Wow, quite a lot going on in this chapter. Anyway it's lengthy and is mostly set up to give more depth to the universe, the goal, and the sacrifices of the characters. I mean if this doesn't get you to sympathize and understand my version of Marco and Star and Cole then I don't know what will. Thank you for reading and please review, favorite and follow.
-Ginn
After careful deliberation, Marco and Star had decided that they needed to relocate. Staying in Mewni was no longer an option after Star's basic declaration against the crown and her own dynasty. And Marco had agreed that remaining in the dimension any longer would only lead to further complications. They had hurried to her room after the verbal showdown with her parents, hurriedly packing while Marco watched the door for guards.
"Hey Cole," the man, who had been leaning against the opposite door frame, turned to Marco inquisitively. "That huge blue light and the shaking, that was you right?"
He nodded in affirmation, wandering eyes drifting around the many portraits that hung in Star's room.
"How come you made such a big display? You didn't do that when you showed up earlier today." Marco peaked outside the door as he spoke, listening intently for the eventual murmur of security rushing to take them away.
"That wasn't really me, it was a shadow of myself, an after thought that I left in this dimension years ago. I exist at every moment remember? I left a flicker of power behind when I left this dimension the last time just in case I need it to do something." Cole had floated up as he spoke, his arm phasing comically through one of the women's pictures' nose.
"That makes sense I guess, so why the blue explosion anyway?" Marco had lightly closed the door, content for the moment that they would not be thrown into prison for treason any time soon.
"This place exists in non-time, it's usually impossible for me to come in the first place unless I'm invited or if an outside anomaly has already weakened, in this case, the fact that you two were both here at the same time allowed me to enter, but it did take quite a bit of firepower to blast my way in." Cole watched Star from behind as she whispered quick phrases to herself, organizing her strange tools and deciding which outfits to bring.
"You said last time, was that when granny Butterfly sent you packing?" the time walker scoffed and thumped Marco lightly on the back of the head.
"No, the last time I was here was thirty two years ago, around the time that Star's father was just starting his reign." that got both of their attention, the pair exchanged looks of wonder and propped themselves down in front of him, waiting for a story.
The man smiled and obliged.
"There I was, chronicling the rise and fall of about seventeen billion empires that were happening when in the back of my infinite mind I feel a little tingle. And so, being the responsible, observant man that I am, I hurried to the source of the pull, and there it was, the old boundary between the infinite arch and the dimension of Mewni." As he spoke Cole dragged his finger across the air, blue smoke leaking from its tip and displaying strange images and shapes as he spoke.
"Normally, whenever I strolled by the gate it would kinda burn, but this time it was cool to the touch, I was pretty amped! So I reach out and touch it right and there he is, a young version of your father, River Butterfly, dude was taller then too. 'What manner of monster are you!' man did I laugh, I mean come on who talks like that at that age right? But I said 'I'm no monster fool, I'm Cole the Time Walker, now what the heck are you doing to the dimensional field man?' And he was like 'why, I am investigating as king, to assure the continued prosperity of this Mewni and all her provinces I must ensure the continuation of this great boundary.'" Marco and Star had cuddled into each other at that point, leaning against her bed as Cole's strange and wondrous portrayal of the scene danced towards the ceiling.
"So obviously I had to mess with him, so I said 'Hey man, it's kinda my job to watch over all that will transpire, so why don't you let me in for a bit, I'll poke around, tell you your future and then head on my way.' Your dads a good guy so he accepted and with a wave of his staff the boundary fell and I was allowed inside." Shadows began to creep along the wall, blocking out the evening light and consuming them in a stifling darkness.
"And that's when Granny's spell kicked in, see, she figured one day I'd worm my way back into her dimension, so she set up a spell that would awaken tons of these ancient monsters that would wreak havoc until I was gone, man your dad was when he found out, so after a few more pranks I headed out, after all it wasn't like there was any reason for me to be here in the first place ya know?" his story finished the dark tendrils retreated to the corners of the room and warm light poured through the windows once more.
"Wait, so you're the reason monsters terrorize Mewni?" Star suddenly cried out, anger evident in her eyes.
