The Secret of Edd "0rigins"

Be fore-warned.
Part of this, it's very hard to understand what's going on. Dialogue takes place in a place without form. Actions by characters get referenced, but it's not always made clear who is speaking. Not to mention, time distorts and re-connects several times.
Once things start indenting, realize that everything has gone away.

Edd opened his eyes to see the gate expanding above him again, spinning outward, and outward.

"It's been years since I've had this dream" He murmured, looking around. Sure enough, the dream represented the physical reality he associated his world with----it was already in ruins, before the gate, before the rift, spread outward above him. "And if I know it's a dream, how am I having it again? Shouldn't that knowledge wake me up?"

He frowned and crossed his arms, reassessing his position. Within the cul-de-sac, among the ruins of the memorabilia that had been scattered when he first visited 'home' again. Shrugged, he stepped forward.

A snap beneath his right foot, and he looked down, knowing already what he would see… Eddy's cracked school picture. "Yes... that's what you looked like, that day, Eddy. That's the picture we used...."

He looked up again, observing again. There was a pile of burnt wood off to the side---a fire had been there, but not the fire he'd talked to Kevin by---no, he remembered cleaning that fire up. So...

Visual shapes began playing in front of his eyes, and Edd watched as specters of the younger selves, whose departure he was awaiting, went about the things he vaguely remembered happening back when he was one of them. They built a fire and gathered around it, slept and defended themselves from zombies quickly, and as quickly began to move away from the cul-de-sac. Within ten of Edd's steps they were out of sight.

//Strange... I need to see what's going on.// He blinked as the sky went from day to night to day, and seemed to begin slowing down... the clouds slowing down... and far off, in the sky, he could see a color and shining darkness open. "Wait, no! I need to be there, I need to stop Tony from---"

Edd shook his head and stepped forward again, ready to run after them. Disorientation struck him as suddenly he stood above the tilted rooftop of the hospital. It being a dream, or an astral projection, or whatever it was that he was experiencing---for while he was sleeping, he also knew that this was real--- he was able to simply float in the air, and watch without distraction… Something he particularly appreciated right now. It saved him from worrying about his balance, and as long as he maintained the non-sight he'd been holding when he went to sleep, there shouldn't be any problem.

As before, Eddy was clinging to the railing to the right of the door while the ring of light was to the left. Tony was... where was Tony, anyway? Edd looked around, unable to see the man.

Through the door burst the fifteen kids, clinging to each other to not get pulled up… Like in the dreams he'd had, years ago, he couldn't make out their words, and he only watched as they headed to the gate, struggling to stay together.

//Where is Tony? I need to stop him from doing anything, I need to see that he dies in this time...// Edd looked around and down, then blinked. Was he... was he floating in the same place as Tony?

The sight of the group struggling amused him in some dark way, and he couldn't help chuckling in a slightly hysterical fashion. Even as laughed it seemed the laughter wasn't his---and if he was currently in Tony's body, then he should be able to speak through the man, and the idea of this---after he'd given up all hope, of this being where he changed the timeline---the idea of changing the world from here made Edd laugh, even as he pushed Tony's mind away.

"It's--not--too late for that! I think you can hold onto Eddy, Ed, if you activate the gate now...!" Edd shook his head, and floated down to where Eddy was watching Ed and his dream-self. "Eddy, hold on to Ed, not the railing! Or you're just gonna go up there!"

He pointed upwards, showing where, indicating the place Eddy went to that he should never have gone to, and jabbed his finger up for emphasis… Jonny was mouthing something, looking up to where the ephemeral Edd floated.

//He—he’s looking at me…?// Edd was startled, and tried to move Tony---where he presumed he currently was--- to try to warn him again. "Tell Eddy to hold on, or he's going up!"

The boy said nothing to Eddy, and Edd looked down. The floor began to crack away, and he watched it go up towards the rift. //Too late… It's too late for that.//

Edd didn't watch Eddy's grip slipping, as he tried to pull himself out, and only managed a kind of third person view of himself... trying to warn them from within Tony's body, but unable to articulate himself over the static...

As Eddy's grip slipped on a hand, Edd's grip slipped from a mind, and both began upwards. Edd shook his head, staring at the expressions on Eddy's face---open sadnesses and fears that he'd never seen from on the ground. He tried to make himself visible to the boy, but... but...

