Content warning: fantasy violence, swearing, amalgamation-esque body horror*
* Read the author's note in Chapter 30 for more information
By the way, I haven't mentioned this before because I had no idea how to naturally include this info into the story, so I'll include this info in the author's note before we begin:
Memory is 5'11", Sabre is 5'11", Alex is 5'10", Illusion is 5'4" (5'6" with heels), and Time is 5'5" (5'6" with heels). I hope that helps with mental imagery, lol.
Anyways, consider this chapter as a spring/summer special! This chapter is actually 10,000 words. Yup, 10k words.
I won't be uploading a chapter next week. So feel free to take your time with reading this monster of a chapter, lol.
It's actually the longest chapter so far in RRFF, the reason why the story took a long hiatus, and a very experimental plot. I'm hoping that it makes this chapter a fun read. Enjoy!
"Reverse."
Panned out in the sky, the clocks spun their hands in reverse, becoming a blur. Golden sparks formed into a bolt of lightning that struck the crumbling screen.
"Maybe, he's actually – GAH." The dark figure on the screen dropped the flower. His body broke into pieces, a scatter of gray, white, black, and red.
The figure reformed, spazzing out as his words jittered incomprehensibly. He ran backwards. Reforming fireballs sprouted out of their craters and returned to the figure's hands. Lightning zig-zagged from the ground and back into the sky. The chaos accelerated until the world morphed into flashing images. The images changed faster and faster, but the echo of a ticking clock was catching up to the racing sights and then –
Thunder.
Memory peered up and saw Alex land on the obsidian platform. She lamented, "No, I'm too late!"
Memory quickly commanded the transformed Sabre to whirl around and enter a fighting stance towards Alex.
Alex gasped. "Sabre?! Galaxy?! What happened to you!"
Memory warned, "One step closer, and I will command him to attack you. Would you like to fight both of your friends at – wait a minute."
He did a double take at Sabre. Why was he even here?! Didn't he sent him out of the world after banning him from the server? He shouldn't be here. He should be...well, Memory wasn't sure.
Alex gave a baffled sound before she burst out laughing. She ran a hand through her messy hair as joyful tears streamed down her reddened face. "It worked!" She screamed at the sky. "It actually worked!"
Memory stared at her a dumbfoundedly before looking up. He stumbled back when he saw a golden machine made out of clocks in the sky. "What?!" Then it all clicked inside his mind. The server. The destruction. His voice. How he was about to say something. Memory had been an arm's reach from victory, but it was swept away.
His hidden eyes shot furious daggers at Alex. "What did you do?!"
She laughed more, too immersed into her glee to hear him.
Memory faced Sabre and waved a hand across the motionless puppet. Underneath the onesie and in the center of Sabre's chest, a golden circle yawned to light. Memory waved his hand again and more details emerged. He could identify the numbers that now bordered the circle and the two ticking hands.
A pocket watch. What Alex handed to Galaxy. Memory reached for the circular item, but when he tried to pry it off, his fingers dug into flesh. He let go with a shudder, now realizing that the watch was embedded into Sabre, bound together by melted roots of flesh and gold.
He snarled at Alex, "You reversed Sabre in time?!"
"I think that's what happened!?" She exclaimed.
"No! Nononono." Memory shook his head madly. "That's impossible! No one was on that server to reverse him in time! No one could...Gah! How did you know this would happen?! How did you know that I would merge Galaxy and Sabre together, making them both vulnerable to that stupid clock!"
Alex backed off, looking nervous and relieved. "Hey, time isn't my specialty! Someone glimpsed into the future and said it was likely you would merge Sabre and Galaxy together. So I thought it was a good call to give that clock to Galaxy, in case that future comes true."
"A glimpse into the future?!"
Thunder startled Alex and Memory. The clocks above them sparked with golden lightning and Zap! A bolt struck the ground a distance away from the obsidian platform, engulfing the space with smoke and dust.
The dust settled, and one figure stood where the lightning had struck. His black cape swayed slowly and his clock mask reflected the light from the machine above.
Memory's wrathful gaze locked onto Time Steve. "YOU?!"
Time straightened his back. "So we meet again."
Memory stomped to the edge of the platform. "You just had to pull off the theatrics when trying to stop me!"
Time tilted his head in confusion. "I wouldn't say I'm the dramatic type. I'm just glad I was able to stop you and have a lot of energy left after creating that." He pointed at the machine above.
He's gotten a lot stronger since the last time he's spawned that machine, Memory realized. A lot stronger since Elemental's final...
Alex jumped off the platform and joined Time's side. "Memory, please, save the energy and stop this! You can't win; you were so close to winning, but we reversed it. We'll do it again."
He stepped back, chest suddenly tight. He knew she was right. How could he win, when both of them were here?
He turned to the only other person on the platform: the Shadow Sabre-Galaxy abomination. He quickly snapped his fingers and the abomination perked up and joined his side.
Time flinched, probably gawking at the abomination. Memory forced himself to laugh. "If you want to fight, you have to fight us both!" He intensified his gaze on Time. "At least for once I'll have someone fighting on my side..."
Alex nervously looked at Sabre before sending a pleading look to Time. The clock-faced Steve only dipped his head. "I don't remember any of our previous battles, but...don't expect me to forget how you froze my brother any time soon." He snapped his fingers and thunder struck next to him. A new figure appeared.
Memory gasped, "Illusion!"
Illusion stumbled from the landing, grabbing Time for support. Once he balanced himself, he looked at Sabre and immediately dropped his jaw. "What?!" He returned his baffled expression to Memory. "So let me get this straight...you merged Shadow Stone, Sabre, and Galaxy Steve together? And this is the result?!" He pointed at the abomination. "This is ridiculous! Rainbow Steve, I can understand. But three very different things merged together, I'm not gonna believe that!"
Memory nearly fumbled on his words before he shook his head and renewed his stare of contempt. "You got him involved?" He gestured his head toward Time. "Why?!"
Illusion softened his expression. "Well, he told me it was never too late to change my mind and accept his help...so I finally accepted it."
Alex gave Illusion a nod of approval.
"You're outnumbered," Time warned Memory. "I'm sure you foresee that victory is slim for you. Can we end the fighting now, just to reach what's bound to happen anyways?"
Memory side-eyed Sabre. Galaxy Steve was in there. Memory wanted to win, but as long as Galaxy was in the server, anything that hurt him would hurt Illusion. He couldn't attack the heroes, or let his minion fight and get hurt, knowing that it would make Illusion suffer.