"Well duh I mean think about it, Mewni is supposed to always be perfect cuz that's what your Granny wanted, in that case why would she let monsters exist? But, you know, she needed a scapegoat and stuff just in case something happened so instead of killing all the monsters, she just put em to sleep." as he spoke Stars book on the history of the monster massacre floated upwards, flipping through pages and reshaping the monster pop outs from dead to asleep.
"I can't believe this," Star whispered as the now altered book settled into her hands. "So much history, so many lessons, all lies! And for what, to prevent Mewni from being just like everywhere else? To keep it from being normal?" With a screech the girl ripped the book to pieces, breathing hard and fast as she did her best to suppress her rage.
"But ya know it wasn't all bad, since I was allowed to stay on Mewni I got to be there for every moment of it's own unique timeline as well. And while I was there the most wondrous thing happened, I felt two beings spring into life, two beings who all versions of myself in all moments on the endless loop of timelines and universes witnessed simultaneously being born."
Cole held up a mirror to Star and Marco and when they looked into it, they were children. Star was dressed in a puffy blue dress that already showed traces of her future style and Marco was fitted with a red t-shirt and bermuda shorts, hair so thick it was obscuring his eyes. The two looked at one another and then back in the mirror, marveling at their past selves.
"I got to watch you two come into the flow, so ya know, it wasn't all bad." And as Cole spoke, their past selves grew up within the mirror, going from toddlers to kids, to tweens to early teens and finally their current selves, each wearing a large smile .
"Ya know, for an all powerful whatever you call it you're pretty sappy huh?" Star nudged Cole teasingly who only grinned as the mirror vanished into the air. "Any-a-way, what should we do now? We obvi can't stay here after I basically just said I'm not gonna do what Mewni expects of me, so should we go back to Earth?"
"Actually I was wondering, if we're gonna shape the multiverse and all timelines then it would be handy to have a bunch of people to help right?" Star blinked in surprise, eyes flickering between Cole and Marco.
"Couldn't hurt," replied Cole shrugging.
"Well then why don't we gather the other Star's and Marco's from all the other timelines? Then we could have like, a huge crazy butt kicking army right?" Star squealed at the idea, latching onto Marco and kissing his cheek affectionately.
"Ooo, that would be so cool Marco! We could see all the awesome different versions of us!" the two began to excitedly chatter before Cole stepped in, splitting them from each other with a light hand chop.
"Sorry kids, it doesn't work like that," and when Star and Marco frowned and demanded to know why not he sighed.
"Look, remember what I said, about how all Star's and Marco's exist simultaneously in all multiverses in the exact same way? Well if one pair decides to go meet up with another pair, then that means all pairs try the same thing, which means they'll all be leaping around dimensional space looking for each other, never meet, and be lost forever in time. Sorry kids, but each version of you has to stay just you or else you'll lose your whole existence." The two's faces fell in disappointment, they slouched to the ground in a huff, annoyed by the ever growing restrictions.
"Okay but what about-" however Marcos question was cut off by a sudden explosion in the window and the emergence of several shadowy forms.
"A-ha! Didn't think we'd have the knocks to attack you in your own heavily fortified castle home hmm? Well guess again princess, now grab the wand!" Ludo and his minions charged towards the shocked duo, who quickly shook it off and began to engage in combat.
Cole meanwhile was perplexed, it made no sense that Ludo would attack now, and here, given his past record. It made even less sense that they would attack at this exact moment, rather than earlier before he had managed to fully enter Mewni. The time walker maneuvered around the fights and beasts, approaching the sneaking bird creature curiously. Ludo however, caught on and was quick to whip out a weapon.
"Stay back, don't make me use this!" he had produced a strange looking camera, which despite his warning, fired off anyway, piercing Cole with a beam that seemed to do nothing more than tingle.
"Hey, back off!" Marco came charging at Ludo and Cole's eyes widened, in an instant the situation became dire. Ludo pointed the camera at Marco, Cole realized what the camera was and moved to block it, and finally the button was pressed and a beam shot out at Marco, enveloping the boy into nothingness.
