The Day a God Cried

Arceus conjured a hundred suns around his enemy and had them crash into Lord English like meteors. English nimbly dodged them by slowing down time and flew to stab his golden sword into Arceus' belly. Arceus blocked the attack with psychic, then expanded a psychic bubble to bounce English away. The minute the psychic vanished, Arceus was tackled by dozens of Paradox Clones from all sides, forcing him to counter with a trillion lightning bolts. Arceus teleported a few space-miles off and watched his opponent as he caught his breath.

All along… this creature—this… phony god… It was he who brought chaos to my creation. Forced me to destroy it. Nothing has filled me with greater dread, has crushed my soul more… than what I did.

"Well, that's what I think he's thinking, at least. Arceus was always a kind god, he still is. I think he just did it out of love, 8ut the pain is still with him. You would, too, if you saw our world."

The sun rose over a small, quiet neighborhood. It consisted of ordinary houses, shops, benches, and colorful flowers within bright green grass. The sign at the entrance of the village read Gray Garden.

"Dress – up! Dress – up! Shirt – shoes – pants!" Someone was awake and spry one morning. "Eat – ing – break – fast – brush – my – teeth! Get – my – back – pack – time – for – school. Time – to – join – my – friends-and-get-to-class!"

Her name was Yosafire, and she was a troll with bright green hair, garbed in a red sweater, black pants, and red boots. She had a Cross on her sweater, bat wings, and a red hat over her right horn – hiding that it was broken. "Hey, Fuh-roze! FUH-ROO-OOOZE!" She knocked on her neighbor's door. "Wake uuuu-uuuup."

Froze opened the door. She was an angel in a gray dress with giant buttons, white boots, and had blonde hair in two long, sharp pigtails. Her big blue eyes lacked emotion. "Yosaf, class isn't until one hour from now."

"I knooooow! Doesn't mean I can't spend time with my bestest buddy ever!" She nudged Froze with her elbow.

"You didn't do your homework again, did you?"

"Pleeeeaaaase?" Yosaf made puppy eyes.

"Siiigh. Get inside."

"Angels? Were they like Nimbis?" Cheren asked.

"Yep! They were the original Nim8i! That was our intention, anyway. 8ut most of our angels were more mystical…ish."

"So, trolls and angels lived together? Gray Garden doesn't sound all that gray."

"I know, I think it's called that 8ecause we have gray skin."

"Really? I don't know any human cities called Peach Garden or Brown Garden…"

"Very funny. And yeah, races got along pretty well, I don't think we always used to, 8ut we were chill with each other. Well, may8e not completely…"

When the hour had passed, school was in session. The school building looked just like any you'd see on Earth. Hundreds of trolls and angels were in attendance. "You know Miss Greif is gonna be able to tell if you copied, so let's recap: when was the Diamond Authority established?" Froze asked.

"Uhhh… 200 sweeps ago?"

"You're cold, Yosafire."

"Look, Froze, it's Dialo!" Yosaf pointed at a red-haired troll in a black shirt and white stockings—without warning, Dialo grabbed Yosaf and embraced her in a kiss. "YAAAAAAH!" She punched Dialo off with fury in her fist. "What do you think you're doing, creep?!"

"He was professing his love to you, of course!" replied Vriska Serket, a troll with long black hair and an eyepatch over her left glasses lens. "Dialo has always loved you. Isn't that right, Chelan?" she said to an angel with a halo.

Chelan had short blonde hair and green eyes, but her mouth was hidden by her collar. She wore a thick blue dress with big white Cross stripes, blue boots with mini wings, and hovered a few inches off the floor. "♪♪♪" She hummed nervously. (Unfortunately, music notes can't be typed on FanFiction.)

"Grrrrr! YOU BRAINWASHED HIM, didn't you?!"

"Oh, how did you figure it out?" Vriska smirked. "Pro8a8ly 8ecause no one in their right mind would love you."

"Guess again! Froze loves me! Don't you, Froze?" Yosaf hugged her BFF.

"8efore you ask, yes I did use psychic8ending to make Dialo kiss Yosaf. Since there were no other gods to decide 8enders, we're just 8orn with our 8ending naturally."

"So, you were a bully. That's original." Cheren remarked.

