by The Pighead
Hi, everyone! Finally, Chapter 5 is here. It's a shorter chapter than the previous ones but I still have a few tricks up my sleeves for you. I hope you will appreciate what I've planned! Of course, since there's still some reading needed, I recommand you, before you get into this chapter, to read Chapter 1 of Counterpart Conferences and the AO3 re-release of This Beautiful Mess We Made. The latter one got published recently, so go show it some love!
Without further ado, let's dive back into the story. Enjoy!
The Worldbuilder didn't gained his name for nothing. He was a veteran when it came to writing, having created storylines, timelines and universes since the beginning of the 2000s.
He was old enough to know more than a dozen of important events in recent history (or, at least, say that he was somewhere when they happened) and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that his personality changed as his life grew and evolved and yet, his desire and drive to write stories was one of the few things that never changed.
So, when he first laid eyes on the Multiverse the Administrator was busy creating, one of his thoughts was that he had to expand it.
This decision would prove itself to have been a very good choice. Without it, it's safe to say that the Multiverse would have been very different than what it is today.
You are an engineer.
You are now the RED Engineer.
You have glasses and a builder hat.
You like putting dispensers in places.
You also like creating other weapons in order to shoot your enemies of the BLU Team.
You are a bit stupid and not all there.
You still love your life.
You love dispensers.
You want to marry one of your dispensers.
Your life is dispensers.
I won't even entertain that. Go back to the main story, please.
You're no fun. But fine. Let's go back to Earth-1754.
We will actually go back to Pighead's deskroom. It's empty. The TV screens showing multiple points of the timeline are still operational but, for the rest, nothing is happening. There's not even some wind who's blowing because the windows were closed.
Then, without warning, a portal appears in the wall of the room and our host crashes to the ground. She takes some seconds to get up and wipe the dust off of her shirt.
The Pighead : Explain yourself.
She blinks and then notices you.
« Oh. It's you again. Well, hi, dear readers ! My apologies for the sudden arrival, I just came back from the near future. Was forcing to co-create a team because Ficboy wanted me to be here, for some damn reason – please, read The Pilot & the Meddler Hit the Road, it has still a lot of holes to fill but they'll be, eventually – but now, we can go back to the interesting stuff. Y'know, the stuff I do. »
« I have a visit that will happen in some minutes and, to not disrupt my planning, I came back at a point in time one minute after I was originally summoned inside the Internet by Ficboy, so my guests won't find a completely empty room. I mean, what kind of guest would I be if I wasn't here to greet them ? After all, I pride myself on being an excellent host. »
« But from now, why don't we look at some of our main characters ? Last time, we had a lot of events and a lot of Word pages were written so now, why don't we go for something less lore-heavy ? This will be fun, I assure you ! »
I guess we can do that, yep.
Pighead, without saying more, sits down on her chair and switches one of the TV screens to the present.
Be the other guy.
We don't do the first-person narration so you can't be the other guy. However, we can look at the other guy. Let's do that.
Earth-2009, somewhere in its future.
It took some cold water falling on his nose to wake up the man in green that was laying down. He never liked feeling this sort of things on this particular part of his face. Once he woke up and wiped his nose, the first thing he could notice was that he was deep inside a cave. It wasn't the darkest cavern he ever explored but still, all he could see was blue and darkness and stones and some torches. Of course, he was alone.
As soon as this thought came to his head, he heard some splashing noises coming from not too far away. Getting up, Luigi started to carefully move towards the source of the noises. He didn't had to go that far to see what it was.
In front of him was another person, crouched and looking at what he could see as a little pond. Said person was having long black hair, was wearing a black shirt, a blue-and-green skirt and purple shoes and the thing the green plumber noticed directly was orange horns on their head.
Since his footsteps, even if not loud, were one of the few things that constituted actual noise, it was enough for the person to notice him and turn around.
« )(-ELLO ! GLAD YOU WOK-E UP ! »
The voice was feminine but what struck Luigi the most was the fact that her skin was grey. Combined to the horns, it was clear to him that she looked like no one he knew.
