Main felt the eraser swarm close in. So this is what dying feels like, he reflected.He felt a hand grasp the back of his shirt, and was abruptly yanked backwards. Dying felt more corporeal than he'd expected. He fell, landing hard on the ground. Buttercup crushed the breath out of his lungs as she followed suit.

Main groaned. He squinted at the owner of the hand. A group of Anonymous members smiled maniacally down at them. He skimmed their surroundings, they were back in the Timeline.

"Buttercup, good news! I don't think we're dead," Main said.

In usion, the crew of black cloaks turned away. After a few seconds of scuffling, they turned back, their new masks were frowning like angered clowns.

"This doesn't look much better," Buttercup said, standing up. She offered Main her hand, and wrenched him to his feet.

"You just caused the collapse of one eighteenth of all possible Timelines!" Anonymous fumed at Main, their joined voices were ominous.

Main rubbed the back of his neck, trying to scrape the guilt from his skin. "I didn't mean to," he said. He brightened suddenly, "Does that mean that 17/18ths of the Timelines are still fine?"

"Well... yes- That's not the point!" they snapped. "You've committed a mass genocide of creation, beyond any measured act of villainy."

Pride swelled in Main's chest, mixing with the guilt to form an unbearable ache. His legs trembled. He'd fulfilled his prophecy at a terrible cost. He missed Greg and Helena, and even Bevan to some extent.

"But, you released me though," Main said. "Surely you're partially responsible."

"Nu-uh," said the frowning venetian masks. 

 Main noticed a lock of purple hair sticking out of one of the masks. "Nem?"  

*

"Nu-uh," said a singular masked figure. The other three masks turned to stare at him.

"You're not dead then," Main said. "This is excellent news."

"I didn't to this for you," Nemesis said, turning away. "If we'd left you there, your presence would have destroyed all of creation. Your pseudo-hero status has saved you again."

"Come on, Nem," Main said. "We're the only three remaining people from our Timeline, surely we can get along."

"You must be Buttercup then," Nemesis said, with some interest.

"That's me," Buttercup said. She pushed her hair over her ear.

Nemesis removed his mask and smiled roguishly. Main felt lethal amounts of jealousy surge through him as Nemesis introduced himself, which was strange, as he'd never been intimidated by anyone wearing such vast amounts of guy liner before. Nemesis bent down, kissing Buttercup's hand. Main had the sudden urge to shove him from the platform.

"You're the Nemesis that stopped Global Worming?" Buttercup asked.

"Yes, yes," Main fumed. "Let's not get hung up on the details."

"Nem- may I call you Nem?" Buttercup asked.

"Of course," he smiled, inching closer to her.

"You're such an amazingly competent guy-" she began.

"-unlike some people-" Nemesis cut in.

 A smile trickled across her face. "You seem pretty heroic. So if there was, say, a Timeline similar enough to ours, where we could go without the world ending, you'd be able to get us there, right?"  

*

"You mean like, an alternate reality?" Nemesis said. "It'd take a while, but I'm sure I could find one. I am very heroic, as you know."

Buttercup laughed, and touched his arm. "I knew you'd come through for us, Nem." 

Main's jaw dropped. There were literal sparks of attraction flying between them. He'd saved Buttercup for love,  and now she was transferring it to his most enemied of enemies. His tongue floundered about in his open mouth, pushing nondescript syllables into the air.