He knew the only way to protect Illusion was to get Galaxy off this server. But then it would be three against one. And how could he complete his mission with three heroes after him?
He nervously returned his gaze to the heroes. He again realized the fiery white horizon that surrounded them.
Suddenly, he had an idea. But for it to work, he had to keep his mind intact.
Memory checked and made sure that the flower crown was safe in his inventory. Void Steve was going to have to wait.
Sabre, disconnect!
The minion summoned the gray rectangles, slammed the Disconnect button, and disappeared.
Time and Alex launched into the air, but Illusion quickly pulled them down. "WAIT! Memory banned Sabre!"
"Banned?" Time repeated.
"He made it so that Sabre can no longer come back to us! Now that he disconnected, we'll never see him or Galaxy ever again!"
Alex looked at Time. "We can't waste time. I don't think you have enough energy for a huge reverse, so reverse time now and bring Sabre back to save energy!"
Time dropped his fighting stance and flew towards the clock machine. But Memory launched off the platform and tackled him mid-air. The masked cousins tumbled back to the ground. Memory quickly got up and pinned Time down. He peered up and saw Alex and Illusion sprint towards him, their hands glowing with energy.
Now!
He raised a hand and a scatter of lightning struck the island. Alex and Illusion broke away and dodged the raining attacks. Zap! Every time a bolt struck, white flowers sprouted in its place. After the flail of lighting, glitching white flowers had sprouted all over the island.
Memory grimaced as he snapped his fingers. All the flowers flashed, engulfing the island with white. A blink later, the flowers expanded and transformed into humanoid shapes. The new entities varied in size, form and feature, but they all looked like people from Sabre's world.
Memory channeled his powers into all these entities. He searched through their minds and found one emotion they all had in common, but it was an emotion he had never heard of before: the unquenchable rage of a hundred thousand fangirls, fanboys, and fanbies.
He flicked his hand and let that emotion take over.
The glowing entities snapped their heads towards Illusion. The young Steve widened his eyes and froze. The energy in his hands glowed a brighter pink, but it flickered as his defensive posture faltered.
The white entity pointed accusingly at him, and yelled, "HYPNO STEVE RIP-OFF!"
Illusion suddenly looked baffled instead of scared. "Ex-excuse me?!"
Another entity shouted, "AND HE MURDERED THE TIME BEAN. HE MUST PAY."
A third entity added, "Oh, I wish I had the power to jump into the world and strangle him!"
Somewhere in the chaos, Alex cried out, "What is going on?!"
"What's happening?" Time asked, his voice muffled because Memory was pressing his face into the ground.
Illusion gawked at Memory. He seemed like he was internally debating on whether he should be offended, terrified, or bewildered. "Did you seriously summon the memories of the Sky People to fight me?!"
...Memory awkwardly nodded. "My options were limited."
"DIE!" The army of angy fans screamed.
Illusion leapt into the air to dodge the tidal wave of fans. He shot a pink energy ball at them, but the fans didn't even flinch. "My illusion powers can't work on them because they're not from this world!"
The fans stacked into a tower that eventually loomed over Illusion. One entity on top of the tower gave a battle cry and tackled him with a diving elbow drop.
Illusion screeched as he and his attacker both crashed down to the sea of raging entities. "NOT THE FACE!" Illusion scrambled away from the entities and soared away. The angy mob chased after him, some of them managing to fly in the sky, and the others trudging into the lava sea.
"MAKE SURE YOU DON'T HURT HIM! JUST KEEP HIM BUSY!" Memory yelled after them.
The last of the angy mob left and the island's surroundings dimmed. Without the crowd, Memory finally noticed Alex, who stared puzzledly at the scene. Memory scanned the island and tilted his head when he saw a handful of Sky People just vibing on the island. "Why aren't you going after Illusion?" He asked.
One of the vibing entities shrugged. "We don't feel that much hatred against Illusion."
"I actually love him. He's my disaster son," another said.
He's your son? Memory questioned. But I'm his family...
Against all sane reason, Memory lifted Time's head and let him see the entities. "Are you seeing this too?"
"So my ears weren't deceiving me. That actually happened," was Time's answer.
Upon hearing Time's voice, Alex snapped out of her confusion and glared at Memory. She charged and knocked him off Time. Her hand sparked with dangerous energy until Time shouted, "Alex, wait, please save Illusion! I'll deal with Memory!"
Alex groaned, but she nodded and flew into the sky, following the stream of enraged Sky People and the distant sound of Illusion's screaming.
Time stood up and fixed his cape with an awkward cough. He tried to fly back to the clock machine in the sky, but Memory generated a bow. Focused on both the clock machine and his target, he fired an arrow at Time's head.
"Ah!" Time clenched his head. Memory sprinted and jumped high enough to grab Time by his ankle, and he teleported them both away.
Memory pulled and slammed Time down. "Woah!" Time landed on the ground of the brand new island with a thud.
Memory stepped back with a heavy exhale. He scanned the sky and didn't see the clock machine anywhere. He was glad that he teleported far away from the obsidian platform, but then he staggered, exhaustion crashing on him. He had depended on Sabre's energy to carry most of the mission: erasing thousands of people's memories, merging with Galaxy, and returning Void. But controlling Sabre, fighting Alex, all this teleporting, all those breakdowns, and now distracting Time had cost so much of his own energy.
Memory nearly collapsed, leaning against a nearby tree for support. Only the dread of Time being in front of him was what kept his muscles working. He flicked his hand and summoned a black shulker box.
"Ugh..." Time sat up, rubbing his head. He looked around before sighing. "Only one Steve against another Steve? Is that what you want? Fine..." He got up and rolled his shoulders back.
Memory snapped open the shulker box, which coughed out a grey cloud. He snatched the dark items inside the chest and pointed one of them at the approaching Steve. "Not another step!"
Time jumped back with a yelp. "Shadow Stone?!"
"Not another word either, or you'll become just like Elemental! Corrupted and mad!"
Time raised his hands in surrender.
Memory placed down a crafting table and slammed two Shadow Stones against it. Poof, the stones exploded into powder. The black dust snaked into the air and entered his arms, sending a jolt into his bloodstream. He shuddered and rolled his shoulders. Every sight, smell, sound, and emotion felt new. To see Time still afraid to move brought him a thrill.
