[I apologize for the wait on this one. Also for the inevitable typos, as I didn't have a ton of time for reading it over. I'll go back and edit it soon. But I would just like to also briefly state that if, for any reason, this fic should be removed from FF, I am also now hosting it at AO3. Just search for Buried Hatchet under the Homestuck fandom section and it should pop right up. Updates will still happen faster over here though, so there's no reason to move sites if you don't wish to.]
...
He kept expecting his senses to kick back in. They never did. Instead they saw fit to remain atrophied in the back of his skull.
Perhaps it was because of this that he never once managed to work up a shred of remorse for what he had done.
Eridan was oddly tolerable when he wasn't making a scene of himself, Sollux decided. For what felt like the hundredth time, he ran a thumb over the sea dweller's forehead. He didn't really understand why. To check if the troll was still awake was the obvious answer, but not the only one. It was almost like a compulsion. A brief moment of contact that assured Sollux each time that, yes, everything was still, in fact, real. And it was a moment that he had to keep repeating. As if he was concerned everything was going to vanish at any time. Like a bubble dancing above the tip of a needle.
He took his thumb away from the troll's forehead, frowning down at him. It was slightly disconcerting staring at Eridan's sprawled, naked figure, his chest rising and falling gently as he breathed in his sleep. Disconcerting in that Sollux found himself oddly placated by the sight. For a moment everything was truly quiet.
But he couldn't keep the nagging voices at bay forever. Soon whispers began to eat at the edges of his mind, chewing deeper into his thoughts as he sat by himself in the dimly lit room.
The needle loomed ever closer.
He shuffled around in the dark, finally managing to hook a finger around Eridan's cape and scoop it up from the tile. He threw it over the sea dweller, mostly to put a cap on his urges to continue sitting idly at Eridan's side. His mind was beginning to buzz again and he could no longer ignore the burning knot they had made of his insides.
He pulled Kanaya's lunchtop toward him, setting it on his lap and looking it over for scratches. It had a bit of a dint in the corner from where he had dropped it before. He pulled his lips back over his teeth in a grimace of regret. He would have to apologize to her later. Though the thought of explaining exactly why her computer was no longer in pristine condition was enough to make him cringe.
"Thorry about your lunchtop, Kanaya, but the pail filling jutht couldn't wait."
Or he could just blame Eridan. Since it really was the sea dweller's fault.
"He jutht grabbed me. And the fireth of our romantic passion were tho fierthe that I couldn't keep my fingerth clothed over your preciouth lunchtop."
Surely she would understand.
Or he could just lie.
"I tried to thtop him, but he jutht grabbed it away from me and thmashed it on the ground yelling 'For Alternia!' You know how it ith with him thometimeth."
There probably was no way he was ever going to face Kanaya again.
As the holographic monitor blinked to life, he pulled up the time program he had installed from Aradia's system.
Before he had gone on his brief excursion to the past, the timeline interface had resembled that of Trollian. For each troll there had been one colored bar indicating the temporal continuum. Now, however, the interface appeared damaged. The bars appeared to be shattered, as if some unseen fist had slammed into the holographic monitor.
Of course it would have been easy to blame on Eridan and the entire lunchtop-dropping debacle had Sollux not discovered the fragmentation the moment he had returned to the present.
When he'd gone seeking Eridan, he'd been carrying with him what felt like a stomach full of writhing grubs. He had been afraid of what he would find. Afraid of how horribly he had mangled the present by trying to tamper with the past.
What he found, however, was that nothing had changed.
In the end, he supposed it meant his future self had been right. In a way. Though it was more like he hadn't been wrong, technically speaking. Because if everything was going to work out stupendously whether he time traveled or not, Sollux was still unsure as to why the time travel was even necessary to begin with.
And that was what continued to make him uneasy.
He tapped his fingers against the keyboard on Kanaya's lunchtop. Tapping without hitting any of the buttons, staring at the fragmented patterns of the timelines in front of him. Like a diamond with a million cuts, taking in a ray of light and refracting it within its very core. He stared at it, mesmerized.
He tapped his fingers against the keys.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
And then he knew how to break the code.
