The Dramatis Personae

Lots of people. Lore had forgotten that fifty two Reapers did not translate to just fifty two people. Alarms wailed as more and more of the newcomers boarded Heimdall station. Piper added them as quickly as he could but it still wasn’t quite fast enough while Lore and Char searched the station for a venue large enough to hold all of their guests. Eventually they settled on the hall that once housed their clone army and began funnelling them in. Lore stood by the door counting them in. Lots of the same faces passed by with only two notable exceptions. The last to pass Lore caused their heart to skip a beat with joy. Out of all of the possibilities, all of the universes, before them stood something they were not yet sure was a dream come true or a nightmare made real.
“Hey there friend are you alright? We’re sorry if our appearance has caused you fright. ” They looked to Lore gingerly. Lore hadn’t realised they had been staring at their creation wordlessly for as long as they had.
“Just… happy… you’re here.” Lore bit their lip as the last of them entered. Lore made their way to the head of the pack and elevated themselves above the crowd to better address them. “Hello, I’m Lore and welcome to existence.” The room turned in on itself as groups began to whisper between themselves as to what the floating version of themselves meant. “My name is Lore and about…” They checked their Breacher. “Two hours ago, none of you existed.” Lore activated the room’s holographic projectors and played back their usage of the Heimdall Station. “Two hours ago, I harnessed the powers of the Cornerstones and energies from beyond our reality to create an infinite expanse of reality, an infinite multiverse with one constant. Us.” Lore smiled. “An L-Verse if you will. It’s from these universes that you all came.”
“You mean to say that we are only two hours old?” One of the few Craits used their height advantage to stand out in a sea of Lores.
“From my point of view, yes. But time moves differently in the L-Verses. From the outside they may only seem to last a moment but to the inhabitants. They exist for eternities.”
“Before I heard your voice in the sky, there was a battle between Crait and I. Then a purple light swallowed it all, does that mean my universe has fall…en?” One of the two exceptions spoke up.
“No, your universes are all fine and I’ll show you how to return to them once we’re done… I’m sorry, I really need to know, what’s your name?”
“Why I’m The Lore with a Paw and I’m the toughest cat you’d ever saw.” The smile simply wouldn’t leave Lore’s face. A Rhyming, anthropomorphic cat version of themselves. “I don’t always rhyme though, just thought I’d let you know.”
“Fantastic.” Lore couldn’t help themselves. Char wasn’t as pleased when she saw, stood next to The Lore with a Paw, a feline version of herself. “So, here’s the deal, Reality, the creator of almost all of the known multiverse challenged my universe to a fight. When he did this, I was shown a glimpse of something yet to come. A being from outside of reality itself. I created the L-Verse because I believe that between us, we can take whatever comes our way and protect this megaverse from destruction.” The room fell silent.
“I’ll stand with you.” An arm appeared from the crowd. It tried to move to the front of the pack but found itself stuck. “My name is Lore but I had another name.” Lore crossed their fingers. “We met on Johned. Then the stuff after the duel gets a little fuzzy, I think I was sent on a mission but then the next thing I remember is waking up, alone in a universe without my Char and a purple light in the sky calling for my help.” The arm was making progress. If they could, Lore’s fingers would be nearly without blood given how tightly they were crossed. “I think it was Third? No…” Lore punched the air. They lowered themselves and grabbed Quart by the wrist, dragging them towards Juror. “My gods, it’s you… It’s actually you.” They looked upon the slightly older and hardened visage of Juror. They didn’t look for long as soon after their re-introductions, they were breathing into one another’s lungs. Whatever they were doing, Lore had never conceived of it as pleasurable nor romantic but it seemed to work for them.
“I’m so sorry my love. I tried to search for you but…” Juror shed a single tear.
“I came home eventually.”
“Two hundred years late.” Juror found her smile. “I spent two hundred years trying to get you back and all I get is ‘I came home eventually’?” She shook her head, beaming. “Good enough you slick git.”
“Are there any other Lores or Chars from back in the day?” A slew of hands shot up. “Great to have you all back.” Lore descended to the group and began to mingle. While there were more than a few they had already met, there were even more new faces for them to introduce themselves to.
“May we join?” Through a newly created tear in the fabric of reality, Reality entered. “It seems we underestimated you.”
“I’m sorry?” Lore looked to them genuinely confused.
“We thought you were little more than our brother’s children’s favourite plaything but no, you used your curse to your benefit, placing yourself at the centre of the most interesting time in history. Du’Walles is still coming however and you seem to be playing at our level. We offer ourselves to you to assist in its destruction.”
“We aren’t going to destroy Du’Walles.” The tables had turned with Reality now looking confused. “We aren’t going to fight it, we’re going to protect what we have and ensure it doesn’t get in.” Everyone present was hanging off of Lore’s every word. “We knew there was no point trying to fight you because you each created your respective multiverses. You’re gods. So we went for a prevention measure, the creation of our own multiverse. Become your equal.”
Reality thought for a moment. “Indeed. But how do you intend on doing the same to Du’Walles? How do you impress something which no-one has ever seen?”
“You’re looking at it.” Lore gestured towards the room full of themselves from across the L-Verse.
“I can see that one helping but how is this different from how you overcame us?” The Lore with a Paw swiped at Reality’s finger.
“Trust us…” Lore smiled.  The Du’Walles Cometh.