Fully energized again, Memory scanned the dimension, ran, and teleported to the next island. Time launched into the air and chased after him. "Come back!"
Memory teleported to the next island and the next. He knew this was a gamble, but this was part of his improvised plan. He knew that Time and the others will reverse time to save Sabre and stop Void's return...as long as Time had energy. He also needed Sabre for his mission. The time reversal was bound to happen, but Memory could still delay it.
The more time that passes while Sabre's outside of the server, the more energy Time will need to reverse time and undo Sabre's banishment. Memory had just erased Time's memories about the clock machine and Alex's order to reverse time quickly. Now, he had to drag on this distraction as long as possible. And once Time would remember and reverse Sabre's banishment, he would be fully drained and powerless...the perfect opportunity to finish him off. Then no one could undo his victory and the return of Void again.
But first, he had to stall.
Memory kept running and teleporting. He taunted, "The longer you lag behind, the longer your friends are in danger!"
Thunder struck as the gong of an hour hand echoed behind him. "So that's how it'll be, huh? You'll keep tormenting everyone I love!"
Thunder again and suddenly, Time was in front of Memory. Memory crashed into him, who twisted him in the air and pinned him to the ground. "Aah!" Time shoved his face closer to Memory, the clock's hands spiraling into a hypnotic blur.
A flash of white.
November 2020
Memory gasped and teleported back onto his transparent feet. He inspected the room and the familiar carpet floor. A hologram of Time leapt up, shocked by his surroundings.
The office was drastically different. The six lights on the ceiling were off. The green tapestry, the chair, and décor were gone, leaving the desk and the computer as the only remnants of life. The monitors' screens were darkened and speckled with dust. Wooden boards barred the window, and cobwebs occupied the corners of the ceiling and the underside of the desk.
Memory bottled down the growing apprehension. He knew where they were, but when? "Care to explain the sudden time jump, cousin?"
Time continued inspecting the room. Entering a complex dimension was one thing. Who knew how he felt about being in a different dimension and a different part of the timeline. "I've taken us one year into the future in Sabre's reality. And look around: he's not here. Nothing but dust and cobwebs."
Memory scoffed and approached the window. Able to catch a sliver of the outside world, gray from the clouds blocking the sun, he teleported to the front yard of the house. Instead of grass and bushes, scattered furniture guarded the house. A broken bed and mattress, a rotting bookshelf and more. Between two bookshelves was a gray slip of paper fidgeting in the wind. "EVICTION NOTICE," it said. The gray clouds above were heavy; they could rain and destroy the slip and the furniture in minutes.
Destroy them as easily as Sabre, Memory realized, a sick feeling forming in his stomach.
Time teleported by his side. "One year, Memory. One year has passed since your victory. Look at what already happened."
Memory glared at him. "I've seen how the smallest pushes and pulls lead to the collapse of Steve civilizations. Why do you expect showing me the future would move me?"
Time stomped his foot. A shattering noise. The wind had knocked down a green bottle, and it broke on the black pavement. "We don't know how Sabre is doing! If he's even conscious or not after Void has taken over! And what about his audience?! The people who made friendships and memories over the Steve Saga. How are they doing?! You've taken it too far by attacking good people who have nothing to do with us!"
"That's what I do! I hurt good people. And I've come to learn that even the good hurt back in malicious ways."
"How did they hurt you?!"
"How did they - ?!" Memory burst out laughing. "Oh, where do I start?!"
Then the furniture flickered. Memory tore his attention away from Time as the furniture graveyard blinked in and out of existence until it finally vanished. The house renewed its lively look as someone exited it. It was Sabre. He wore a galaxy-patterned hat, and a dark fabric concealed his mouth and nose. He leapt over the doorsteps and strutted to the gray pavement. He set down a flat wooden board with wheels and rode on it.
When Time sighed in relief, Sabre glitched out of existence and the furniture graveyard returned.
Memory had a sudden chill of anxiety. This future is fading away. I might lose?!
"Why did you send me here?! What's the real reason?!" He demanded.
Memory could just feel the smirk forming behind Time's mask. "Just something to distract you. Alex and Illusion will save Sabre, and you can't stop them!"
Memory tensed. "You plan to trap me in the future, aren't you?" Did Time already remember that he was supposed to reverse time? No, he didn't; he believed Sabre hadn't been banished and the other heroes were saving him. But he still knew Memory had to be stopped. And in this future, where Memory's actions couldn't change anything, he was practically already defeated. Was that why the future flickered?
It was Time's turn to taunt. "Do you want to go back to the present to finish your mission? Well, you'll have to catch me first!"
Lightning. Memory swiped at Time, but the clock-faced Steve quickly teleported away. "No!" He desperately clung to the trace of his cousin's energy. He traced it back to the office and teleported back inside.
He spotted Time standing next to the computer. Time scoffed and slammed the device. The two monitors blinked to life, their bright blue light illuminating the room and stretching the shadows. Then the monitors glitched and absorbed him.
Memory stared at the monitors as he weighed his options. Honestly, he could just do nothing as Time wasted his time hiding. Memory just needed a lot of time to pass for his improvised plan to work. He certainly didn't want to jump into those monitors. With time and space unaligned in the Memory Dimension's connection with Sabre's world, who knew what would happen if he jumped into those monitors.
However, he had to get back to the present, so he couldn't afford to lose sight of Time Steve.
Memory snarled and sprinted towards the monitors. His vision glitched and flashed white.
Memory spun as he fell from the "sky." Space, light, and sound all blurred to one as a rainbow gallery of screens danced around him. Memory threw his head back, allowing his body to dive and cut through the storm. He spotted Time, who was falling below him. He let gravity close the distance between him and Time, and he crashed into him.
Time grunted as he tried to punch Memory off him, who only hit and kicked back. The gallery of images stretched into smears, blinking from place to place.
"ENOUGH!" Time pulled back, but grabbed Memory with him. They soared across the never-ending pit and collided into a bright blue and green picture.
The world flashed.
"Aaaah!" Memory's surroundings turned blue and he spiraled until he plummeted into the ground. The grass tore apart while his body screamed in pain.
"Ugh..." He pushed himself up. It was so unsettling to be slow and steady again. His vision stabilized, and he realized his body was no longer a hologram.
He doubled checked his solid, blocky arms before perking up. I'm back already? He tried to clamber out of the dirt crater. As he climbed, he caught glimpses of grass, cube-shaped cliffs ahead and immediately perked up.