It was the point when he felt that this Multiverse stuff he was hearing since the last few days really was starting to become complicated. Nevertheless, she sounded friendly enough, so Luigi decided to wave at her.
« …uh, hello ? »
« IS –EV-ERYT)(ING OK ? I'M SORRY FOR )(AVING L-EFT FOR SOM-E MINUT-ES, I COULDN'T )(-ELP MYS-ELF ! »
Luigi raised an eye.
« For how-a long was I asleep ? »
« W-ELL, I DON'T KNOW IF WE ARRIV-ED )(-ER-E AT T)(-E SAM-E TIM-E BUT IT MUST B-E, LIK-E, FIV-E MINUT-ES ? OR T-EN, MAYB-E ! »
Oh. This wasn't that much of a problem, he thought.
« That's-a good, I guess. I'm absolutely not-a sure of what is happening… »
« I'M NOT –EIT)(-ER ! BUT I'M S)(OR-E T)(AT WE CAN FIND OUT ! »
Her attitude was energetic. Joyful. Clearly friendly. Maybe a bit too energetic but he knew a lot of Toads who had the same personality as her and never had any problem with it.
That would do.
« Yeah. So, by chance, have-a you seen-a my brother around ? Shorter, wears-a red and blue, has almost the same-a mustache than me ? »
« NOP-E ! BUT YOU'R-E NOT ALON-E IN T)(AT, I WAS WIT)( MY FRI-ENDS T)(-EN –EV-ERYT)(ING STOPP-ED AND N-EXT T)(ING I KNOW, I'M )(-ER-E ! »
Luigi started to scratch his mustache. He went on a mission with Mario, Sonic and all the others and now, he's alone and in a place that he doesn't recognize at all… and she's also alone and in a place she doesn't know. The coincidence couldn't be more obvious if it tried.
« I see… yep, sticking-a together for-a now is a good idea. With-a luck, your friends are OK ! »
« Y-EA)( ! PLUS, W-E ALL AR-E GODS SO I'M NOT WORRI-ED AT ALL ABOUT T)(AT ! »
The green plumber raised an eyebrow at this sentence but decided for now not to ask more questions.
« Oh, I realized, I forgot to introduce myself-a ! My name-a is Luigi. »
« I'M F-EF-ERI ! NIC-E TO MEET YOU ! »
Once the introductions were made, the two decided to move somewhere else. The cavern was dark and inhospitable, so it was better to find other people (if they were here) or just find a way out of here or informations on what this place was.
It took them between ten and fifteen minutes (and a lot of falls avoided in extremis on both parts, thanks to the ground not always being that solid) before the plumber and the troll saw something else than torches and rocks.
A village. Or, more precisely, the remains of a village.
There were destroyed and ruined homes everywhere in front of them. No windows, very few doors (and the ones here were laying on the ground, broken) and, in general, this place looked like it got a nuclear bomb dropped on it. Also, there was a bunch of grey… things also laying down. Neither Luigi nor Feferi knew if it was weird statues or living people who died long ago and it was their remains.
« Wasn't expecting-a this. »
« M-E N-EIT)(-ER ! I WOND-ER W) (APP-EN-ED TO T)(OS-E POOR F-ELLAS ? »
The former Witch of Life carefully approached one of those things. Maybe if she was poking it one time, she would have an idea of what it was…
« Hey ! Could you not ? »
The two jumped while the new, raspy voice made itself heard. Turning towards its source, they saw a bearded, long-haired and disheleved man wearing a scientist blouse and goggles walking towards them, looking pretty bothered by something.
« I know I haven't put any warning sign here but again, I wasn't supposed to see other people here at all, so I'm telling you that just once : don't touch any of that ! »
Despite his looks, his voice was at least trying to not sound too aggressive. In general, he sounded more like he got out of bed with difficulty and less like he was about to attack them. Immediately, Luigi raised his hands in the air like the police was surrounding him.
« AR-E T)(OS-E STATU-ES ?, casually asked Feferi.