"Oh, and you're a passion8 leader who goes to extremes to protect his friends and is uncommonly kindhearted. That's original." :::: P

"So, will this be a story where you're a bully on the outside, but inside you just want people to accept you and you really want Yosafire to be your friend?"

"Screw that. I know who I am and I'm proud of it. My attitude makes me distinguished."

"Okay, but it seems like this story's more about Yosafire than you. I wanna hear about you, not them."

"Alright, if you insist, I'll change narr8ives for a little 8it."

Vriska was on her bed after school one day, laptop on her belly. Her expression was lazy and her room was dim. Spiders took residence in the corners and desks. She used psychic to bring over a slice of pizza with a web design.

"As you can see, my life was very exciting."

"Fine, but it's still you. Why is Yosafire so important—how do you even know all that about her?"

"8ecause the story's not really a8out me OR her. It's a8out Arceus."

"Oh…"

"Okay, let's fast-forward to after school. You know what school's like, you don't need to hear it. Yosafire and Froze were going to 8ake apple pie. First, they had to pick some…"

"Yosafire, I'm gonna fly home to get started on homework." Froze told her as they were leaving. "Why don't you go to the forest and get 5 apples?"

"Mm-hm!" Yosafire was nodding to earbuds.

"Did you hear me?"

"Ya ya, 50 apples!"

"Five apples."

"Don't worry, Froze, I got it!"

"Sigh… Alright, see you later." Froze flapped her wings and took off.

"Sorry – just one more question: if all trolls have a certain way of talking, shouldn't Yosafire?"

"It's ta8oo for trolls to use another troll's type."

"Really?"

"No, 8ut if I type in a 8unch of different styles, your head will explode. Moving on…"

Yosafire hummed merrily as she skipped into the Apple Forest. Apples grew on trees, apples lay on the ground, apples sat on the benches. Yosafire climbed a tree, picked 15 apples, and put them in her pockets. She got 15 more from another tree, then 14, then 17, then 21, then 16, then 15…

An hour later, she came over to Froze's house. "Hi, Froze! I got the apples!"

"THAT'S WAY TOO MANY APPLES!" Froze screamed at the pile of 150 apples.

"Oops." Yosaf blushed. "I was wondering why we were making a gihugic pie."

"Uuuugh! What are we supposed to do with all them?"

"Let's invite our friends over! We'll bake a bunch of apple pies and have an Apple Pie Party!"

"We'll still have too many apples left over."

"Don't worry, Froze. I know just what to do with them."

"Let me guess, she names them all after the First Generation Pokémon!" Cheren exclaimed.

"Um… no. 8ut that is something she would do. Anyway, Yosaf and Froze have two more friends named Raw8erry and Macarona. Raw8erry's a vampire troll that loves to eat 8ugs and small animals, and Macarona's an angel that's generally repulsed by that."

"That explains some movies. Actually, Rawberry sounds like my cousin, Berry. Well, a mix of her and Lola."

"Isn't it funny how things line up? ;;;; ) Anyway, they go to Raw8erry's house to cook the apples 8ecause she has a 8igger table. They invite Dialo and Chelan to the party, too…"

"Ahhh… I couldn't eat another bite." Dialo sighed in relief.

"♪♪♪" Chelan's belly was full.

"Next time, let's have a Bat Blood Party." Rawberry smirked.

"Let's not…" Macarona said.

"Absolutely delicious!" Yosafire beamed. "And we still have one pie left!"

"The one who gets it shouldn't be you." Froze stated. "You eat too much as it is."

"Hey, I get plenty of exercise! Don't forget who had to carry all those apples!"

"Does anyone wanna save it?" Macarona asked.

"No, I wanna take it." Yosafire picked the pie up. "I'm gonna see if God wants it!"

"He's visiting today?" Froze asked.

"Yep, I saw him earlier! I'll tell him you said 'hi'!"

Yosafire raced out the exit to town, crossing a vast and colorful field of flowers. Bees and butterflies were buzzing about in harmony. A soft breeze whisked across the earth. Yosafire was entering some ruins; monochrome pillars and gems, and soon she was climbing a monochrome palace, believed to have been built by the Gem Empire. Yosaf and her friends have been here before, usually to play since it was abandoned. Apple pie still in hand, Yosaf was at the top of the structure. "Hi, Arceus! I made this pie for you!"