Several attempts later, he finally climbed out but immediately froze. He was in a grass plain bordered by squarish hills and the ocean, but everything was off. The plants were brighter and cheerier than before. The trees that lined the bordering cliffs were not cubic. They were instead rounded and buff, blooming exactly three fruits each.
Memory turned to the beachy oceanside. The rippling ocean bounced light back into his eyes and he cringed. He quickly teleported on top of the cliff, hiding underneath a tree's shadow.
What is this place?! He scoped the area and realized that the edge of the plains biome had a big "Welcome!" sign, which led to a fenced in neighborhood. Lined against a stone pathway were several houses. They were just as colorful as the flowers and sported triangular roofs. Each had a patio, which was decorated with furniture of all shapes and sizes, like the ones from Sabre's reality.
In the center of the neighborhood was the only dull contrast against this unreal island: a stack of unused wooden beams, closed off by rope and guarded by a green sign with a logo of a bitten leaf.
Memory flinched and pressed into the tree's shadow when one house chimed and swung its door open. Out came a sheep – standing on its two hind legs and wearing a shirt. The sheep withdrew a watering can from its inventory and skipped happily away.
Boom! The sky jolted as a meteor crashed into the neighborhood, startling Memory. Time crawled out of the crater, dizzy and confused by his surroundings.
Memory tensed and teleported closer, eventually teleporting into the neighborhood, hiding between two houses. With Time's back against him, he charged at Time and knocked him down. Memory dragged him back into the alley and punched him.
Time threw a hand up in defense and yelled "Freeze!" Memory threw another punch but his hand jerked back, frozen in the air. He tried to move, but couldn't. Time shoved him off and shot an energy ball at him. The blast slammed Memory into the house's wall. In a blink, Time jabbed his elbow into Memory's neck and pressed his free hand over Memory's eyes. When he regained control of his body, Memory gagged, unable to teleport or squirm out. He kicked Time in the abdomen. Time grunted, but only dug his elbow deeper into Memory's neck.
Memory snarled as he forced these words out. "This chase game of yours has caused damage to another dimension. That's not so heroic now, isn't it, cousin?"
Somehow, that relaxed the pressure of Time's elbow, and Memory kicked him again. This time, Time jumped back. With his sight regained, Memory teleported behind his cousin, tossed him to the ground, and stomped on his ribcage. "OW!"
Memory gently pressed his foot against Time's chest. "Take us back to our time."
Time threw an energy ball. Memory jumped away to dodge it, which allowed Time to get back up. "We will go back...once Illusion and Alex change the course of this future!" The two Steves battled with punches, blocks, and kicks. Time eventually bolted out of the alley. Memory grimaced and chased after him, well aware that they were grabbing the attention of any passing by animals who froze and gaped at them.
As they approached the center of the neighborhood, Time turned back and shot an energy ball over his shoulder. Memory dodged and teleported in front of the enemy. He grabbed Time by his shirt and threw him at the construction site. Crash! The beams scattered and the ropes and the green sign collapsed in. Time limped out of the ravaged construction site and hobbled to the other side, which let the construction site separate him from Memory. Memory climbed onto a nearby bench, aimed at Time, and leapt over the construction site.
Time looked at him and his clock mask spun. "Forward." Suddenly, with Memory still pouncing over the construction site, the world slowed. But the cloud's shadows danced across the ground and the sky morphed from blue, to orange, to nightly ink, then orange, then blue.
The construction site below Memory rumbled and poof, a completed building sprouted from it, launching him into the sky.
"AAAAH!" The sky, ocean, and island whirled around him then smack! He crashed into a package. Memory clenched the package, realizing it was a white gift box with a red ribbon, attached to a blue balloon that immediately popped. Poof, the gift then morphed into a record box, a brown crate with thin slots.
Memory steadied himself in the air as he started his descend. He noticed Time was limping away. He unsheathed the vinyl records from the crate and threw them like a frisbee. Three of the spinning records hit Time. One made a gash into Time's jeans, making him collapse.
Still falling, Memory snapped his gaze to a nearby tree and teleported above it. He crashed into the leafy cover, grunting when he knocked and bumped branches. The tree slowed his fall and dropped him on the grass. Bonk! An item that felt like wood hit his head.
Memory shook his head, recovered, and charged at Time. He slammed the half-filled record box on Time, who yowled in agony. Memory pulled him up and was ready to punch him, until he heard buzzing.
The Steves whirled around and saw a beehive buzzing rabidly at the tree's roots. A colony of bees swarmed out of the beehive. Time and Memory embraced each other and screamed, "AAAAAHHHH!" as the bees lunged at them. Time raised a hand and thunder engulfed them.
A flash of light.
Memory and Time fell on the cold gray floor of a hallway. They stared at each other for an awkward moment before they jumped out of their hug. Catching up their lost breaths in a mutual agreement for time out, they enjoyed the lack of sound and the lack of bees. They flinched when an alarm honked through the halls, which flashed from gray to red, synchronized to the sound.
Time rolled his shoulder back and murmured, "Reverse." Muffled thunder rolled as the hands on his mask spun backwards. The scratches on his mask faded away and the tears in his clothes mended themselves.
"You got to be kidding me," Memory muttered. He hadn't run out of energy yet thanks to the Shadow Stones, but he was at a disadvantage after the battle they just left. His body was finally taking in the ache of every punch, throw, and building he had received, but he refused to let it show.
After stretching his neck, Time launched at Memory. Memory dodged and ran through the halls, despite the aches. The halls stopped blinking red and the warning noise ceased, but he barely noticed. He ran until Time teleported in front of him and punched him. Memory toppled down and Time threw a fury of punches at his face.
Erase his memories! His instincts shouted, but he couldn't even reach Time's memories. Each punch stopped his train of thoughts and paralyzed his senses even more. His mask suddenly felt too thick to breathe through as red pain clogged his breaths.
Time paused as his next fist burst into golden power. Despite the fire-like bruises, Memory steeled himself like ice as he locked his focus on Time's memories. But then Time swung his fist and –
"EMERGENCY MEETING"
White words over a red wave flared, and a foreign power overtook Memory.
Memory reappeared in the far end of a tiled room. In front of him was a round, blue table, where five entities in clunky bodysuits gathered. The five entities, only distinguishable from each other by their color and their hats, whispered to each other. Behind the table, at the wall opposite of Memory, was Time.