« Depends on the way you see it, the man responded. If you're asking me if they have always been, no. They used to be people, actually, living and breathing people. I don't really know exactly in what period of time they were living, but this was a little civilization. They lived in those mines for a very long time but… it didn't really end well. They got all wiped out from the surface of this Earth after the eruption of a volcano, not far away. What you are seeing is their remains. »
This last sentence made the plumber and the troll look at them with a clear expression of sadness. It was almost sounding like a bad joke, the fact that those people probably thought they were safe only to be proven absolutely wrong.
« It killed-a everyone ? »
« Well, that's what people thought for a long time but, actually, it was discovered way later than a baby survived. Said baby grew up to be a wealthy businessman but also as someone that is not really all there. I talk about someone who tried to make the volcano erupt again in order to destroy the villages around and create his own « perfect » city. The last time someone saw him, it was when he got thrown into space – long story. No one is sure if he died. His name was « Sunshine » or something like that. »
The two nodded their heads.
« And-a you're exploring those-a mines for what ? »
« I had to. »
« B-ECAUS-E IT'S AN IMPORTANT PLAC-E FOR YOU ? »
« No, it's because my boss wanted me to be here. »
The two let out a short « Oh » in answer. Yeah, that one was kind of a letdown, actually.
« Yeah, I know, the man resumed. Like, I'm telling her I never did archaeology and I'm a scientist but when you work for someone stubborn like that… »
« A scientist-a ? »
« Yep. I used to work in one of the biggest corporations of my universe when I was younger. At least, it was something big but at the time I was here, they were struggling. All came crashing down when they decided to create her. I knew it was a bad idea but no one listened. That's how I managed to stay alive. »
His tone of voice suddenly became somber. His two guests didn't need to think twice to guess that it wasn't good memories for him.
« Though, after that, it didn't got better. I had to stay hidden for years and years until she got killed. Then, I got shot and put myself into sleep. And that's just the summary. When the boss woke me up, I tried to know what happened. Got nothing more than something along the lines of « Everything is fine and don't you worry about it, plus, there's more interesting things for you to do ». »
« LIK-E ? »
The man first didn't answer, just turning his head left and right, like he felt something was spying over him.
« Honestly, I don't think you should ask me. I have already a hard time understanding the way she works and sees the world. She straight-up told me that I needed to go here because it would attract attention. I thought she would be wrong but I guess that if you're here… »
The two raised eyebrows.
« What do you mean-a ? »
« I mean that I don't always know what my job is and that when I ask, I always receive vague comments about how me and all the people working for her, we're part of this important mission that would leave everyone completely speechless, something that would completely destroy the statu quo and leave it in shambles… then, I ask her to elaborate and she tells me that it would spoil the story and the audience doesn't like that or whatever. »
The scientist let out a sigh of consternation.
« YOU KNOW, IF IT BOT)(-ERS YOU, W-E CAN L-EAV-E, W-E W-ER-E JUST TRYING TO FIND AN –EXIT. »
« Nah, it's fine, the man responded immediately, it's just me rambling. I have spent years forgetting what it was like to interact with the outside world. Always fuck you up. »
The man turned around and looked at the corpses again for some seconds before reminding himself of something.
« Actually, I didn't ask for your names… »
But when he turned back, they weren't here anymore.
In response, Doug Rattmann simply shrugged. He saw it all, after all.
Move this along.
When Luigi & Feferi reappeared, the first thing they realized is that falling out of a portal was painful. Like, really painful. Hopefully, no one was there to see them. Falling on your ass or flat on the ground was always quite embarrassing.
« Ooooooooh… mamma mia… »
« YOU T-ELL M-E. »
The two got up, trying to analyze their new surroundings and ignore the pain. It took them some seconds to achieve the latter goal, thanks to the skeleton wearing a bright gold and blue costume with a star in the chest and a yellow visor in its head (and a golden device resembling a football in its side) who scared them off quite a bit.
Of course, their first reaction would be to ask what the fuck is that. But they knew very well that none of them had the answer. All they could do is look around them. They were in some sort of laboratory. It was deserted, a little dirty, full of empty tables and shelves. The feel of this place was… a bit sad, actually. The « deserted » part didn't help.