The fighting ceased immediately, Star halting her onslaught of terror and turning a pale face and dropped jaw towards Ludo. The short war lord was examining his device, muttering to himself as he shook it. A firm kick came from behind, sending him sprawling and the camera into Cole's hands, who was looking at it worriedly.
"W-What…" Star failed to form a coherent sentence as she approached the time walker, pointing between him, Ludo and the device in his hands. "Is, can you…"
"Yeah, he's alive alright, but that's the only good news I can give you kiddo." Cole held the camera above his head, worried over what Star would do if she grabbed it.
"Wow that thing works way better than I thought! Can't believe it actually incinerated karate kid!" She was on the bird in an instant, seizing him by the throat and slamming him into a wall, wand positioned and glowing, ready to perform its first ever kill.
"Ludo," her voice was calm, regal even, its absolution ringing through the room and causing the rest of the monsters to bow their heads in fear. "What is that, and where is he."
"I-I dunno! I just found it in the basement and thought it looked cool I swear!" his words were choked and forced as his facial color began to change.
"It's a dimensional copier, must have been one that I missed when I was destroying em." Star and the rest of the occupants turned to him as he spoke, however her grip on the creature in her hand only tightened.
"What's it do?" she asked, voice still cold as she walked over with the monster in her grasp, struggling on the verge of consciousness.
"Basically, it scans which dimension one person is from and then sends another person there, kinda like a way basic and useless form of the dimensional scissors." at the news Star seemed to be somewhat relieved and dropped the now gurgling Ludo to the ground, his body twitched as a monster scooped him up protectively
"Oh, well that's great right? Ludo scanned you so we just have to go to whatever dimension you're from and get him, let's go!" Cole rubbed the back of his sheepishly and Star's face fell with the obvious gesture.
"Okay see, honesty time, when I became the Time Walker, my essence was kinda scattered to the quantum winds. So basically, even though I exist at every moment everywhere, my real body no longer has a place where it can be identified as being from." the man let out an awkward chuckle which was quickly cut off by Stars hands wrapping around his collar and shoving him against the nearby wall.
"Ha! How's it feel jerk!" Ludo called as he and his gang made a hasty retreat, Cole sent them a glare before redirecting his attention to the fuming girl before him.
"What. Does. That. Mean." with each word she brought their faces closer together, eyes becoming more and more enraged.
"Well, it means that right now, Maro's in kind of a similar situation as Mewni, he's in a pocket dimension, called Non-Time."
"Oh jeez my head, feels like someone cracked it open, threw up, shook it all up and then drank it down." Marco groaned in pain as he peeled his face away from a floor of red and purple tiling.
Standing up in a groggy daze he took account of his surroundings. As far as the eye could see was white space, and floating within that space were random relics, some familiar and some otherwordly. From his position he made out several old naval vessels, ranging from B.C. to just a few years ago. The objects seemed to have no anchor to the ground and instead were randomly frozen in bizarre positions in mid air.
Rubbing his head the boy began to walk forward, there were no paths, no roads, no directions, only his random instinct. He fought back raw panic as he moved, sweat began to drip down his neck and he broke into a sprint, hands nervously raking through his hair. Finally he came to a stop in front of what appeared to be a library, though only half of one.
"Oh God, where's the exit and how the heck do I get out of here!" a sudden squeak from behind grabbed his attention.
"You don't, well I mean you probably could but you won't, woah did that rhyme that was awesome!" sitting several feet away from him was a young boy in a wheeled office chair, he was spinning himself around, laughing as he almost tipped over.
Marco sprinted over and stopped the chair, desperately trying to keep himself calm despite the strangeness of the situation. The boy looked up at him, brown hair disheveled and green eyes wide and calm.
"Woah, who are you?" the stranger asked as Marco struggled to catch his panicked breath.
"Who am I? Who are you, and where am I?" he shouted in answer, spinning around and gesturing to the strange place, much to the boys amusement.
"I'm the Tether, and this is Non-Time, or maybe I have a cooler name, well anyway the point is that's you answer, but who are you? You know, people don't usually just pop here, places sure, sometimes even animals, but never people." the tether had hopped down from his chair and began walking away, Marco in tow.