Memory tried to run, jump, and shake, but he couldn't move, his arms bound to his sides. His only cooperating limb was his head, which surveyed the room in panic. The cafeteria was spacious, but some invisible force was compressing him.
"I can't move!" Time cried across the room.
"Obviously!" Memory shouted back.
"My powers can't work either, so I can't get us out of here!"
"Well, I guess this is what you get for deciding to run away from me! I hope you're satisfied! Running away didn't work so well with your father generations ago."
Time grunted after another failed attempt to move. "It'll be worth it if I stop you from bringing back Void Steve!"
"That doesn't concern you!"
"Innocent people will be killed! Do you want Void Steve to slay millions?! To hurt people like Illusion?!"
"Yes!" Memory gasped, suddenly horrified. "I mean – no! I just...I just have to bring him back!"
"Why are you so obsessed with bringing him back?!"
"Because he's family, Genius! You'd do the same if it was for Elemental!"
Time stiffened. The lingering silence gave attention to the five entities at the center table. Their whispers had become louder, evolving to spiteful comments and pointing fingers. The opaque screens of their helmets concealed whatever bitterness they were feeling.
Time sighed. "Of course I'd do anything to bring Elemental back. But I still have my purpose to watch over time and all the harsh lessons it teaches. Time can't be changed easily, and Steves can't escape the fact that all journeys come to an end. Elemental and Void's journeys have ended, and we have to accept that."
Memory shook his head. "Accepting what the universe decides is only for those who live blissfully. I'm evil; we're the ones who command the universe to change."
"What inspired you to work on bringing your father back?"
"When I found Void's memories in your father and all of this knowledge to rescue him. Without this knowledge, I'm not sure what I would do. But because I have the resources to bring him back, there's no way I can just let him stay trapped!"
"So circumstances inspired you."
Memory paused. The hypocrisy of his own words sunk in. Memory had insisted to Reality that he couldn't leave his job and purpose behind. Yet all this time, these changed circumstances had made him more and more aggressive. More determined to change his fate and Void's fate...for the worse. He was grateful that his spiral mask concealed his own foolishness.
Time softened his voice. "Memory, I know you badly long for your father again. You must still be processing the fact that he's gone. I know how that feels."
Memory glared spitefully. "Don't speak for me."
"Everyone who has lost someone would do anything to bring them back. You've seen it in action. Elemental tried to create a new world to fill the hole in his soul. Galaxy wanted an illusion of happier times. I know Sabre's certainly felt like that too and – "
"And your point?" Memory demanded. Truth was that he was half-listening. Why bother listening when you already know what they were going to say? Why bother when you know they were just trying to pacify you?
"Many people have gone through what you've experienced, but you've seen that their obsessions ruined them," Time replied. "Your obsession to bring back Void will make things worse! Please, you have to live in the present and for the future."
"I'm crafting my future by bringing back my father."
"Not like that! I mean by finding others who are going through what you've experienced. They can help you. Like Galaxy Steve and Sabre!"
Memory laughed. "Those two? Never. Look at you, being carefree as always! Thinking that moving on is as simple as breathing, having no sympathy to Steves who lost their creators!"
His words echoed in the room, joining the toxic shouts and hisses between the five entities.
Time gulped. "Memory...why do you hate me?"
You only ask that because it's your last option to stop me. The mask shielded Memory's new scowl.
THUD! The cyan creature slammed the table and yelled at the red entity who wore a flower hat. The black and purple counterparts grabbed the red entity. The red one thrashed, kicked, and howled with protest before being tossed into a chamber, which was then sealed away by a glass wall.
"Why do you hate me?" Time repeated.
"For countless reasons you'll never figure out."
"I'm just curious!"
"You scoffed at Elemental for being the same thing. You have no right to ask questions."
"Is this why you hate me? Because I disappointed you? Because I let Elemental and Illusion down?"
The red entity banged their fists against the glass wall. They screeched as fangs grew out of their abdomen, splitting their body into two as a blobby tongue snaked out of their gut. Their flower hat bristled out sharp leaves like a porcupine.
Memory tore his gaze away. "Illusion's a good person. Then you gave him false promises. You pushed him astray from his path to be good..."
Then again...that creates something we have in common, he wanted to say out loud.
The red creature screeched again, vines launching out of its gut mouth to join the thrashing tongue. Their visor, which turned out to be flesh instead of glass, bled as thorns protruded from its edges. The black entity slammed the orange button near the glass wall. The wall behind the red creature dropped, revealing a black sea of stars. The creature screamed as the vacuum of outer space swept them away. Gone, they spiraled deep, deep into the airless void.
Darkness shrouded the cafeteria. Memory rolled his shoulders, relieved that he could move again. But then a clock face emerged from the ebbing away darkness and tackled him.
Thunder.
The thunder ceased, but the darkness still lingered. Memory lost any sense of direction until he heard the gurgling of lava behind and underneath him. Orange-red liquid traced the darkness and the silhouette of tunnels and stalactites emerged.
Gravity suddenly announced itself, and he fell. For two seconds, because the ground immediately slammed him and clang! Iron whacked his skull.
"AH!" Memory winced, rubbing where the iron dented the back of his head, the clang echoing in his ears. "He didn't even bother with a warning!"
He tried to stand but immediately stumbled face first, one arm spread forward. His hand didn't meet the ground, which plunged him and his burning pain into adrenaline.
He brought his head up, realizing he was on a bridge, hand hanging past the bridge's edge. Far, far below was a pit of lava. Crosshatching the space between his bridge and the fiery death were other bridges. Some were hollowed out to carry flowing lava. Others were traced by iron rails, where minecarts stuffed with blocks rumbled along.
Wait, blocks?
Memory backed away from the bridge's edge, stepping over the rails that he cracked his head on. He turned to his right and noticed the bridge connecting to a huge mountain cliff. He ran towards the firm ground, noticing the clearly rigid veins of cobblestone in the ground and the blocky formations.
Finally! Back in the Overworld! Back home!
A new voice yelled, "CHAAAAAAARGE!"
Memory looked over the edge of the cliff and noticed a man-made stone platform build above a lava river that fed into the fiery pit below. On the platform stood a robotic giant with red patterns. Armored humanoids slowly approached it. Their height only leveled with the stubby legs of the giant.
