To Weak To Defend Ourselves From His Assaults." Blue cuts in.
"Besides you happen to have a bonefide god of death here to teach you about being a divine. I'm sure I can have Life teach you any goddess stuff I can't. She would always be more than happy to help a new godling." Reaper tells me trying to comfort me. I liked it.
"Alright. Oh! I almost forgot! Core, I met Nightmare and a dream demon in the dreamscape. I was able to deal with the dream demon, but when I met Nightmare he gave me a warning before he left. He said, he was coming for me." I told them.
The room filled with emotions of dread and fear. "Well, we'll just have to make sure he doesn't get you. Does he know where you are?" Core said.
"I don't think so. I've been trying to hide my aura since I came out of stone. Though, it came out in the meeting room and when I ate the apple. You said the meeting room and this room had something to block out others, so he might not have sensed my positive aura. The only thing he would have noticed is the spike of negativity when I ate the apple and the negativity disappearing in the multiverse. Even then, the concentration in the multiverse is so high it might not have popped up on his radar. He didn't seem to have noticed anything different about me when we were in the dreamscape either." I explained.
"The wards would have made sure anything happening inside them couldn't be seen, heard, felt, smelled, tasted, or sensed. I don't know how exactly the dynamics of the dreamscape work, but the fact you can meet them there while inside is concerning." Medic told me.
"There isn't much we can do about that. But for now, we just go on as we planned. Geno, Reaper, you two will take Catcher to the multiversal mall for everything they might need. Blue will set up for the E.S.B. and the three of you will meet him there when your done. It's best if we refer to Dream Catcher as Catcher. Don't want to draw anymore attention to her. " Core orders.
"Got it." "Sure." "OK!" "Alright."