Whirling thoughts and regrets passed through Eddy's mind, and Edd blinked to realize Eddy was lingering, ruefully, on the fact that the first time he'd kissed anyone, it'd been Double D---- //Skipper, indeed.//

Edd shook his head and laughed, long hair dangling in his face and catching on stray facial hair. "Only you, Eddy, only you would make that one of your final thoughts. I'm glad I saw you again."

Eddy blinked, and shielded his eyes, looking across at the shape. //Double D...?// the shape seemed startled, fading away without meaning to, and Edd shook his head, and looked up at the approaching rift. He reached a hand out, his arm out, and stared as his outstretched hand touched the gate. //Bye…// He thought, then

...Why would you do something like that, Double D?
...Eddy. You died, a long time ago. ...Heh. I suppose it was only a moment ago, though, huh?: ...I died...?
Don't you remember? The rift... the gate? Tony?: I...
I was glad to see you again.: ...Was it really that long...?
...Take a look.

It was, Eddy decided, a very long look. Eddy dying made a significant difference in everyone's lives... he sorta wished he'd been alive to see everyone miss him, to see everyone glad to see him. This... it made him feel guilty. All the kids he knew sorta lost themselves when he was lost.

...You shouldn't feel guilty.

Edd hadn't blamed him. Ed, Edd had been able to sense, hadn't blamed him, but blamed himself---the big oaf, the mono-browed half-brained idiot, of course Ed thought it was his own fault Eddy wasn't able to hang on.

...We all missed you, yes. That doesn't make it any of our faults. It's what happened.

...Double D... you traveled through time...

Eddy looked through more and more memories, looking at more and more of the possibilities Edd had seen.

And you don't think it was our fault? Anyone's? Not mine, not yours, not all our faults at once... Not Tony's?
...: ...Double D?
...Tony... was different.: ...How? Didn't you give him the idea in the first place...?
...In a way, yes. And I couldn't have given him the idea if I hadn't experienced it. It was a circle in time, a self-creating timeline.: So... how's it Tony's fault?
........I... don't know how to explain it. But... it was.

Double D had cared about Marie, but things had gone wrong and everything in the world seemed to break... everything outside the world, and in the world, the world itself and every mind in it. Double D ran away to...find Eddy, to make it all better...?

Heh. I guess so.: Seems like you came looking for me... Marie left, and Ed was gone... and you came looking for me...?

Many times with the Kankers, and Kevin, and Edd being a little snitch and asking people to take Eddy instead of Ed, trying to pay Eddy back for some prank or another by pulling something else on Eddy...

That's not the same, Eddy. I mean, really. Ed I couldn't reach... He couldn't reach you, and I couldn't reach him, so I came to find you instead.... it may be my long, long lost poetic side, but the three of us... we're brothers, you know that? Tony... is, in so many ways, not a brother to you. Blood isn't what makes it----even knowing a person for a long time doesn't make it. It's that devotion, it's that connection to one another.: ...Heh. Jeez Double D, get a guy all embarrassed. That sounds more like the marriage kind of love than the brotherly kind. I didn't know you felt that way about me...!
...You're the one that kissed me.: Yeah, but I had to, Kevin was being a total...!
Eddy... Shush. Stop getting sidetracked. What was it you wanted?: ....What?
...We're dead. I didn't mean to follow you, I had decided to go there and make sure Tony didn't escape to any time or place with the gate, but I ended up following you and we went into a zero world. We died.

Edd, running from a vampire, mused on what happened to a soul when it died in a universe other than its own one. He had died in his own world, but Eddy..?

Well, I'm wherever you are... and I can't see anything, or feel anything.. like my body's not even there.
--It's not--: ---And we're just thinking at each other. We're just feeling and thoughts and stuff like that. This is boring.
...That's why I asked you. What was it that you wanted?

"I still don't get why you're asking me that."
"I don't think I'd be here with you unless there was something you wanted from me.": "Don't you mean that the other way? You're the Double D from this world, I'm just sorta here with you. You sure it isn't something that you wanted from me?"
"...Then... yes. There is something I wanted from you, Eddy.": "...And...?"
Edd smiled, pulling a remote from

Two thirds of the Eds didn't exist, and carried on an increasingly philosophical conversation about what living meant, what purpose and meaning respectively mean, and Eddy grew increasingly enthusiastic about one idea.