"My name's Marco, Marco Diaz, I'm from Earth, well I was in Mewni with Star. Oh man Star I hope she's okay, hey can you get me back to Mewni?" The Tether didn't respond, instead he seemed more focused on taking in the sights.
"Marco Diaz huh? That name sounds familiar, but it probably doesn't. I dunno, Cole sees so much stuff that it's like seeing nothing at all." At the mention of the familiar name Marco sank to his knees and grabbed the boy by his shoulders, turning him abruptly around.
"Did you say Cole? As in Cole the Time Walker Cole? You know him? Oh thank you Lord!" Marco jumped in elation while the smaller boy watched him in fascination, large eyes confused by the sudden emotional shift.
"Know him? I am him!" at this Marco froze and turned to look at him, this time his own eyes wide with disbelief.
"What? Look I know Cole and he doesn't look anything at all like you, I mean he's an adult and you're just a kid, plus you have normal eyes!" at his words the Tether inspected himself, as if testing to see if the other boy was right.
"Well yeah but that doesn't make me any less Cole. I'm Cole from the moment before he became the Time Walker, his tether to the physical plane, what you think a dude can exist at every moment everywhere anywhere and not have to have some kind of hold to some physical plane? What kinda joke is that?." Marco felt his head tingle with the familiar headache of new knowledge.
"Alright," he said sighing and plopping himself down, pulling out a notebook and pen from his hoodie. "Explain it to me, and keep it simple."
"Oh, alright um, okay well Cole, well me, I wasn't always the Time Walker, in fact, before I was a Time Walker I was a human boy from Earth if you can believe that! I was a blacksmith's apprentice in the Medieval age, at least I think that's what the time was called. Man what a crappy time to be alive, anything you ate could kill you and baths were once a year max. Anyway, there I was, in good ol' Europe living my ordinary life when all of a sudden, bam a crazy portal opens and out steps this weird little girl with hearts on her cheeks!" The Tether, the other Cole, was becoming lost in his own story, eyes distant as he spoke.
"Wait hearts? Does that mean she was from Mewni?" Cole nodded excitedly, impressed by the utterance of the dimension.
"That's right she was! She kept saying she was some sort of young queen who vanquished monsters and protected her people or something and that she was here to help. But then I told her we already had a rad king and we were good, so I asked if maybe instead she could show me some cool monsters. She was all about it and brought some from her home, Mewni like you said, and we got to fight them and it was a blast! After that she came back almost every month to play with me, until one day she asked me to come visit her home." At this the other Cole's eyes darkened, clouding over as a bitter memory came to him.
"So I said yes, like an idiot, and stepped through the portal. I dunno how much you know, Marco, about dimensional travel but this was before dimensional scissors even existed, only wicked powerful magic users could open portals. But see, since the portals were so crazy unstable, only wicked powerful people could go through them, and I wasn't one of them." The Tethers attention turned to his hand which slowly started to disintegrate into blue steam only to quickly reform.
"By the time I even realized what was happening my existence had already been scattered to all moments of time in the infinite arch of the multiverse, which I'm sure you already know, but maybe not. In an instant I went from a normal kid to an all knowing speck of consciousness who had experienced all of infinity, and finally, after learning and seeing all there was, I was reformed in a new dimension, a frozen one, by Father Time." Once more steam rose from the boy, this time forming illusions to flow with the story.
"Father Time wasn't really a fan of mine, he was kinda peeved that I knew all there was to know and said I had to stay with him now, watching him run on that stupid wheel until time finally reached its conclusion. 'Nuts to that!' I said to him, pretty brave huh? But I was like 'No way man, I'm not staying here I wanna go home, I wanna see my friend what the heck dude!' Didn't really do much, and for a few thousand years all I did was whine until finally the guy turns to me on his wheel and is like 'Alright fine jeez! Look, I'll let you leave if you do a job for me, become the Observer, and bare witness to all the events that will shape the multiverse, with your powers it won't take that long right?' So I was like sweet yeah, and I took the job and he sent me home." The previously white void that Marco had landed in had begun to darken as the other Cole spoke, black replacing the emptiness and the boys images become more contorted and eerie.