The knowledge fell on him so suddenly, so simply, that he nearly flipped Kanaya's lunchtop from his lap with the shock of it. Steadying himself and clutching the computer close to him, he frowned at the fragmented timelines again. As if there were some buried message there that he had happened upon by accident. But it was like trying to hold onto a dream after being unexpectedly jarred from it.
He shook his head, shoving the lunchtop away. He was being an idiot. There was nothing more he could do here. He needed his old files so he could complete the decryption. And that meant retrieving his grubtop from the room with the ablution traps.
Sollux stumbled to his feet. He tugged on his socks before yanking his undergarments and pants back on. After he pulled his shirt back over his head and had found his anaglyph glasses lying not too far away, he paused for a moment to look back at Eridan's sleeping figure.
He pushed his glasses into place. He would be back for him. Possibly before the sea dweller even knew he was gone. Though the thought of leaving Eridan naked and alone in the dark was a tempting one, it was not as oddly warming as the thought of staring down at him as he opened his eyes.
He really hated how goddamned sentimental this emotional clusterfuck was making him.
He stuffed on his shoes before running as quietly as he could to the transportalizer. A flash of light and a short jog later, and he found himself approaching the teleportation pad to the hygiene chamber. He stepped on it, panting slightly, before walking forward into the room.
The floor was still damp from where he had upturned the ablution trap, but luckily he had placed his grub top on a counter sitting in front of a row of mirrors. He picked it up and, too feverish with his new discovery to think about shifting locations again, heaved himself up onto the counter, setting the grubtop on his lap.
The voices had begun to whisper at the edge of his mind again, but he pushed them away furiously as he worked. He brought up the encryption his future self had placed on Trollian's system and right alongside it pulled up the decoding program he had, until this point, been crafting in vain.
It was ludicrously simple now. Like an impossible puzzle where the answer had been right under his nose the entire time. He felt like an idiot, but a giddily triumphant one. As his fingers flew over the keyboard, he tried to craft what he might say to his future self. Something suitably scathing, he was sure, since that pompous prick obviously thought his coding abilities too superior to be bested. Well, his current self would have a lot to say about that. He stuck his tongue between his teeth in an uncontrollable surge of excitement as he finished the decryption and applied it to the code locking him out of his own private transtimeline bulletin.
It took a few moments for the program to recognize the files and respond to them. After it was done, Sollux refreshed Trollian, and smirked as he saw that the bulletin was now open for posting memos for his entire timeline, both past and present, to see. He saw his old memo he had left for himself, but was drawn to a new one that he had not had access to previously. He opened it.
FUTURE twinArmageddons [FTA] AT 1:10 HOURS FROM NOW opened memo on board FUTURE A22HOLE2
FTA: congratulatiion2, you a22-liickiing iidiiot. iif you fiind thii2 you have ju2t won the grand priize of haviing ten ton2 worth of "fuck you" 2hoved up your 2eedflap.
CURRENT twinArmageddons [CTA] RIGHT NOW responded to memo.
CTA: excu2e me?
FTA: oh my god.
CTA: iif by oh my god, you mean oh my god what an iidiiot iive been thiinkiing ii could keep my pa2t 2elf out of hii2 own damned bulletiin, then yeah, ii would 2ay oh my god ii2 the appropriiate phra2e riight now.
FTA: iim from the future, diip2hiit. ii already know you broke that code. becau2e ii wa2 the one breakiing that code ju2t a few hour2 ago. youre not exactly makiing me reel wiith unbriidled 2urprii2e here.
CTA: then why bother makiing a bulletiin tryiing two ward me off? wa2 iit ju2t another ca2e of you 2howiing me once agaiin how much of a 2elf-defeatiing moron you are?
FTA: all riight, ii know thii2 ii2 referriing two that future jacka22 that we fiir2t talked two and let me ju2t 2ay riight now that ii am not hiim. ii dont know when iim 2uppo2ed two undergo thii2 moron metamorpho2ii2 and become hiim. ii dont know iif ii even ever wiill at thii2 poiint.
FTA: but let me ju2t 2ay that ii wa2 the one that encrypted your preciiou2 fuckiing bulletiin.
FTA: whiich ii diid wiith the expre22 purpo2e of tryiing two get my pa2t 2elf two avoiid talkiing two him at all.
