Failure; it is not an option, yet it's something you choose.

The man with the plan is destined to lose.

May 17th, 2026

He broke into the boiler room of a rundown factory he came across, miles away from the Louds. All the fighting had worn him out enough that he was relieved upon stopping from running. He slowly loaded the special shell into the shotgun, still thinking of Lily.

No, no, no. I'm supposed to save them. I'm supposed to save them all... What was the point of the reset if Lily took it? Oh, God...

He sat against the wall, and opened his mouth. The barrel aligned itself into it, and Lincoln shut his eyes. He squeezed the trigger, painfully eating the round. It blew the top half of his head, and painted part of the wall red. The lifeless head drooped down, and the shotgun rested on his shoulder. Lincoln was dead...

He gasped, quickly sitting up. Somehow, he had been laying down. "What-" He took a glance around, now noticing that he was in another place. "Where in the hell?"

He was outside, the area around seemed like a desert during the night, but it was flat, and more gray than dark, and Lincoln looked closely to the ground. Puddles of water were spread out in different sizes. He moved around, and saw no reflection of himself in the nearest puddle. Hell, there was not even a visible shadow beneath him, the gray skies weren't that dark enough. Couldn't have been. The further he walked, the closer he got to a silhouette he could see just up ahead.

The being, moving to a random direction, became familiar- Yet looked strange at the same time. The clothing was fully visible, and Lincoln identified it as none other than-

"Lucy?"

The shadow was no longer moving away as he drew closer, stopping at the name, or maybe the call out to it. The being in dark clothes turned, but Lincoln knew it wasn't Lucy at all. No, it was a boy wearing her clothes, a teen about Lucy's height. He even had her looks, which tickled Lincoln strange.

"What the-" He didn't understand it.

"Who's Lucy? And who are you?" Lars noticed the similarity of him and Liberty. "You look alot like my sister..."

"Your sister?" Lincoln looked to his sides again. "Do you know what this place is?"

"You just got here, didn't you?" Lincoln kept scanning around, which answered Lars' question. "Yeah, you're the new one. Whoever you are, you're in the Deadworlds. Come, follow me..."

A dark version of town was coming into view after what felt like three miles of walking. No grass, no leaves, no people. It was all vacant, like a hollow ghost town. All the signs were blank, the billboards around were only white. "The Deadworlds? What is that supposed to be? And why are you dressed like my sister?"

Lars ignored him, only kept walking through the town. Lincoln had then begun to hear creepy whispers from inside the buildings he passed by. He felt like he was in some horror movie, and that put him on edge.

"Don't mind them", Lars explained. "They're only watching us, and aren't going to do anything to us."

"Who's they?" Lincoln naturally placed a hand on his waist, not knowing his guns were gone. He waved his hand, feeling completely naked without some weapon. "Aren't you gonna say anything?!"

Lars stopped before they crossed another block. "Sure, I'll give you answers, but we've gotta get back to the house."

"House? My house?"

"No. Our house."

The two reached the house over ten blocks later. Lincoln had not grown tired, able to keep going with his newfound infinite energy here in this afterlife. Lars went inside, not being held back by the world's new member. What the fuck is going on here? Lincoln had no other options at the moment, so he went inside and linked up with Lars in the living room. "We're here, now you'll talk, right?" He asked straight away.

"Ha, you're really just like her. Here, have a seat. I'll explain everything, but you won't like what you'll hear."

"You keep mentioning a sister. Why's that?" Lincoln took a spot on the sofa.

"This place, it isn't heaven, but it's also not hell either."

"Not hell?" Lincoln didn't consider the possibility of the afterlife, after accepting that there was no God. Then, he remembered what he last did on earth. "Fuck me, that's right. I-"

"Shot yourself with a shotgun?"

This made Lincoln stop. This dude knew, and everything kept getting more weirder. "Yeah, that's it. How... No, talk. Tell."

"I have a sister, when I was alive. What happened was that..." He sighed, looking away from Lincoln. "I found a spellbook during the fire, and summoned these beings. I was fated to die there, but I bought a second chance."

"Bought? Elaborate on that..."

"I sold my soul off to them, for me to be here forever, in exchange to see all my brothers and only sister again."

Lincoln then figured out who this sister could possibly be, after this fact was dropped. "Liberty. Your sister is Liberty, isn't she?"

Lars gasped, looking back at him. "How did you know?"

