This was supposed to be based on this post about @hyperspecific-blackrock’s Start Over AU (specifically the possibility of Lalnable and Magic Police!Lalna being part of the Lalna Singularity), but it didn’t turn out how I wanted it to :/
I still kinda like it tho so I’m posting it anyway!
Good evening! I got a couple yeses, so have my post-canon could-be-a-crossover-fic-but-instead-its-this-right-now.
(Warning for canon-typical violence)
Naturally as I only have so much knowledge on just Blackrock and Flux Buddies, we'll stick to the Blackrock Crew and Flux Buddies!
The general summary of the AU that I've stitched together so far starts with the bombing of the old Tekkit world, resulting in the world reset/transfer. The combination of terrible timing and the nukes + reset in canon already did a number of Zoeya's memory, but what if it effected both of them?
When the sun rises, two travelers awake in the Overworld and begin again, the only thing they're sure of being that they have each other.
On the other side of things, somewhere along the lines, old Tekkit Lalna is lost, possibly in the Reset assuming its far buggier than it was initially seen as. I'm leaning a bit more towards the "every series is a new Lalna" versus the "Every Lalna is the same Lalna / most are if you set up the timeline linearly" theory here.
This leads to new Lalna trying to fill in the space and pick up the mods his previous version did without much if at all knowledge of what happened on the old server, and without Blackrock after him nor any caution of an experienced technomage, his new apprentice Nano gets infected by Flux.
Flux Buddies continues normally up until around Nano's death, assumedly coming earlier due to less care versus the original timeline. Lalna is unwilling to turn to Lalnable for help, and eventually opts to try finding the memories of all other versions of him to attempt what so far only Yoglabs has managed and bring back Nano.
It gets a bit weird here for a moment as this includes my own personal headcanons on how the timeline works, but essentially past this moment Lalna - if he succeeds - will have merged the timelines. Possibly hundreds of clones existed of him, but from that point forwards there is only one survivor.
He brings back Nano using the experience he regains/gains, and the terror of losing someone so close and going to the ends of everything to make sure it doesn't stick - it makes him think of someone wronged, two someones.
TLDR; Rythian and Zoeya start from the ground up in the new world without memory of their past, simulatenously less burdened and missing much of the world they would know.
Lalna on the other hand remembers everything now and has to deal with it.
Nano is the only properly sound minded one here, and is honestly already very tired.
The world gasped, and in between the collapsing realities shuttering beneath and through eachother like falling glass, he made out the toxic fires pouring through the decay and waste, the smell of sulfur in the air eating at the roses, the dead silence unbroken filling a clear blue sky.
And as it laid to rest one world and slotted into a new one, he stumbled out into a different sort of silence.
A deafening unfamiliarity.
The old world blinked; once, twice, shut forever; you feel it in your chest, you don't know what it means.
By your side is someone equally as lost, someone that an old memory tells you you should trust. Memory is unreliable, and so instead you choose to trust her knowing you don't want to be alone.
And as you find yourself glancing back, you realize you don't remember what you expected.
Breath. The Overworld's air is warm even at night. You will get used to it quickly. "Cold", cold as you don't remember, cold as dark, will be forgotten - isn't that what you wanted? To see the stars and feel free?
Hi, I’ve just remembered that your Start Over AU and my brains going BRRRRRR and I was wondering if you were willing to elaborate a bit on the whole “Lalna merging the timeline becoming the one true Lalna” thing? Because that part is utterly fascinating to me and I’d love to know more
Lets see if I remember what I meant by my own wording! And.. know how to explain it.
(3 paragraphs below the cut + a not the greatest summary tldr)
Essentially, in merging the timelines, the Lalna clones that could be ordered into one chronological timeline without conflicting with any other events would be. For instance, old world Tekkit!Lalna and Apprentice/FluxBuddies!Lalna's timelines could merge without issue, and so Lalna would effectively have memories from both spans of existence.
I'm still unsure on how this would function for someone like MagicPolice!Lalna who existed at the same time as Flux, however, so that might mean those two aren't considered the same.
With all the Everything, this leaves the question of if Lalnable can count into the merger. If we go by MagicPolice!Lalna's previous case's standards, the answer would be no, but.. we have time travel (my worst enemy in writing......). Lalnable has been thoerized by many to be a post-FluxBuddies Lalna driven mad by his grief etc. etc., which could be possible! If this is true, that means StartOver!Lalna would.. possibly be both considered the Alpha Clone and fated to become Lalnable.
TLDR; Timeline Mergers are horrible to figure out, but Lalna most likely broke spacetime. Him being also Lalnable I cannot confirm as I have no idea. I think I overthought this.
Fun fact on an original plan for the Start Over AU!
Lalna got the idea to attempt a timeline merge at first when he tried ressurecting Tiddles to experiement on if whatever science he was using at the time would be stable enough to bring back Nano, but failed and brought back an unstable merge of Tiddles!
He wanted to get something right, save or help someone, and so he attempted to properly stabilize Tiddles, but didn't get out of the "blast zone" in time, merging him as well and creating both a Tiddles and Lalna Singularity.
We all remember that post in the NS tag where it would be depressing that Sakura and Naruto would get married? I just thought of an AU idea where Naruto and Sakura are dating and he proposes, but she says she can't because she feels to guilty about it since she keeps feeling like he's a rebound. So they both agree to try to start over from scratch, as if they're strangers, and learn about each other, so slowly their love for each other blooms. And in the end, Naruto and Sakura propose to each other at the same time and get married without any doubts about their love,