FTA: becau2e pa2t me ii2 a gulliible jacka22 who follow2 the iin2tructiion2 of whatever a22hole 2how2 up iin hii2 2peciial, fre2hly waxed, newly miinted tran2tiimeliine fuckiing fuckall OH MY GOD II AM 2O FUCKIING PII22ED RIIGHT NOW II AM FLIIPIING MY 2HIIT.
CTA: okay, ii know that fliipiing our collectiive 2hiit2 ii2 2omethiing that happen2 more often than iit ha2 any riight two
CTA: but youre makiing about a2 much 2en2e a2 a lu2u2 jacked up on miind honey riight now.
CTA: ii mean, let2 not forget that you are 2tiill me and 2o all thii2 2hiit ii2 al2o 2omewhat your fault.
FTA: no, how about YOU lii2ten you bisected bilge2ack
CTA: wa2 that ju2t
CTA: did you ju2t u2e one of EDs iin2ult2?
FTA: that ii2 not the ii22ue here.
CTA: oh my god, you diid.
FTA: 2eriiou2ly, ii am 2iittiing here tryiing two explaiin how iincrediibly fucked you are riight now and all you can thiink of are the qualiity and oriigiin2 of my iin2ult2.
FTA: ii mean, ii cant beliieve ii ever thought thii2 wa2 relevant at all. ii am truly hopele22 and ii dont even de2erve the help of my future 2elf 2iince all ii can do ii2 throw iit back iin hii2 face.
CTA: fuck, all riight.
CTA: iim ju2t 2ayiing that we can do way better than that. ED ha2 the oratory 2kiill2 of a whalebea2t wiith a conge2ted blowhole.
FTA: ii 2eriiou2ly cant even talk about hiim riight now.
FTA: plea2e ju2t 2hut the fuck up whiile ii type.
FTA: ii dont want two 2ee your iidiiotiic word2 agaiin untiil ii a2k for them.
FTA: 2o
FTA: pa2t a22hole
FTA: here2 a que2tiion
FTA: how diid all that tiime traveliing work out for you?
CTA: ii2 thii2 liike a rhetoriical que2tiion or ii2 iit my cue two 2tart re2pondiing?
FTA: real cute.
FTA: ii am holdiing my 2iide2 to keep them from 2pliittiing and 2piilliing my 2hiiny yellow gut2 everywhere, that2 how hard iim fuckiing laughiing riight now.
FTA: and ye2, iit wa2 rhetoriical becau2e ii already know how all that tiime traveliing worked out for you.
FTA: iit worked out liike 2hiit.
CTA: but iit diidnt end up matteriing. everythiing ju2t 2ort of worked iit2elf out.
FTA: you dont beliieve that. ii know. becau2e ii wa2 you about an hour ago. a2 much of a hopele22 moron a2 you are, pa2t me, you are 2tiill 2marter than that.
FTA: but you are 2tiill e22entiially a fuckiing dumba22.
CTA: are you ever ju2t goiing two get two the poiint here? ii kiind of have other 2hiit ii need two do. you know, a2 amaziing a2 talkiing two you ii2.
FTA: you do not have other 2hiit you need two do. you ju2t want two go back down two that lab iin the ba2ement liike the fawniing barkbea2t you are and waiit for your bucket buddy two wake up.
FTA: 2o you can put hii2 2carf back on becau2e you actually really liike iit on hiim.
CTA: no.
FTA: e2peciially iif iit2 the only thiing he2 weariing.
CTA: twiice now (becau2e that ii2 what ii fuckiing do): no. al2o, fuck you.
FTA: ii wa2 already you, remember. you cant liie two me. ii know that2 what youre thiinkiing about. and iim advii2iing you two 2top riight now. becau2e iit2 only goiing two make what ii have two 2ay that much harder two deal wiith.
CTA: then fuckiing 2ay iit and 2top briingiing 2hiit up iif youre the one who ha2 2uch a fuckiing ii22ue wiith iit.
FTA: all riight, you know what, let2 ju2t 2top.
FTA: iim 2o done arguiing wiith you riight now. that2 actually the la2t thiing ii wanted two accomplii2h here.
FTA: 2o 2top typiing agaiin untiil ii giive you fuckiing leave two do 2o.
FTA: iim goiing two break thii2 down into two part2 2o that iit2 easiier for your 2hiity bii2ected braiin two make a diige2tiible meal out of.
