So do the boys actually want to go back to their timelines? The fells especially seem like they’d rather be in their current timeline. Would they rather just be able to bring some of their close friends out of their timelines?
There are a few who are still a bit homesick for their AU’s - namely Blue, though Stretch hardly shares the same sentiments (namely due to the fact that theirs is a loop of genocides, a fact Blue is unaware of). Red and Edge don’t mind this timeline, but… the longing to see old acquaintances and familiar faces from time to time does still exist, and they won’t deny it. Do they prefer this world over their own? Certainly - things are a lot less hostile here than back home. These sentiments are shared with Hickory and Black although, in their worlds, they were on the surface slightly longer and had grown more accustomed to life there. As such, they do feel homesickness more prominently than their unswapped counterparts.Overall, would they mind if the machine was never really fixed? No, not really. They’ve been in this world long enough that they’ve started to call it home, and if they were stuck here permanently… well, you wouldn’t hear them complain overmuch.
But… they’re not the only variants brought over, and there are others who miss their home and wake up each morning hoping that day will be the day they can return. Some of them have friends they miss dearly while others have loved ones they were torn from, and yet still others had families they were separated from and are desperate to return to. So, while the boys at the lodge don’t necessarily want to fix the machine, they know that just leaving it would be far more selfish a choice…