"It's a hell of a long story. But the short version would be that she ended up on my world. And you're right. I'm that world's version of her. And my sister, Lucy, is of you. Or vice versa, however one puts it."

"World's ve- Like what, another earth?" He stared again at Lincoln. "Oh, I see. That's why you have the same suit she wore. You're the Liberty genderbend."

"So, if you did that, then it means Lucy is doomed, too. Is that right?"

"Correct, I'm sorry you had to find out this way. On the bright side, you gave her added time by altering time."

"Oh, you know about that, too," he groaned.

"Of course, Liberty did the same thing. She came back after I arrived here. Whatever happened up there, I hope they were alright. How long was she there for? Do you know much?"

He had to lie to the goth. For the most part, Lincoln didn't completely understand how Liberty had come to arrive there. She said it, called it a punishment from beings in space. Nothing was certain as of yet. "I don't know what to tell you. She appeared out of nowhere and left. I'd say she was back home or something."

She was likely to be a ghost again, and he knew it. "Oh, I see."

"You called this place the, uh, Deadworlds, was it? What's that exactly?"

"That spellbook I found mentions this place like an in-between. What this place's purpose is, is to contain the souls of people who have done bad but can be given a redemption, given you stay long enough. I guess its prison. But I'm damned here forever, the souls who've made deals with the devils can't move up. Well, at least this is better than hell."

"So, I can move up to heaven? Is that really it?"

"Don't get me wrong, with your rapsheet, it shouldn't be likely. But then again, that's how it is. You have a shot."

"I'd ask more about Liberty, but I'm sure you'd only be describing me at the same time. She had this, too." He pointed at the brick scar. Lars nodded to it.

"Ha, Hunter Spector would not believe this shit. So, what can I do here? Do I need to eat or-"

"We just walk around, not doing much. No need to eat, or sleep or such. You can nap, but you'd still be awake. Sometimes others pass by, going to their own nowhere. It's tiring..." Lars had his eyes set out the window. "Of all the time I've been here, there have been a pair of twins I see often. I can't tell how frequent because of lack of time and a sun."

Sure enough, two girls in blue shirts and skirts stood staring at them. "Boy, that's creepy. Why are they looking at us?"

"Maybe they're not. Maybe they lived here before us. I don't know, but everytime I approach them, they scatter, as if they're shy."

"Oh, speaking of scatter, what were you doing on the outskirts of this deader Royal Woods?"

Lars chuckled, slapping his hands on his lap. "That's funny, actually. For every new soul brought to the Deadworlds, everything resets. It's like you start a new world on minecraft. I was finding my way back."

"Mine- Boy, that was a fun game to play."

"Indeed it was. You're here. So, tell me, why do you think that is? Why do you think you're not burning in hell?"

Lincoln rested his head backwards, closing his eyes. "I don't know, I didn't decide to end up here. Didn't know this place even existed. Must be a fuck up."

"Come on, uhhh..."

"My name is Lincoln, by the way."

"Oh, ha. I'm Lars. Come on, Lincoln. You're not evil, man, it's no mistake you came here. We've all just had bad luck is all. You did nothing wrong, even if... Our punk rocker sibling says otherwise. We didn't know where Liberty ran off to, so we tried to find her. And yours will be looking for you, unless they already are."

"Why? I got my youngest sister killed. I..."

"Wait, stop," Lars interrupted. "You... Is that why you killed yourself? Because you felt you-" Lars exhaled abruptly. "I see it now. You felt... guilty. You-"

"That's enough-"

"-You didn't fail. She's alive, she's alive and she's waiting for you up there! You're making her suffer. Her and your clone."

Lincoln jumped to his feet, and overturned the sofa with a surprising amount of strength. "YOU SHUT UP!" Lars flipped on his back, but no sound came from both his and the sofa's impact.

"Uhhh, dude..." Lars squeaked, looking at the angry Lincoln.

"I didn't do anything to them!"

"Dude!" Lars yelled a little louder this time.

"I chose to kill myself!"

"DUDE, TURN THE FUCK AROUND!" Lars pointed past him, and Lincoln only growled, turning.

"What's so important that you want me to-" Lincoln's eyes widened in great shock. "No, no. You! What are you doing here?!"

Clyde stood in front of him, dressed the same way he was last seen in before being killed by his own best friend. "Hi, Lincoln. Miss me?"

AN: Tick tock... Tick tock...