FTA: fiir2t, you have no iidea how to work tiimeliine2 or tiime travel, 2o you can 2top pattiing your2elf on the back for job well done becau2e
FTA: second, you ju2t 2hattered the fuckiing tiime 2tream
FTA: you hiideou2, 2hiit eatiing, pant2 wettiing dumbfuck.
CTA: ii diid what?
FTA: okay, ii diid not giive you permii22iion two type, but giiven the circum2tance2 ii gue22 ii wiill let that one 2liide.
FTA: becau2e come on, ii know youre realiiziing iit now. liike ii 2aiid before, you miight be an unforgiivable iidiiot but youre 2tiill 2marter than that.
FTA: do you really need me to fuckiing 2poonfeed thii2 two you?
FTA: maybe iif you werent 2uch a coward you would have fuckiing a2ked the member of your group that actually fuckiing deal2 wiith tiime travel about how two do iit.
FTA: maybe you could have even a2ked her about how 2he made up all those robot clone2 of her2elf.
FTA: but iin2tead you cho2e two run away from all that. two avoiid her for your entiire 2grub 2e22iion and froliic around wiith a fii2h priincess iin2tead.
FTA: and now you have the fii2h priince.
CTA: all riight youre 2tartiing two really pii22 me off. iim con2iideriing ju2t blockiing you now.
FTA: youre con2iideriing iit, 2ure. but you arent goiing two do it.
FTA: becau2e now ii2 when ii deciide two drop the fuckiing bomb on you.
FTA: the moment you went back iin tiime two try and rectiify your 2hiitty black quadrant wiith ED, you fucking 2tiirred up a whole new batch of tiimeliine2. and ju2t fuckiing put them iin the oven and cooked them.
FTA: tiimer2 buzziing now, a22hole. tiime to open up the oven two fiind all tho2e new doomed you2.
CTA: what the fuck are you tryiing two 2ay?
FTA: iim tryiing two 2ay that you never 2hould have 2tolen AA2 goddamned tiime travel abiiliitiie2 you worthle22 2hiithead.
FTA: becau2e now, due two tiimeliine fuckery that you created, there are a whole 2hiitload of tiimeliine2 but only one alpha tiimeliine where thiing2 turn out the way theyre meant two ii gue22.
FTA: the only problem there ii2 that the alpha you ii2 not currently iin the alpha tiimeliine
CTA: waiit, what?
FTA: you wiill eventually become me. we are the alpha jacka22 ii gue22. ii 2tiill havent gotten my fuckiing priize, but whatever. iim a patiient guy, iim 2ure iit2 goiing two get here eventually.
CTA: 2top beiing and iin2ufferable 2hiita22 for ju2t two 2econd2 plea2e.
CTA: what doe2 any of thii2 even mean? and how do you know about iit two begiin wiith?
FTA: iit mean2 that you have two get out of thii2 tiimeliine before 2hiit hiit2 the whiirliing deviice. becau2e the alpha tiimeliine cant actually BE the alpha tiimeliine untiil all alpha a22hole2 are pre2ent and accounted for.
FTA: meaniing the fate of the entiire tiimeliine depend2 on you gettiing your 2orry a22 over here.
FTA: a2 two how ii know all thii2, iit2 becau2e ii wii2ed up and fiinally 2tarted utiiliiziing 2table tiime loop2. 2o after ii heard all of thii2 2hiit from future me and diid a2 he diirected, ii came here my2elf two educate dumb, nook faced, retarded pa2t me.
CTA: waiit 2o thii2 iinformatiion ha2 ba2iically conjured iit2elf out of nothiing?
FTA: try not two thiink two hard about iit.
FTA: but iif you want proof, 2top iignoriing the voiice2 for a 2econd. The next two die are alway2 loude2t. lii2ten.
Sollux set his grubtop aside, his eyes wide and his hands clammy. His heart was racing. He didn't want to think. He didn't want to face the fact that he might have incontrovertibly destroyed the very fibers of the timeline and sucked the futures of the twelve remaining trolls into some careening vortex of emptiness. As if he had thrown himself into the gravitational range of a black hole, he felt as if he were spinning down some inexorable path of his own creation. And he couldn't look back. Even as he felt himself being pulled toward it, all his floundering head could do was flail desperately against the cold and empty air in the opposite direction, trying in to escape.