"Okay, okay! I think I've got it! The---"

*~*~*~*
"That was one thing." Edd nodded, pleased with Eddy's opinion. "I do appreciate it."
"Okay, yeah, so now what?" Eddy was pleased with his answer too. It didn't really seem to answer anything, and yet, somehow, it seemed fitting. All it really seemed to say was that you didn't answer to anyone else---you did what you wanted to, but not just what you sorta wanted to... it wasn't about pretending to do what you wanted, like Kevin had when he kidnapped Nazz. What Kevin wanted wasn't to take Nazz. What he'd wanted was for Nazz to want to be with him, forever, however they were. Kevin had wanted... to have that whole thing, to have it with her. Eddy had wanted jawbreakers, and being the important boss of his friends, but that wasn't all he'd wanted...
"I don't really have another question... I just want you to go do something for me." Edd studied his remote, observing the numbers flashing across it, and pulled a wire out of the back to adjust it.
"Where can I go? Aren't we dead, floating here until we've done whatever we needed to do with the other?"
"Well... that's what I figured. But we're still being read as life-forms by this, even if our bodies are lacking. It's not a total death, so I want to do one final thing to this... let's see... yes, that's set more like Tony's. This should do it."
Eddy grimaced, pulling back. "Uh, Double D, what is that you're doing? What do you want me to do?"
Edd smiled faintly. "I questioned that version of myself, and that girl, enough to know exactly the place, time, universe... all the information is here. What I need you to do, Eddy, is go live."
(Please prepare for mental reorganization...)
"Wait, what?" Eddy blinked at the shadow of a voice, and blinked even larger as Edd embraced him for another temporary eternity. "D-Double D..."
(Enacting temporal mental reorganization; Three. Two. One.]
[Memory has be reorganized.)
"Here. Go... I'll be fine." Edd pulled back from Eddy, and pressed a button.

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[Enter]
Connection established; verify temporal/spatial distortion effect.
"One way."
Insufficient information.
"I want him to go there. I stay here, for now. I want no residue from this place to enter that universe."
Non-physical life form transference; entrance and assimilation to alternative dimension, placement of the specified being only?
"That's right."
Temporal/spatial coordinates incomplete.
"...What? We're in bloody no-space, no-time. This is a world that never was, oblivion. How can there be time here? Send him."
Temporal/spatial coordinates incomplete. Please enter all specified information prior to transference.
"...Idiot machine. Look, will sending Eddy from here corrupt that world the same way mine was?"
Cleansing units are operating at full capacity. Residual anti-matter, non-matter, non-time, distorted time, and any other non-local matter/energy types will not be transferred.
"Sorry, didn't mean to offend. I just need to be certain before I try entering 'zero' as the entrance points."
Clarification observed. Please enter all specified information prior to transference.
"Right, right, I'm on it..."
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Edd smiled at the boy, frozen in time, and drew up a memory that wasn't his own. An Edd and an Ed embracing, in much the same way that Edd had just embraced Eddy, and they did it at the request of another---for a practical joke on Eddy. The image wasn't from his home universe, but... the one in which the event was taking place...? That was the universe that he wanted Eddy to go to, of all the possibilities of what came next. He'd viewed a few of the possibilities off from that point in time, and none of them had been the one he was now creating.
While the same kinds of supernatural residue would not be following his old friend to the world, simply by using some of Tony's gate designs mean that the old temporal fluctuations were going to follow. Well, temporal circles always felt like deja'vu---or fate---and would probably just be appreciated.
Besides, it was Tasha's home multiverse. The girl had utterly refused to let Edd get a sample from her so he could see which of the specific universes within it she was from, and visit---and, now, he figured that was just as well. He had needed to remain ignorant of the world until this time... and now he could see the party, could see Tasha joining in with the same non-seeing 'invisibility' that he'd learned to use, where you simply diverted yourself from the sight of any watching... could see her talking, later, to Eddy, and the circle in time that would be created.
Likely, given the nature of multiverses and related worlds, there had been other possibilities for the choices he could have made that would have changed the world. But, he'd never be able to see them, simply because their existence relied on a single Edd floating around in non-space. Too many Edds in here would crowd the eternal infinity up.
"Heh. I need to stop doing monologuing, Ed and Eddy always poked at me to try and make me stop... I guess it's sufficient to say, this is the time. The place, the best one I'm seeing."
He entered the requested information into the controller, and prepared for the gate's reply.