Then, something else got their attention. A large chalkboard. They approached it. It was full of various sentences, flowing into each other and seeming absolutely random. But the closer they looked, the more they saw two different writing styles on it. All of them were written clearly but some of them had a more frantic energy visible in them while others felt… more controlled and calm. In fact, the way it was written AND ordered felt like the person who was currently reduced to a bunch of bones wrote sentences… then, someone else stumbled upon it and decided to vandalize the chalkboard by writing their own sentences on it.
When they actually looked at what it was saying, this impression became clearer.
Who is watching ? (Your mom)
The War in the Heavens (Doesn't matter, soon, everyone will live on the same plane)
Doom Will Have His Day (But it will be only one day)
Injustice For All (Regime for None)
Cobra Rises When Cybertron Falls (But snakes never last against spiders)
The Grid Will Be Shattered (It can always be rebuild)
He Will Laugh Last (And then, I'll do, just to spite him)
Atlantis Can Only Have One King (Those thrones don't matter)
Who. Is watching ? (The fuckers who are hiding)
Knights Fall (You're only a one-hit wonder, Bane, maybe you should retire)
The Great Darkness (It was Pariah all along !)
The Demon Has More Than One Head (Of course, I have)
Invasions, Secret And Not (They can always dream)
Magic Under Siege (And yet, they'll fail because they haven't thought about bullets)
Thunder Roars (Strike me all you want, your bolts will never take me down)
Paradise No More (I will create the better paradise)
Flight of the Phoenix (Dying or being the Phoenix, that's your entire life, Jean Grey !)
Who. Is. Watching ? (People who don't know I'm watching them)
His Herald Arrives (I eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast)
The Future Is Metal (Looking forward to see your faces when you'll see Mets fulfilling this part)
Stone Comes Alive (After five seconds, they become dough)
Only One Can Master Their Universe (Their alliance will crumble in days)
The Dragon Will Engage in Kombat (« Fall Guys » is a better tournament, anyway)
Days of Future Enter the Past (My days, more precisely)
The Web Will Grow (Morlun and his family of lame-asses can go strangle themselves on it)
Who. Is. Watching ? (Someone you will never understand)
Apocalypse's Age (With Legion in his little straitjacket ? Nuh-uh, not gonna happen)
Excalibur Returns (Arthur stopped lazying around ? Good on him)
Justice Like Lightning (Just wait until I'm bored and the truth comes out, Norman)
Hell On Earth (That's how someone describes what it feels when Lucifer burps)
The Ghost Walks Again (They can always try)
No Defense (What defense do you have against someone who can resist everything ?)
The Great Hunt Is On (The ones who imagine themselves predators only know they're truly preys when it's too late for them)
Whose Will Be Done ? (My will)
WHO. IS. WATCHING ? (It's me, your best friend ! ^^)
If the plumber and the Witch weren't feeling lost by then, the little pig mask drawn on the bottom right of the chalkboard made it.
For some seconds, nothing was said. Silence prevailed.
Then, a noise got heard.
Luigi & Feferi : Resist the urge to jump out of your skins
They successfully did so. Turning their heads to see what caused it, they saw, at their surprise, a camera on the ground. The troll approached it. It looked like a totally normal camera. She picked it and examined it. The only thing that got her attention was a little piece of paper glued on it. She ripped it off the camera. It was a written message.
A little bit of advice : maybe you should keep what you saw in mind.
Yours,
« Osterlum »
A little golden top hat served as the signature. Fortunately, this was enough for Feferi to understand the hint. She turned the device on and went back to the chalkboard before starting to take pictures of it.
« What are you doing-a ?, asked Luigi.
« W-E M-ET SOM-EON-E W)(O TALK-ED ABOUT HIS W-EIRD BOSS AND NOW, T)(IS. I READ –ENOUG)( BOOKS T)(OS-E LAST Y-EARS TO KNOW W)(-EN SOM-ET)(ING W-EIRD IS GOING ON. »
The man in green couldn't argue with that line of thought.