But it was all in vain in the end. He was no Mage of Time. Only one title had ever been suited for him.
He shut his eyes against all that and flung himself into the cacophony of voices. They washed over him, screams and shrieks and oaths that were all too familiar. Like a red tide of blood, they swept past him, his mind flipping and reeling and turning and tumbling. Whispers and shouts and curses and cries. All the voices melding together, phrases tangled about each other, weaving in and out like some writhing tentacular mass of words. One voice in particular shot out from the heaving red ocean, curling about his throat and squeezing the sense and thought from his head.
"Why'th thomeone thending you money? And why now of all timeth, like we can't even uthe it. Who'th thith douchebag?"
"I recommend we don't bother with them, though Aradia theemth to think we'll all be in each other'th thpongeth inevitably."
"Man, jutht…go away. I'm not in the glubbing mood."
"Hey Feferi, I've got your computer all thet up for you tho you can thtop hanging out by mine… I mean, it'th fine if you want to, but you jutht know that you do have a choithe in the matter. I'm not forthing you to hang out with me."
"Fuck, who maketh a land of brainth anyway? Who up and dethideth that would even be a good variable to include in whatever thort of program generateth the landth in thith game? That'th probably the motht idiotic wathte of coding ever. Feferi, jutht get away from thothe, they're not even giving uth any gritht."
"Feferi, behind you! Fuck, thethe monthterth are actually getting pretty annoying."
"Hey, the nextht quetht hath me going to thome other land, tho it'th not ath though you really have to follow me. You have your own quethtth and shit to be getting on with. Not that I'm trying to chathe you away or anything, you're actually pretty good at thith game."
"Feferi, that ith the dumbeth glubbing thing… Oh shit, I'm fucking uthing your punth. Okay, punth are banned forever thtarting now. No more punth or I thith might become thomething I thtart uthing with thome conthitenthy."
"Jutht ignore that guy Feferi, he'th been going on about thome duel I gueth I had with him on LOBAF, even though I don't have any memory of that, but whatever."
"That wath actually a pretty good job you did jutht now with that puthle, Feferi."
"Hey, Feferi…"
"Feferi…"
"Fef…"
He ripped the tentacle of words away and tried to breathe. Tried to pull in coherent thoughts as he kicked away from the heaving red mass of screams. He flailed and yelled and reached for that faded yellow light that was the back of his eyelids.
Then he broke the surface.
He blinked, gasping, as if he had forgotten to breathe. Shaking, he reached for his grubtop, the white light of the screen seeming to stabilize him. There, in the memo, new yellow words were waiting for him.
FTA: whiile youre bu2y lo2iing your 2piine bulge, allow me two clariify.
FTA: that voiice youre heariing ii2 you. except that iit2 not. not really.
FTA: that2 a you from what ii2 now the alpha tiimeliine. a tiimeliine you created when you went to go duel the fii2h priince.
FTA: he2 doomed.
FTA: your head doe2nt liie. that2 why you hate lii2teniing two tho2e voiice2 2o much. youre afraiid of actually makiing 2en2e of them and realiiziing exactly who ii2 goiing two diie and when.
FTA: but now you know.
FTA: the you that never dueled wiith ED.
FTA: that never opened a tran2tiimeliine bulletiin board.
FTA: that 2pent hii2 tiime up iin the lab watchiing everyone fiight over human2.
FTA: that found a biit of peace wiith a fii2h giirl.
FTA: you have two 2wiitch place2 wiith hiim.
FTA: he ha2 two diie.
Sollux felt sick. His hands shook over the keyboard. He inadvertently hit a few keys, making an incoherent string of letters in his message box. He couldn't think. He could barely breathe.
FTA: ii realiize that riight about now you are comiing around, but youre ju2t haviing a general fiit by tyriing two deal wiith all thii2. whiich ii2 fiine ii gue22. iim 2tiill freakiing out a biit my2elf. but you have two 2tart moviing.
FTA: liike, riight now. you have to iin2tall AA2 tiime travel 2y2tem on your grubtop a2 fa2t a2 you can.
FTA: then click on thii2 2peciifiic tiimeliine at the poiint ii have ciircled for you. iim goiing two 2end you the fiile.
