Huh?

[a_gentle_boy]

[phone]
[Oh OK so.  That just happened.  ...Lucas listens a little blankly to the announcement before blinking a few times to himself.]

So, um.  I'm... kind of... still here... So don't worry!  ...I mean, not that it's really that important, and there are probably a lot of other people who are really gone, but.  ...Is there someone else named Lucas here?

[action]
[Today is a normal day.  Lucas delivers the mail, takes his rounds making sure his friends are alright, stops by at the malt shop... And yet, everywhere he goes, he gets nothing but dirty glances.  It's more than mildly confusing, and so it is that he ends up sitting on his front porch frowning to himself.  It's been a long time since he's done so, but eventually, he'll get out the yo-yo and begin to quietly practice some tricks by himself.

The rhythmicity of the movements makes him feel a bit better.]

((Lucas was wiped, so please respond as if he were fake!))

Comments

[crusthatecean.livejournal.com]

It's Karkat. You're making my skin crawl, so I'm assuming it's really you.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

What? [Sadly, Lucas isn't anywhere near as quick to pick up on things.] Is it about the apologizing thing? I don't think I actually apologized this time.

[Short pause.]

This is Karkat? As in... the person who made the housing lists? [sounding... dubious.]

[crusthatecean.livejournal.com]

Yes, that asshole.

No one is going to believe it's you. It's happening to all of us.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

So...

[great effort]

Since you don't believe it's me, you... believe it's me. And since I'm not believing it's you... I should believe in you?

[crusthatecean.livejournal.com]

You've phrased it in the most convoluted way possible, but yes, essentially.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Um. I would ask you something only the two of us knew, but I don't actually think we have anything like that.

...Oh, wait, I know! OK. So if you're really Karkat, you should know what he was mad at me... about... oh, no, I just said that earlier.

I guess I'll have to take your word for it.

[crusthatecean.livejournal.com]

That's what we all have to do.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

...Yeah.

I've been having a lot of strange conversations.

[His voice, briefly, sounds very dull.]

What do you think we should do? Just... sit it out? I think it's probably how Mayfield is celebrating Christmas this year.

[crusthatecean.livejournal.com]

I don't know what to do, We need to get through to everyone else somehow, but I don't know if it's possible.

I can't just let them believe I'm gone for however long it takes Mayfield to stop this.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

Last time, all the duplicates had our memories, too. So that's probably not even a good way to make sure...

I think this is what we agreed to.

To be erased. If no one believes we're here... that's about the same thing, isn't it?

[crusthatecean.livejournal.com]

They're going to forget us, too. Perfect.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

So everything's going to be like it was in the dream...

[Lucas sighs softly.]

I didn't think it would be like this. I guess I wouldn't mind so much if the other things had come true, too.

[crusthatecean.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

You're a fucking idiot. You agree to be Tavros' moirail and then you erase yourself? Great work.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[If Karkat listens closely he can hear the moment when all of Lucas's bodily functions stop. There is dead silence for a long time before a quiet, low voice speaks.]

I don't have to explain. You agreed to it, too. You should understand.

[crusthatecean.livejournal.com]

Of course I do. I never said I wasn't a complete asshole.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

...Tavros did, too.

[Lucas's voice becomes even softer.]

We shouldn't have to do this. Your world, with your game. Mine, with... what happened. Asking us not to exist so that our worlds could be saved... I'd give anything for that.

[Complaining is something he rarely does, but even Lucas couldn't be selfless all the time.]

It's not right to have to do this.

...I should go find him.

[crusthatecean.livejournal.com]

I don't care about my world. My world was a miserable pile of shit that was ruined from the start.

I just wanted a future for them.

Go find him and tell him why you thought he would be fine without you. At least he'll have a chance at believing you. At least he's not completely forgetting you.

[a-gentle-boy.livejournal.com]

[There's another silence, this one punctuated by the sound of heavy breaths.]

You really think he wasn't a part of my dream?

I don't know you very well, Karkat, so I'm going to assume you're just being a good friend the way you know how. Or maybe you really have been replaced and you're just playing your games.

Either way, I don't think you know what you're talking about.

Thanks for trying to warn me.

[click]