"But it wasn't as clean cut as I thought. When Father Time said 'bare witness to every event' I thought meant just the big stuff, but turns out that old freak meant every single event everywhere anywhere at the same time since technically every event shapes the multiverse, that monster tricked me and punished me! So there I was, experiencing an unending infinite amount of moments at once, going completely crazy, I had do something right? So I did, I split myself. One part of me would be the original me,a me that would absorb all the information from observing and record it, and the other part would be a slick, cool, suave me that would do the actual observing, that way the workload would be split and I could actually exist with some form of sanity." Marco slowly rose, unnerved by the change in atmosphere and the darkness that had crept into the space and voice.
"Wait, how did you split yourself in the first place?" The Tether didn't turn around, but answered regardless.
"I didn't really split, I just traveled back a few millennia, grabbed the me who was stuck in Father Time's dimension, linked him to me via time stream and plopped him down here, wait I mean plopped me down here, it's kinda confusing to think about and I don't really like to but the point is I'm here now. I'm the memory of all things observed, and that other Cole you know is kinda like the field reporter who goes and finds the big scoops, except that every scoops a big scoop." Marco agreed with a hum and moved so that he was kneeling in front of the boy, hand lightly grabbing his shoulder.
"Look, Cole, that's a really cool story and all and I'd love to hear more one day, but right now I've gotta get back to Star, is there any way to go home?" At his voice Cole snapped out of his storytelling and the room returned to normal.
"Not that I know, well actually I do but I just can't remember, I mean I do remember just not right now, with every moment flowing into my head from the other Cole it kinda just goes in one ear and right out the other ya know?" Marco wailed and fell forward, desperately grabbing onto the Tethers shoulder.
"But you said your the memory right? That means that there's gotta be something in that head of yours that can tell me how to get home!" Cole looked thoughtful and flicked his hands away from him, causing Marco to fall flat on his face.
"Well maybe there is a way, just not in my head." With a snap of his fingers the room began to move, sprinting forward like a treadmill and coming to an abrupt halt, sending Marco flying into a thick wall.
Only it wasn't a wall.
Marco groaned as he looked up, before him was a yellow mountain range, stretching on into the unseeable distance. Marco gazed in wonder, however upon closer inspection it came to his attention that it wasn't just an Earthly hill of dirt and stone, it was made of files. Thick yellow files stacked upon each other reaching high into the unending sky. Marco snatched one and flipped it open, skimming through the contents.
"December 8th, 1996, Maria Henely cheats on husband Jacob Henely and is impregnated, can't wait to see this one!" Marco blanched and returned the file to the pile, backing away in disbelief.
"Oh man my other self is really snarky, see it's moments like that which really put love in perspective right?" Marco looked between the small boy and the infinite hill, slowly comprehending what was before him.
"This-This is you isn't it? This is your part as the observer, these are all the moments ever observed written down. Jeez I mean when you said it goes in one ear right out the other I didn't think you meant like this!" as he spoke yet another file spouted from Cole's ear, landing neatly in the pile in an almost comical fashion.
"Something like that, I don't give it much thought you know? It's like, it's just there you know? I don't even have time to paw through all of it, I just gotta wait till time ends and then I'll finally be able to organize and read all this crap." As he spoke Cole kicked the mountain of files in distaste. "Anyway, if you wanna find a way outta here and back to Mewni and Star or whoever the answer is probably in here, maybe,"
Marcos legs finally gave out, there was no panic, no fear, only hopelessness. With an infinite mountain filled with every moment everywhere and anywhere written out with snarky comments it would take all of time to read through each one. There was even a chance that the information wouldn't be there.
"There's more good news too, see since we're in a pocket dimension there's no natural flow of time here. So like, when you do find a way to travel through time and space back to Star you'll be able to return to the exact moment after you were zapped here, even if it takes until the end of time!" Cole seemed to genuinely feel that this was a good idea.
"But I don't wanna spend all of time here! I wanna go back now, dang it I wonder if every version of myself is dealing with this!" Marco slammed his hand into the pile, causing a flood of files to pile on him.
"They are, the other infinite moments of me are having the same sad conversation with you right now, and the other Cole just explained the same story too all the Stars too, probably, she's pretty pissy too." The Tether had found yet another office chair and had begun to spin in it.