Despite its hunchback posture, the giant threw its head up, opened its curvy mouth, and roared, making the bridges above tremor. Its three eyes flashed gold as it threw its hulky arms up and smashed the platform, sending a wave of red force that knocked the small people off the platform and into the lava, killing them.
"OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Memory shouted at the battle below.
Then Memory was yanked back. His arms were immobilized as a blade touched the back of his neck.
"You got distracted by the surroundings," said the voice behind him.
Memory scowled and teleported out of Time's grasp. Time whirled around to face him again, rolling a blade in his hand.
Time's weapon was unlike anything he had seen before. It was thinner than an average sword and it had a green handle. Where did he find it? Did it had any special enchantments? Memory didn't want to learn the answer to the last question.
Time tossed forward a second sword, which clattered to Memory's feet. It looked like a darker iron sword, but it had a red handle, and one half of the blade was marked with red patterns.
Memory suspiciously eyed Time, who just said, "If you still want to fight, I'll make it a fair one."
Fair?
"Oh, and just in case you prefer archery." Time tossed a bow to him. It was a black bow decorated with bone fragments.
He's giving me an option? Memory snatched both weapons as Time continued to wait. Why? An old memory resurfaced as he stuffed the bow into his inventory.
"A fair fight? You felt the need to make this fight fair?!" Memory grasped the dark blade. He felt it radiate dark energy, which felt just like the Shadow Stone. "You just had to rub it into my face again!" He charged forward and swiped the blade at Time, who jumped back, looking baffled and concerned.
The Steves leapt into battle. Their swords clanged. The metallic battle cries echoed. Time attacked and Memory jumped back, the blade barely grazing his red tie. Memory struck back, but Time countered it and quickly delivered a move that nearly sliced through Memory's arm. Time's sword was slower and delivered softer attacks, but he wielded it as if he had used it since Day 1.
Memory staggered back, readjusting his hold of the sword again. He felt his hands become sweatier, unsure if it was from the wrath, the humility, or both. He was thankful that his gloves prevented it from getting worse.
It had been forever since he last used a sword, even longer since he used one in a fight. He knew a sword with shape and details alien to him put him at a disadvantage. He knew he had a better experience with arrows, but he couldn't lower his low sense of pride even more by declining a sword-to-sword fight. "I hate you," he muttered.
"You won't tell me why though!" Time backed up and straightened his posture. The space rumbled with the bustling minecarts and the roaring giant below, but Memory knew that Time was silently panting. Time had reversed his body, but the scratches and bruises he received from fighting on that colorful island were returning. He won't win, Memory assured himself, since he still had enough energy from the Shadow Stone while Time didn't.
Time darted forward. Memory nearly dropped his sword because of his poor grip, but he quickly recovered. He did whatever he could to block Time's attacks (though he was dodging most of the time).
When Time finally dropped his posture to pant, Memory seized the moment to deliver a fury of slashes. He gained ground as Time fumbled. Another clang of swords and that finally knocked Time down, weakly groaning in pain.
Memory pressed the sword to Time's neck. "Enough of this! Take me back home and – AAHH." A sudden energy ball hurled him into a stone wall. He groaned in agony as he and Time looked up at the bridge above them.
A silhouette gazed back down on the bridge, lowering her open hand. The silhouette jumped and landed on the Steves' platform and flash! The world turned green as the text "ALEX SWAPS IN!" flew past the new challenger.
"Alex?!" Time cried. "How did you get into the future?!"
Alex flew towards him and helped him up. She showed him a pocket watch, which emitted a green aura. "I figured out how this worked!"
Time bristled. "You're lucky that I foresaw this as a possible future! Otherwise, you would had messed up the timeline!"
Memory stumbled up. "Oh, of course you're easier on her after she threatens the timeline!"
Alex ignored him. "I saved Illusion from those white things. Did you do your part and bring Sabre back?"
"Bring who back?" Time asked.
Alex dropped her jaw.
Time stared at her for another moment before looking down. "...Oh...fuck..."
"You forgot?!" Alex shot her viper-green eyes at the spiral-faced Steve and roared, "MEMORYYYYYY!"
Memory pointed his blade in self-defense, though he knew he had already won this battle and she couldn't do anything about that. "I had to. No matter how hard I try, it'll all be for nothing if he reverses everything."
Time doubled facepalmed. "All this time, you distracted me from saving Sabre. I fell right into your trap and wasted almost all of my energy."
Alex paled. "Can you still reverse time?"
"Yes...but only one more time before the last of my energy is gone."
"One more chance to reverse time and stop Memory..." Alex murmured. "We, we can do it! We won't mess up next time!"
Time shuddered. "I don't know. I feel like it doesn't even matter how long I can reverse time. Memory will always find a way to win."
Memory lowered his blade. He should be satisfied, hearing that from him, but he was becoming impatient. Just reverse time and take me back home!
Alex shook her head. "No, don't be like that! There's gotta be something we can do!"
Memory gripped the red sword and charged at the two. Alex quickly hurled another energy ball and send him back to the wall. "AAHH!" She flicked her hand and Memory was yanked up by an invisible force. He dropped his sword and was suddenly paralyzed, suspended in the air.
Alex looked back at Time. "We-we can build a machine. We can energize you. Look around; we're in a mine. We can get resources right now!"
Time weakly followed Alex's gaze across the dark, busy forge, pausing to lock his gaze on something below the cliff.
Alex looked at her pocket watch. "I figured out how this worked, kinda. Is there anything I can do to help you? Or maybe I can fight and distract Memory while you can find resources and – "
"Resources..." Time repeated and perked up. "I have an idea, but I need you to do a huge favor, and I'm not sure if you'll enjoy it."
Alex hesitated before nodding. "I'll do anything that helps. It's the least I can do since you cured my infection."
Time whispered something to her, who began to look bewildered and uncertain.
"Um, are you sure this is the best thing to do, Time?"
"Yes. I'll try to get more energy, but in case that fails, I need you to do this for me. This might help us truly defeat Memory Steve once and for all..."
"But do we really need to?"
"Please," Time begged. "...I waited too long to help Sabre get through Elemental. That costed my brother's life...I don't want to repeat my mistake and wait too long for Memory."
Alex sighed. "Fine. Are you sure you can get more energy while I'm gone? You'll have to deal with him, and I'm worried you won't be able to fight him and get energy at the same time."
Time looked back at whatever he was staring at below the cliff. "Don't worry. I'm unsure if this will work, but I can handle it."