FTA:
FTA: then you have two fiind doomed you and 2end hiim back.
FTA: dont worry about how youre goiing two do iit.
FTA: ju2t know that everythiing wiill work iit2elf out.
FTA: ii mean, iignoriing the fact that youve fucked everythiing up for ju2t a 2econd.
FTA: and iif you 2tart thiinkiing of 2omethiing, 2top. dont make thii2 harder for your2elf than iit ha2 two be. ju2t iin2tall the program and click on the tiimeliine.
FTA: dont leave that room.
FTA: you cant look back anymore. you made thii2 me22. now clean iit up.
FTA has banned CTA from responding to memo.
FTA has closed memo.
Sollux set the grubtop aside, sliding from the counter and falling to his knees on the floor. He fisted his hands in his hair, staring wide eyed at the tile. His fangs were bared, and ragged breaths hissed through them. He shook everywhere.
How had he let it come to this?
Don't leave that room.
He shook everywhere. He pounded the tile with his fists as he kept his forehead pressed to the ground. He pounded it until the very bones of his hand ached. He tried to shove away the thoughts and images whirling in his head, but it was impossible. Images of Feferi smiling. Of doomed Sollux holding her hand. Of that hand turning into Aradia's dirt-streaked one. Of Eridan's lip curling, his glasses flashing as they stood, ready to duel amidst that sea of flames.
Of the Eridan he hated and loved, sleeping under his cape just a few rooms away.
He pulled the grubtop off the counter and onto his lap, his fingers trembling. He felt numb as he hacked into Aradia's system for the second time. It was almost mechanical now, installing the program to his computer. A series of clicks and mouse drags and a few typed phrases and it was done. He barely remembered doing it.
He opened up the image his future self had sent him, and found the same location on the time travel application. He let his mouse hover over it.
Don't leave that room.
He grit his teeth.
It wasn't fair.
He had figured everything out.
Things had finally seemed right.
Why? Why now?
Don't leave that room.
He let out a hissing breath, his muscles tensed. He had no choice. It was his mess. He had to clean it up.
He double clicked on the timeline.
The switch was, once again, so instantaneous as to transcend the realms of disorienting. It was as if he had simply changed the channel on his surroundings. Instead of the dim yellow light of the hygiene chamber, he was instead immersed in the darkness. The only light was that from his grubtop.
His grubtop and one other.
The troll sat with his back to him, hunched over his own computer, tapping at it distractedly, his four horns silhouetted in the glow of his monitor.
Sollux had never realized what poor posture he had.
He sat there for a long time, just watching himself type. After a moment, however, the typing slowed. His other self shifted his head a bit to the right, and then finally seemed to notice the other source of light in the room. He turned, and Sollux could see the flash of the anaglyph glasses before he was meeting his own gaze.
For a moment they just stared at each other. Mirror images in the darkness.
Then the other Sollux jerked back as if he had been slapped. His reaction seemed to dislodge a stone that had been shoved in Sollux's windpipe.
"Were you down here trying two ethcape the voitheth?" he asked. His voice was absurdly calm.
"Ith thith thome kind of a joke?" His own voice sounded strange to his ears.
"Am I laughing?" He stood, leaving his grubtop on the floor. "The truth ith, I think I want to avoid talking to you ath much ath pothible. Becauthe I think I have to kill you. And I don't want to hear about any more of your life than I already have. Becauthe it theemth like it wath going better than mine, and I really don't feel like taking it away from you. But I gueth I have to."
"What…the fuck ith thith? What are you even talking about right now?" his other self demanded, lifting his arms into what Sollux knew was a defensive position. His other self might have been confused, but he was prepared to fight. It really came as no surprise.
Sollux lifted his own hands. "Thith ith what happenth when you try to fuck with time, I gueth."
He unleashed a blast of energy, his other self rolling out of the way. His grubtop went skittering across the floor, the light flashing around the room as it spun. In the flickering glow, Sollux could see himself throwing off his glasses and bringing his hands together. A huge assault right away? He expected better of himself.
Sollux flicked his hands up and with a buzz of red and blue energy pushed his other self to the floor. The doomed Sollux grunted as his shoulder hit the tile, before he was leaping to his feet, sending a blast at Sollux himself. Sollux tried to throw up a blast of energy to block it, but found himself on his hands and knees. He quickly scrambled across the tile as the second, predictable attack fell behind him.