"That's it!" Marco cried, poking his head out from the pile of files. "Infinite you's and infinite me's!"
The boy hopped out of the paper prison and grabbed the other Cole from the chair placing him on his feet. The small boy looked at him confused as Marco grabbed a single file in his hands and presented to him.
"Ok so like, all of the me's are currently doing what I'm doing at the same time since we're all connected, and you exist at every single moment with them. But unlike me, you can change what you're doing from moment to moment while all of me will do the same thing at the same time. So if every version of you were to give every version of me a different file and we all read it at the same time, then all of the me's would all know everything we've read since everything about us is shared at the same time!" The Tether looked at the file in his hands and then back at Marco, his face was twisted into a bit of a frown.
"Sharing information with alternate versions of yourself? Marco that's way risky, and on top of that, I'm not even sure you're normal human brain could comprehend it." Maroc looked disheartened, but only for a moment.
"But you were a human once, and now you process all moments ever, please can we at least try?" Giving one final sigh the Tether nodded and grabbed a new file from the pile, a determined look on his face.
"Since I exist in every moment I've made sure that every moment of myself has grabbed a new file, like you said, and the moment I give it to you, all versions of myself will give all infinite you's a new, different file to read. But Marco I gotta warn you dude, you do this, and you may cease to exist from learning everything about anything okay?" the boy didn't take a moment to think, he simply nodded
With a final sigh the other Cole handed Marco the file. He took it and began to read, his file was one concerning a moment where a man was contemplating suicide. It was four pages and the details and commentary from Cole himself made him cringe, but he trudged through it. If he only scanned it, or didn't take in all the information carefully, then no versions of himself would.
And finally he hit the last word.
"Alright done, now if I'm right it should-" before he finished though he collapsed to his knees, screaming and writhing in agony as an eternity of forbidden information on all that was flooded his brain, overloading and threatening to break it.
"Told you it would hurt, you think some normal kid can just take in all that? Man, I can barely take in all of it!" Cole sank to his knees, raising Marco's head from the ground and forcing his eyes open with his fingers.
"P-Please Cole," he rasped, sweat oozing from every pore. "Do something, please I'm, I'm about to.."
"Why should I? I warned you didn't I? Besides it's not like you'll die, you'll just suffer in agony for all time until you finally process it all." The Tether seemed truly uninterested in the suffering of the boy before him, shaking his head in his hands as if it were a toy.
"B-Because I need to go home! Because Star needs me, and because, because the other Cole, and you too, y-you're my friend." his voice gave and what little strength he had clung to gave out and Marcos head slammed to the floor where he began convulsing, eyelids snapping as he entered a seizure like state.
The other Cole took a step back to examine the boy who had just confessed friendship to him. A warmth filled his chest, it had been so many years since someone had said those words to him. Technically, an eternity as he had been sent back to the beginning of time and then to the end. And yet, the memory of the young girl with hearts on her cheek and love in her eyes rang through him, reminding him of the heat that came with the word friend.
"Alright, but this is strike two." The Tether sat down and with a quick jerk shoved his hand directly through Marcos skull, taking a hold of his brain and holding it.
The pain stopped immediately.
"W-What's-"
"I've taken a hold of your brain and put it in yet another pocket dimension where time is flowing infinitely faster, in a moments it will have processed all the information that all the you's have read." The other Cole wore a proud smile as he held what was essentially all of Marco in his small palm.
"Wait, so you could have done this the whole time?" Marco whispered groggily, eyes narrowing slightly.
"Ope looks like we're done here we go!" his hand retracted and Marco sucked in a deep breath.
All of a sudden he knew everything, and strangely enough at the same time it felt as if he didn't. The information was flitting about his mind, every time he grasped onto something it slipped away and a new piece took it's place. The process repeated and Marco found it impossible to sort through any of the new information, let alone understand it. Essentially, he was back to square one
"See, the trick is to focus on key words, kinda like looking something up. Just think as specifically as possible and go from there." Marco nodded and followed the instructions, doing his best to sort through the endless moments.