At the highest point, Yosafire stood directly before God Arceus's face. The palace was set over a towering cliff, below which Arceus stood. "Is that apple pie I smell? I am a bit famished. And it's for me?"

"Of course! Even God needs to eat!"

"Then who am I to refuse?" Using telekinesis, Arceus lifted the pie into the air. It drifted toward his unseen mouth and vanished into his godly form. "It was even more delicious than your last one."

"I try my very best!"

"Thank you, Yosafire. …Are you sure you don't want me to fix your horn?"

"Huh?" Yosaf took her hat off, exposing the broken horn. "I don't think it's that bad. It's kinda cute, don't you think?"

"Well, if it doesn't bother you, I shall not interfere."

"Oh! Froze and the others said 'Hi' by the way! Well, not really—you probably know."

"I do. But I still appreciate the gesture. Tell them I said 'Hello' as well."

"I will! Bye-bye, God Arceus!" Yosafire made the merry skip home. Arceus smiled at her bright spirit.

"Arceus gave mortals life. He gave them emotions and the a8ility to think. And for a time, that was all he thought they needed."

Arceus traveled to Alternia, the world of the trolls and angels. He traveled to Indo, a nighttime indigo world of salamanders, also known as Land of Wind and Shade. He visited Ore, a world of gray stone beings called Ores. However, the Gem race of Emera insisted on keeping him away.

"8ecause there was no esta8lished law, there was nothing separ8ing mortals and spirits. Arceus came and went to the worlds as he pleased. He loved each and every creature he cre8d."

Arceus gazed at the universe from very far away. He had view of each and every living being. Seeing them all filled him with joy. They lived in bliss and harmony.

"…8ut inside, he was suffering."

What Arceus really saw wasn't at all beautiful. On days when he visited Gray Garden, the monochrome temple hasn't even been built, yet. When the Gems tried to take over that territory, Yosafire, Froze, Chelan, and all Gray Garden's citizens fought them. And then the next day, they wouldn't remember. That's because those versions of Yosaf and Froze died, leaving their children, Yosafire and Froze – same names and same identities – to grow up alone.

"Wuh-oh! Froze, the gravity's going off again!" Yosafire exclaimed when everyone in Gray Garden began floating. "Wheeeee!"

"Froze, I'll race you across the ocean!" Yosafire raced across the sea as if it was solid land.

"It'll liquefy eventually." Froze said.

On another day, Yosafire was wearing a swimsuit. She had resurfaced above the ground and spat out a mouthful of liquid earth. "Come on, Froze, the land is great!"

"It'll solidify eventually."

Black holes randomly opened and closed wherever. When people slept, their subconscious bodies took solid form and remained awake until they went to sleep—it was like everyone had two bodies. If someone died, their zombies would rise on a distant planet, but they could always fly back to their homeworld and continue their normal lives.

"Arceus saw our universe for what it truly was: chaos. And its citizens merely lived in 8lissful ignorance. 8ut Arceus knew it was false 8liss. It was slowly destroying us. You can imagine how much it hurt him… to do what he did."

With a terrific and humongous godly breath, Arceus accumulated all the energy of the universe into one core. The core grew bigger and bigger, like a spiraling white planet. "Look, Froze!" Yosafire pointed as everyone in Gray Garden stared with delight. "It's so pretty!"

"Muh…" Vriska cared not and kept her vision down.

And the core continued to expand and expand… until finally, Arceus slurped it into his lungs. "RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" And he released it all: a supernova bigger than any in existence, sweeping across the cosmos. Yosafire's bright smile was outweighed by the nova's light, as was all the peace in Alternia. The entire planet and its happy inhabitants were erased, and thousands of worlds were to follow Arceus's wrath.

Vriska Serket awoke on an island in the middle of empty space. She looked around, fascinated. Certainly not how she was planning to spend her day. Close to her was the angel, Chelan. She still kept silent except for humming, but she was also curious. And across the space were others lost in the ruin, like Karkat, Terezi, Nepeta, or Majora and Sanula.

"Survivors of the universe… I am Arceus. I know you all are very confused about what's happened. The truth is… this dimension was chaos and disorder. So chaotic that it was slowly crumbling apart. You were unaware as to how much you were suffering… so with the heaviest of hearts, I have decided to destroy the universe and start anew. I have analyzed my mistakes and intend to rectify them… however, I believe the creation of the New Universe should fall to you as well. Chosen survivors… help me to design the New Universe. In return, I will allow you to use it as your new home."