"If it fails and you reverse time, will it affect me?"
Time shook his head as he grabbed Alex's clock and enchanted it. "When I reverse everything, you'll be unaffected and be able to continue your task."
Alex sighed and accepted the enchanted pocket watch. "Alright, let's do this."
Time backed off, the hands of his clock mask spinning in reverse. Lightning surrounded Alex. "Ask Illusion to help you in the Memory Dimension! He can help you find the history I can't see from the timeline! Please pay close attention and figure it out!"
Alex vanished. Memory was unparalyzed and fell to the ground. He shook the last of that paralyzing energy before glaring at Time. "Where is Alex?!"
Time faced him. "You'll see in due time. Now it's just you and me, and I'm here for a rematch."
Memory tensed; he certainly couldn't decline a rematch. But before either Steves could make a move, a frantic bell echoed through the chasm.
"YAAAAR! HURM!" A swarm of illagers appeared, rushing over bridges and clambering down stairs, crossbows and axes ready in their hands. Memory and Time whirled around and backed against each other as the illagers swirled around them. Without his sword, Memory took out the dark bow with bone fragments and aimed a white arrow. He trembled, fearing that the illagers would step closer and shrink this open space. Time pointed his sword at the illagers, who muttered angry words.
There was a warp sound and a tiny illager with a crown materialized in the air, peering down at the Steves below. He gave a shout and pointed his magical staff at the Steves. The illagers stormed forward.
Memory yelped and quickly teleported to the cliff's edge, the only open space remaining, while Time jumped up and flew in circles above the illagers. The illagers became dizzy, unsure if they should follow Time in the sky or figure out where Memory was.
Memory forced down his growing apprehension and studied the dark bow. He gasped when he noticed the structure of the bow and what that meant. Enlightened, he aimed his bow at the distracted crowd. Not one, but five, arrows ignited into existence, all nocked on the bow at the same time. Memory drew the bow string back more and then released. All five arrows flew and hit four illagers in the head.
The crowd snapped their attention to him and charged, but Memory quickly reloaded the bow with five new arrows and fired again. Hit five villagers. Repeat. Hit four. Repeat.
In the sky, Time slowly approached the tiny illager leader. The leader whimpered and cowered before bonking Time's head with the staff. Time shook the pain off with irritation before flying away from the cliff and descending to the level below.
Memory caught a glimpse of where Time was heading and scowled. He couldn't lose him and be left behind in this chaotic future. He edged closer to the cliff, breath frozen as the illager crowd neared. After one final step, he leapt off the cliff while firing five more arrows at the enemies. Before he saw who the arrows hit, he twisted in the air, focused on the platform below, and teleported closer to it, safely landing.
At the center of the platform, the redstone giant perked up and spotted him. Memory gulped as the giant growled and stomped closer.
Time landed next to him a moment later, also staring at the giant.
Memory looked at Time, the approaching giant, and the illagers glaring at them above. "We're surrounded. We should return home while we still have a chance!"
"But if I do that, all of my energy will be drained and I'll be powerless against you."
"Of course it will! You can't escape that!"
"No..." Time still stared at the giant. "There's a way for me to reverse time and not lose my energy yet."
Memory did a double take. "No...oh no, don't you dare – "
The giant raised its arms. But before it could throw them back down, Time blasted a fireball at the giant's chest. The blast dented a new concave in the giant's chest, and the beast unhinged its jaw and roared. Time bolted and leapt into the concave. Then yellow light engulfed him and the giant.
Memory tore his gaze away with a hiss. When he looked back, he gasped, accidentally dropping his special bow.
The giant's chest had transformed into a glass and iron chamber, which was connected to the giant's redstone patterns. Inside the chamber was Time behind a table of buttons and under an overhang of levers. He curiously pressed a button, which caused the giant to straighten its posture. Time perked up, hands twitching and begging to press another button. "Eeeee, I've always wanted to do this!"
"Why?!" Memory shouted in exasperation. Above, the illagers broke into an outcry of anger and confusion. The tiny illager was the loudest.
By merging with the redstone giant, Time could leech off the giant's redstone for energy, while using the giant to defend himself. By using the giant's energy, Time could avoid using his own energy. The next reverse may not be the last one after all, Memory realized with dread.
He snatched his bow and fired at Time. But the giant brought an arm up and deflected it.
"Damn it!" Memory ran and circled around the giant. The giant didn't even follow him. It instead unshielded itself and began waving its hands around. Its redstone patterns flickered as its clunky hands gave sparks of golden clock-shaped particles.
Memory teleported on the giant's shoulder. He reached down and stabbed his bony bow at the chamber's glass wall. His attacks did nothing to break the glass, but Time still yelped and rapidly pressed buttons.
Memory jumped out of the way as a giant hand rushed toward him. He landed on the other shoulder but nearly fell off as the giant accidentally punched itself, denting its shoulder and shattering the chamber open.
Memory screamed when the giant's other hand snatched him. He quickly teleported to the ground and aimed a new arrow at the exposed chamber.
Time, shocked and flustered by the giant's punch, flinched when he spotted Memory. He quickly yelled, "Freeze!" Thunder roared and Memory stiffened, his hand refusing to release the arrow.
"What?!" Memory felt his heart race, but his muscles couldn't tense even more. "No!" He quickly pried one hand open and focused with all his might until his own mind froze.
His gaze was pinned to place as Time gave an apologetic nod and carefully shook the glass shards off. "I'm sorry, Memory. I hope one day, you'll understand why I'm doing all this..." He flicked some levers, and the giant generated a golden hologram of a clock. It rolled the hologram between its hands, making it grow bigger and bigger. With the giant's redstone glow getting weaker and weaker, Memory knew that it would soon be too late to stop Time.
"Rever – AH!"
A wooden arrow pierced Time's shoulder and another shattered the clock hologram.
Someone pressed a hand against Memory and gently nudged him. He gave a sharp inhale and nearly dropped his bow, all of his muscles and nerves suddenly unfrozen from time. He darted his gaze around, overwhelmed by the sudden rain of footsteps as illagers landed on the platform, with Time staring dumbfoundedly at each of them and gulped, "Oh no..."
Memory panicked, not knowing where these strangers came from. Then he noticed their emotionless expression and that they were coming down the cliff he and Time fought on. He realized that he had erased these illagers' memories and just restored them.
Meaning that their minds were now under his control.