-

Enter

Connection established.

Temporal/spatial distortion effect: Non-physical transference of one life form, entrance and assimilation to alternative dimension.

Initial coordinates: Zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero...

"Yes, it's off. We're going from off to on, zero to one. Do you have to say it all before you do this?

...zero, zero, zero. Affirmative, confirmation necessary.

Transference coordinates: Distortion effect Eight-Three-Two-Zero-Zero-Nine-One shift relocate Eight-Three-Two; Central passage.

"You're aware that I broke that gate, right? The passageway between the sides isn't operational anymore... is it?"

Negative. Access Device non-operational. Central passage remains in non-spatial, non-temporal stasis.

"...In essence, I made a place between existing and not existing. You're sure that's stable enough for transferring his memory's essence through?"

Affirmative.

Destination Wave Coordinates: Eight-three-two-zero-zero-nine. Destination Temporal coordinates: Local time, entered: Date: Three. Month: Eight. Year: Two Zero Zero One, Common Era. Local time specifications..

"...I'm going to sleep again."

...Connection verified. Authorization intent/permission required.

"...Why do you need my permission when I already expected you to have been done? I swear, if time passed here, that must have taken days."

Clarification... [social protocols active]: My apologies, Edward. Permission and intent are required to continue this.. Authorization?

"Go."

Affirmative. [social protocols inactive] [Connection, active] Pending final confirmation. "Double D...?" "See ya around, Eddy. And you know... I don't think Tony was right about you at all. I mean, we don't have bodies, but we haven't been having any trouble talking, right? You're seeming pretty telepathic right about now." "But..." "You deserve a new beginning. It wasn't your fault any of this happened..." "H-hey, wait..!" A finger shushed him. "Go enjoy life, huh?"

Enter. Orange-yellow flash.... Brown hair and Blue-purple flash, hidden hair, and Chickens... a flock of black birds swooping in on them... Monobrow... Sockhead... Eddddddyyyyyyyyy.... His eyes opened slowly. Edddyyyy...? //Bright… What happened?// “Eddy? Are you okay, dude?” *~*~*~*~* Connections reaffirmed. Transfer complete. Transfer success. "I'm glad to hear that. Were there any complications that need correcting?" Negative. Success rate within acceptable parameters. "Good. Uh---you're reactivating? Why?" [social protocols active] My apologies, Edward. But you have unfinished business. "So what, you're going to force me to replace someone from that timeline? That's not fair to them---what about their minds? I did that with Eddy because he only had extra memories on top of that version of him----not alternative memories." Negative, that intention does not apply. "What does?" You can not remain here. This space is meant to pure, and empty. Even as your traveling carried a temporal-spatial virus, so your presence here pollutes the essence of this place. Your mind, your essence, must be brought into a vessel of some life form in one of the other universes. "And I suppose you had one in mind." It is already done. "Already? But..." You have encountered yourself enough times before... I am certain that you will recognize each other. In addition, this was already your decision. "Oh, come on, this is hardly the time to get cryptic...!" Edd's responses slowed, and finally stopped. The remote activated itself. There is really only so much intelligence you should put into a machine, Edward, if you wish to make the decisions. And if you do not remember this place, if neither of you recalls it, things are much simpler. Complications in the multiverse are, customarily, desirable. Due to your tendencies for creating self-fulfilling or self-destroying universes, however, the temporal complications must be limited. As such---one circle.

"But..."

//As you told your friend; enjoy life. ...It is not your 'fault', anymore than theirs'.//

"I..."

[social protocols inactive]
[destination: confirmed. Tangent contact until re-entry.]
...
[Re-entry complete. Assimilation of memory sequence A, complete. Commence assimilation of memory sequence B within desired vessels.]
[Complete.]

Slowly... new eyes opened.
"Hey, you... Oh, look at this kid... Let's see, do we have a girl or boy here...?"

Connection completed.
Commence result evaluation; go.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
On to Part 6
Back to Part 4
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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Last updated: 7/12/07 at 6:38 pm