He skirted the edge of the room as his other self ran in the opposite direction. They circled each other, red and blue light flickering around their eyes. The other Sollux attacked first, a beam of light shooting from his eyes. Sollux threw himself to the floor to avoid it, sending a rope of energy curling around his doomed self's wrists. He yanked his hands up, and lifted his other self into the air. The doomed Sollux kicked and screamed, and with a pulse of red light, dissolved Sollux's bonds.
Sollux's eyes widened in shock as his other self darted forward, both hands pulsing with red energy. He screamed, throwing them out before him and sending a blast of red light shooting from his eyes toward Sollux. Sollux darted around the room, the red light searing and shattering the tile in his wake. Blue light burst from his feet, and he launched himself into the air, letting the beam sweep beneath him.
But the other Sollux was on him instantly, sending pulses of red light toward him. Light meant to wrap around his arms and bind him. He tore off his own glasses and screamed, searing the red psionics away with his own blue. But the other Sollux was relentless. He shot into the air as well, surrounded by red light as he continued to barraged Sollux with bursts of energy. They were becoming more concentrated. Like machine gun fire, each individual pulse of light began to melt into the last until it was a steady stream of red light.
Sollux twisted and flew around the room as debris crumbled around him. At last, positioned on the ceiling far above the other's head, he screamed, balling his hands at his sides as a blast of blue light seared from his retinas.
Red and blue light met in the middle of the room, creating an orb of white hot energy. It was in the glow of that orb that Sollux remembered another white hot energy. The glow of Ahab's Crosshairs as it fired on him. And the way he had ducked under Eridan's blast to meet the sea dweller head on.
He couldn't defeat himself with psionics.
He squeezed his eyes shut and tore away from his blast, dipping down as the red light lanced over his head. He shot down toward his other self before the troll had time to blink, tackling him about the middle.
The other Sollux grunted, his beam of red energy dissipating. In that moment, Sollux could see his eyes. Could see the question there, beneath the blind anger.
But aren't we the same?
Sollux gritted his teeth. "You know nothing."
He sent a blast of blue energy rippling into his other self's chest. He could still see the confusion in his own eyes as he saw himself fall downwards, crashing onto his own grubtop. He saw his monitor crack and the time travel application seem to brighten and pulse. Fingers of yellow energy snapped over his other self's body, and in a pulse of heart rending light, both computer and troll were gone.
Sollux dropped to the floor, steam rising from his retinas. He stumbled toward the other computer and dropped to his knees before it. An application was up. Some sort of code. But in front of it was Trollian chat window.
CC: You s) (ould probably get your grumpy nubs up ) (ere soon! Karcrab is getting R-E-ELY angry.
TA: he2 alway2 angry. liike, thii2 ii2 no diifferent from normal.
CC: Well, yea) (. But you've also been down in t) (at dingy basement for so long! I'm getting kind of LON-ELY up ) (ere! 38O
CC: Sollux?
CC: Are you still t) (ere?
CC: Well, w) (enever you decide to answer, just know t) (at you're being missed! Glub! 38D
Sollux closed the chat window. He then squeezed his eyes shut, pressing his thumbs against them as hard as he could. He listened to the roar of voices in his head. One tentacle of thoughts had risen above the rest, waving despondently in the red current. It only asked a question.
Why?
"I don't know…" Sollux whispered. "I don't fucking know. I DON'T KNOW!"
He barely registered what he was doing next. His fingers seemed to know better than he did. They simply typed and clicked and suddenly his own private transtimeline bulletin board was open before him. He read the memo there. The one that griped about not knowing what to do. The one that raged and fretted about time travel before resolving to do it. Sollux stared at those yellow words, his entire chest growing tight and hot as his eyes scanned them.
He had known nothing.
The second memo had yet to be created. But Sollux knew what he had to do. He opened up a new window and began to type.
CURRENT twinArmageddons [CTA] RIGHT NOW opened memo on board FUTURE A22HOLE2
FTA: congratulatiion2, you a22-liickiing iidiiot. iif you fiind thii2 you have ju2t won the grand priize of haviing ten ton2 worth of "fuck you" 2hoved up your 2eedflap.