He started by thinking of the simplest word he could, time, however there were so many moments with that word in it that it was of no help. Next he focused on time travel, however most of the moments were of those obsessed with the idea who had died in the process. Finally his mind focused enough to conjure the phrase 'dimensional travel through time from pocket dimensions' and only one moment appeared. It was from Cole himself, the first Cole, and was a record of the moment where the observer Cole left the Tether Cole in this random dimension to guard the moments while he returned to the rest of the infinite arch.
There it was, the answer.
With a second gasp Marco sat straight up and without a word leapt to his feet and began to run. The other Cole followed, chasing after him as they passed by more clutters of random artifacts from time. Finally, Marco came to a stop in front of what appeared to be nothing more than a chunk of bathroom that had been ripped from a house. The boy stood outside the door entrance, breathing heavily and concentrating.
"Oh man everything's leaking out, in a few moments I'll forget everything, even that I was here, and so will every other me I gotta get back now!" However, before he could grab the door there was a tug on his sweatshirt, the Tether had appeared, a forlorn look etched across his face.
"Forget the fact that you were even here huh? Guess that kinda makes you saying we were friends pointless if you don't even remember." Marco was running out of time, but another, larger part of him tugged, urging him to get the last word in.
"Hey," he said softly, kneeling down to eye level. "Even when I do forget everything that happened here, I'll still be friends with the other you. And your him, so I'll still be friends with both of you, and one day I just know that I'll end up back here and we'll get to hang out all you want, I'll even bring Star too!"
That got the other Cole to smile.
Returning it, Marco stood and opened the bathroom door, on first glance there seemed nothing out of the ordinary about it. He took a step and as he did the door slammed shut, and when he looked to his side there was no blank void filled with other random pieces of scrap, but instead warm brown walls. Gasping Marco moved to the door and threw it open, and standing on the other side was Star, gripping Cole's collar and angrily yelling at him.
"Star!" his voice was a teary eye whisper but he didn't know why, after all he had only been in the bathroom for a moment.
At his voice Star seemed to calm, a look of uncertainty on her face, and then she turned towards him with a brilliant smile. They charged each other, meeting in the center and colliding in a deep hug and loving kiss. Neither of them was really sure why they were so distraught in the first place. Star couldn't remember what her fear and anguish had been about, and Marco was still confused on why his trip to the bathroom had felt like an eternity.
The information had completely leaked out, and because it had been as if he had never been there, Star too and all who had been affiliated with the event no longer understood that anything had happened at all.
No one would remember, except Cole, both of them.
In the pocket dimension where artifacts from all time were stored, where all recorded moments of everyone and everything were stored, the Tether returned to his office chair. In his hand was tan doll with brown hair and painted on brown eyes. The other Cole slipped a clumsily cut red sweatshirt over him and began to move it, speaking in a poor deep imitation.
"I'll come back and hang out one day, I'll even bring Star!" Cole smiled warmly as he remembered.
"Sorry Marco, but I forgot to tell you, there's an exit, but you can only come back if you remember how to get here!" he replied to the doll in his own voice, holding it above his head as he leaned back.
"So what does that mean!" the doll asked, voice cracking in desperation.
"It means it was nice to meet you Marco, but then again, it probably wasn't."
For the first time since he had become the Tether, since he had been scattered to the quantum fields, since he had reformed as the Time Walker, since had had been brought here to do his punishment job, the other Cole, the original Cole, the child Cole felt a warmth in his heart and eyes.
Next to him lay an open file, the file that Marco had randomly grabbed and handed to him. The file which the other Cole had put back into the pile, after all infinite moments of himself had helped Marco there was one file left over, one file that didn't need to be read.
June 11th, 2015. Marco Diaz arrives and befriends the version of Cole the Time Walker known as The Tether, unaware that any interaction within the dimension will be null void upon leaving.
From the beginning, there had never been a chance for him, the other Cole felt his throat swell up in a now almost unfamiliar way. Finally, he felt himself give way, felt the eternity of crushing responsibility fall upon him. He felt all that he had lost, all that he would and had missed out on flow into him from all moments and felt all aspects of himself connect for but a single fragment of time.
And for that one brief moment, he let the tears flow freely.