He wondered how many illagers he managed to hit with his arrows. When the sound of landing illagers ceased, he looked up and saw that there was only one person left on the cliff: the tiny illager leader. The leader gawked as he looked between his magical staff, the comrades that just left him, and the hijacked giant. He repeated this multiple times before he turned around, plopped down, and proceeded to have a mental breakdown.
Memory returned his focus to Time and rolled his shoulders, his mask hiding his returned smile. He gave a silent command, and the illagers gave a battle cry and charged at the giant.
Some illagers fired their crossbows. The giant was pelted with arrows, which dented its steel armor and shattered the chamber more
"Oh, no no no no." Time frantically pressed levers and flicked buttons. The giant shielded the chamber. Some illagers clambered up the giant and analyzed its left shoulder. Using whatever knowledge they had about this machine, they stabbed their tools into the shoulder. With a rumbling cry of iron, the arm was severed off the giant.
Memory ordered the illagers to fire again, now that the giant had one less arm to shield itself.
"Ah!" Time roared in synch with the redstone beast when a few arrows hit. The giant swung its only hand, sending a wave of golden energy at illagers to the right. The illagers yelped when the golden wave hit them and they disappeared. Memory worried, but through quick tracking, he knew they were teleported back to the cliff, disoriented. They hadn't broken out of his control though.
"Come on, snap out of it!" The giant threw another golden wave and made more illagers disappear. After each attack, the giant's redstone patterns flickered more, and took more seconds to reignite.
Memory tilted his head. "Why? Why are you wasting energy to save their lives?"
"I can't kill them!" Time cried out.
Memory scoffed and commanded the teleported illagers to jump back down to the platform. "You'll reverse time eventually! If you hurt someone, it doesn't matter when you reverse time and undo it all!"
As the teleported illagers leapt off the cliff, Time send a wave upwards, teleporting those illagers away before they could land. Memory sensed that it was still not enough to snap them out of his control.
"You may be right," Time said "but I've seen what happens when people start justifying every wrong thing they do. One excuse to do the wrong thing leads to a future of unapologetic misdeeds. I can't have that in my conscious."
Memory rolled his eyes. "You're just saving their lives just to feel good about yourself. It only matters because you want to feel good."
"Don't ridicule me," Time scolded. "You're not as evil as you claim to be."
Memory snarled and flicked his hand. The illagers roared and charged at the giant with newfound energy. The giant threw its only arm up and engulfed itself in a golden dome. The illagers hit the dome with their fists or axes.
"Don't be so foolish!" Memory began. "Void Steve created me to be evil! I was never meant to be good! And it's so insulting to hear that from you!"
While struggling to maintain the dome and create a hologram of a clock with the same hand, the beast stomped the ground. The platform tremored and knocked Memory and his controlled illagers off their feet. Time yelled, "I don't believe that! I believe you can be good, like Illusion, but something led you astray!"
Memory got up with a mutter. "Are you trying to redeem me? Convince me to stop this all? I've heard every single heroic speech after all these generations. You can't say anything to convince me!
"But...Illusion almost convinced you, right?"
Memory flinched. "...but he didn't. And you're not Illusion. I despise you."
"I don't believe you! I think you care!"
Memory stomped towards the dome, which was beginning to crack from the attacking illagers. "Caring about you has nothing to do with being good. Elemental still cared about you; why else did he banish you instead of just kill you? He was still happy to fight you and destroy the world!" He commanded the illagers to fire again. "I...I care about Illusion too and I'm trying to get Void out of his world. I hope you know that..."
"Come on, come on..." Time stared desperately at the growing golden hologram that the beast was forming. The golden dome dimmed as more cracks bloomed across it.
"Reverse." The holographic clock began spinning in reverse until crack! It shattered and disappeared. The giant roared and fell on its behind. Its head sagged down as its redstone patterns flickered away the final time. The golden dome disappeared with it.
"No!" Time screamed as the illagers swarmed the machine. He climbed out of the chamber and on top of the giant, pointing his green sword at the crowd. "St-stay back!" He let out a sharp gasp and fell on one knee. "Please...I don't wish to hurt you."
The illagers didn't hesitate to dismantle the redstone giant and dent its vital structure. Time screamed as the giant imploded. He and the machine sank into a swelling cloud of dust.
Memory stepped back and brushed the dust particles off his suit. The illagers emerged out of the dust cloud, two of them dragging Time by the arms. They shoved him to his knees in front of Memory.
Memory knelt down to meet Time's eye level. He wished Time could see the bitterness in his eyes and he could see the despair in Time's. "Why do you bother making sure no lives are endangered? You and I both know that none of this will help you get over how you failed Elemental."
Time stiffened. He must be feeling the weight of every illagers' gaze on him; Memory couldn't help but silently pity.
"You have superior powers over time, yet you did nothing but talk your way out of messes and ignore your brother! All you did was get yourself in this mess, just like how you got your brother into his mess."
"I – that's not – "
Memory slammed a fist on the platform, suddenly remembering a certain, painful recollection. "And you didn't even notice how vulnerable he felt! If you – if you just tried more, then maybe he wouldn't had gone astray! Maybe – " His hand tried to claw into the platform. His voice quivered as he tried to yell these next few words without unleashing this long-suppressed storm of emotions. "Maybe - we both wouldn't - have lost him - if you just - paid attention to us more!" He exhaled with a cry-turned-hiss, which did nothing but make his wrath stronger.
Time hid his head. Memory heard him whimper, and for a moment, he didn't know if he should feel satisfied or horrified at what he had just said. He shoved that thought away, knowing there was one necessary thing to do.
He grabbed Time by the neck. "You lost. The only thing you have left is your energy. Just...get us back home."
Time sighed, refusing to look at him. But Memory noticed the hands on his mask spinning.
"Reverse."
Word count: 10,052
A certain person, somewhere on Earth: I can't wear a mask when I go outside. I won't get as much oxygen!
Memory, a boi who has been wearing TWO masks for centuries: [*insert the entirety of Chapters 27-31 here*]
Also, new reading game: Take a sip of water or eat a piece of watermelon/slice of cucumber every time you read the word "still" in Chapter 31. I didn't noticed how much I used that word until the final day of editing.
Also, pro-tip to future self and other writers: remember that "yet" can work as a synonym for "still," but you have to flip the meaning of the entire sentence first to exchange those two words. Ex: "I'm still alive" = "I'm not dead yet."