"That's all he said. Eventually, me and Chelan worked our way to the other survivors, we formed our team, and we set to work. Of course, Arceus lied a8out letting us live there. He cre8'ed the Great Clock—the Time G8—to seal our dimension away. 8ut the Great Clock was more than just a g8. It represented Arceus's 8rain. Its Cy8erspace contained the memory of his First Dimension. We saw Arceus's memories and his feelings…" (Play "Man of the World" from Naruto: Shippuden.)

His creation was lost… reduced to little bits and pieces, drifting in endless nothing. Arceus was in the center of it all… it was his responsibility. It was his duty to watch the universe, nurture it. He was proud of all the people he created. He could see Yosafire tackle-hugging Froze, see her baking apple pie for her friends. When Yosaf forgot her homework, her teacher forced her to trim the bushes outside. Macarona threw up when Rawberry ate a live bat, Vriska used psychic to make Dialo repeatedly punch himself.

It was a world of love and friendship… and he destroyed it. The Ores, the Gems, the Carapacians… It was a universe he created. Every person had a soul and a life. Whether they were happy, sad, or angry, Arceus enjoyed seeing them all prosper. But their existence was crumbling, an unstable force that was seeping beyond the dimensional boundaries. He did the merciful thing and destroyed it. And yet, drifting along the debris left by his life's work… were his tears. Tears that glimmered like miniature suns.

"A person cries when everything they held dear crumbles away. So, to see a god cry… is the most painful feeling in the entire multiverse. That's why, the same day we lost our homes… was the same day a god cried. Of course, what we saw was just a Supreme God doing his jo8. We thought he felt nothing toward it… so, we were angry. We wanted to a8use his kindness."

One of Arceus's golden tears splashed in the darkness. The tear molded into a little ball… which compressed into an egg. Three lumps stretched the egg until it hatched. Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie were born. Another tear dripped, and there was the Ancestor. "Mew…" Another dripped, and there was the Forest. "Bi…"

"And then we learned… may8e Arceus felt more pain than we did that day. Even after we made his New World… he still felt pain."

And now, all his feelings were poured into correcting his mistake. A trillion years after that day, it was here he faced the one responsible. "Answer me… Lord English… how did you feel… when trillions and trillions of people were erased with a single breath? How do you feel knowing trillions of souls will never be heard again?"

It was this question… that made Lord English confused. "I don't even know what you're talking about! Those were just a bunch of dumb ideas taking up my working space!"

On a sudden impulse, Arceus spawned a thousand giant swords to pierce every side and angle of English's body, each imbued with the god's rage. But, Lord English didn't want to feel pain, and he didn't want the blades to have form. Because he didn't want it, the blades were erased from history. "I don't want you either, you four-legged dog-giraffe mutant! Why won't you go away?!"

Arceus trembled for a moment… but he endured the pain. "I will never vanish… not so long as my greatest mistake… has YET to be ERASED!"

Cheren's room

"When Lord English was re8orn in your world, we 8egan physically downloading the digital First Dimension from the Great Clock. When it's finished, your 3-year voyage will end." The text on Cheren's computer read.

"So, your homes will be restored." Cheren summarized. He was on his bed with the laptop on his belly. "Does that mean, if we beat English, our worlds can coexist?"

"I don't know if that'll 8e possi8le. Our dimension is still messed up, so you'll still need to make the New World."

"Don't worry, Vriska." Cheren smirked. "I promise when we design the New World, we'll leave enough room for both of us! I mean, how big can a universe be, am I right?" He grinned.

"Awwww… you're so sweet. :::: ) I actually feel a little confident now."

"I do have that charm." Cheren winked. "Wellp, I think I wanna get off now. My body's getting stiff. Thanks for the story, Vriska."

"You're welcome. Good night."

Cheren shut the laptop and got up, bending back to cure the stiffness. "Hmm… 'think I'll go out for some fresh air." He went God Tier, flew out the window, and into the sunset.

Aurora Uno creaked open his room door. "Hmm… so, I guess it's not just a new girlfriend he's talking to."