Even if he would, he couldn't because new portals appeared under their feet as soon as Feferi finished taking her pictures.
Look beyond.
For any other person, having so much lights on their face would be an absolutely horrendous punishment. For the man who was sitting down here, it was a blessing that he was heavily enjoying every time he could.
It helped that he wasn't exactly a man. Let's say that he was more of a humanoid who could pass as a man if he had a mask.
The outfit he was wearing was a curious combination between a jester and a mob boss, his shirt, coat and pants being made of various parts of other outfits snatched and stitched back together. It created an outfit that was multi-coloured, very messy but with a weird elegance to it. A golden yellow top hat, brown shoes and a purple tie completed it. His face, from what could be seen, was round and shadowy in the most literal sense, not to mention the literal shadow that was emanating from it. The only thing with color on his actual body were his glowing yellow eyes. To complete all of this, he was holding a red cane with the head of a dragon on the top.
Normally, he wouldn't have interfered so much with what he was looking at. But for this time, he felt that it was needed. It wasn't even to involve them in his own business, they had their own to take care of, after all. But they would learn about it pretty quickly. After all, she decided to use them for whatever the heck she wanted to do.
He got up. This whole business with the chalkboard reminded him that he had one too. One he was looking at sometimes when he needed to remind himself on why he was here to begin with.
One with all the questions he was trying to answer to.
Who am I ? Baron Daydream.
Why am I here ? I'm searching for truths.
What is this Multiverse ? Its name is « Multiverse-IC ».
Who are those people I'm watching ? They're connected by one thing. Or rather, one person.
Are those people trustworthy ? They seem to be.
Who is in charge of this world ? They're called the « Monks ».
Why am I here ? My life went a way it wasn't supposed to.
Who is the person I'm watching over ? She names herself « The Pighead ».
What happened with the narrative ? She derailed it.
Will it be easy to have allies ? I don't doubt it.
Will people understand the full extent of the truth ? I doubt it.
How do I need to act ? Never assume someone is your enemy until they attack you.
Will those Warriors succeed ? As long as this Pilot keeps her in check.
It's when he looked at the last line that his expression became somber. That was the only way he could feel about it.
Why am I here ? I need to know why she's acting like I don't exist anymore.
And that's all! Before I go, here's some notes:
- I think this is the first time than the instruction from the Oblique Strategies wasn't as much respected as I did before. Happens, sometimes.
- So, yeah, remember Chapter 5 of Another Side of the Glimpses when Pighead and Doug Rattmann were arguing about some task the former wanted the latter to do? Yeah, it was this task, to go to Earth-2009 (during the time of the events of Pikuniku) and look at Mr. Sunshine's former hometown for seemingly no apparent reason. I'm not sure there was even a reason to do this other than making Luigi & Feferi suspicious about something going on. That's my author avatar for ya!
- Originally, the two were supposed to briefly interact with Atlanteans during the events of Celestial Navigation. However, I abandoned the idea after I found better ones. But the idea of revisiting Booster Gold's old lab and his chalkboard with Pighead having vandalized it, in a way, was something I wanted to do since I started conceptualizing DEATHFAME, as a way to show that fictional me wants people to know she's here (and to be afraid, if possible) so yeah, I did that. Also, Luigi & Feferi were supposed to take Booster's skeleton with them but since I have no idea on how he died and I suspect it's one of the big things Michael keeps under wraps... better not to touch it.
- So, if you haven't followed my suggestion and are wondering who is this shadowy jester guy who just showed up, please, I implore you to go read the AO3 version of This Beautiful Mess We Made since it's where he's introduced. Baron Daydream is a character that I will not tell a lot about for now, because he's quite important when it comes to Pighead's own character arc, but I can tell you that he's about to be a major player in the future, that I had him for quite some time and that I'm very excited to write more about him. And I really hope you will like him, too! At least, I'll try my best.
That's all for me. As always, reviews and comments are heavily appreciated and, since we can see our numbers again when it comes to views, a huge thank you to all my readers for the 1,000 views, that we reached once again! Very grateful for that and I hope I'll keep you entertained for a long time.
Peace, y'all.