Uhhhh so I wrote a Lego Movie 2 fanfiction about an idea I had if Rex was just sent back to his own timeline, click the link to AO3 but also spread this around if you can too thanks
I know this particular fandom is dead and old but. Yuh lmao
Fanfiction is under the cuttttt *dances*
The last thing Rex expected to happen when disappearing from his past–well, Emmett’s present, now (man time travel never got any less confusing)--was to find himself standing on the outskirts of a city, about a few yards away.
A city that looked like a mix between Apocalypseburg, Bricksburg… And kinda like a seven year old threw up pretty sparkly rainbow stuff in random places. In fact, it looked like it was in the middle of being rebuilt, of all things, and in truth the former Master Builder knew that he should have been excited, happy even, at this new sight before him. His past and former self would have been.
Instead all Rex could do was stand there, utterly confused.
If it were another time, before he had saved himself, he probably would have resented the city for moving on. Without him no less. Resented his so-called friends. A part of him still wanted to hold onto that resentment. But the other… Well. He didn't know what to think now.
Before something came around and told him this was all just some messed up dream he was having and that he was actually dead, the adventurer looked himself over, checking his hands, feet, and his own heart beat. Which was all still there, still beating. What a blessing that was. Maybe this was a second chance. His second chance, or theirs.
Maybe he could finally get some answers this way. Just maybe.
Whatever the case, after goggling at the city for another minute, Rex took in a breath of air, chest rising with his arms, brows furrowing with determination, and he marched himself towards the city, towards the place he had avoided at all and any cost, up until now.
Who knew how long it had been since he disappeared. Did his friends even care? Did they even know? Had they gone out to find him at all?? Or did they give up, move on… And not even try? All these questions did was utterly annoy him as he made his way into… Wait. What was it even called now??
Turning his head left and right, he spotted a large sign in the distance that was just as messy and unorganized as the city, but much more finished than the rest. In blacks, browns, reds and sparkly pinks and blues, it read, “BRICKTOPIALYPSEBURG”. Which had him snort and shake his head, turning away. What a ridiculous thing to name something. Utter nonsense.
Still. That small part of him, the part he thought he had squashed away forever and for good, was beyond excited about all the pretty colors and new sights and sounds as he finally entered, a seemingly permanent scowl on his face as he looked around.
All around him were signs of rebuilding, of rehabilitation, from the years spent having to hide in fear from the aliens that came and quite literally ruined his whole life. As Rex walked he spotted a few workers in the distance handing each other a two by eight stacked in three, probably for support of something, and when he looked another direction found two others sitting on top of a building, chatting away the day. Probably on some sort of break.
A few people were even walking around the city freely and happily, even mingling with Sis-Star System habitants, as if they hadn't been the very things that threatened to destroy them from day one. Not a single person paid any mind to the rather grumpy-looking man walking through, just as he had suspected would happen. Which was totally fine by him, not like he wanted the attention, anyway. He was a man on a mission, looking for something. All the way on the other side of the city. So all Rex did was give a rather nasty look at the aliens and a quiet “feh” to himself.
And went on his way.
The farther back he went, the less BrickaTopiaLypseBurg seemed destroyed. Buildings of all shapes and sizes shone in the sun like new, greenery was even starting to return to the dirt. That same small part of him wanted to feel endlessly happy about seeing what used to be his home growing again. But Rex wouldn't let himself rejoice. Not yet. Not so soon. He had to make sure first. He had to know…
He didn't stop walking even past the city borders. It might have taken him an hour at most to walk through the entire place, but he at least hoped it was worth it. He knew he was almost there, he was so sure.
All at once Rex froze, eyes widening with shock once they landed on something a few yards away. Something familiar.
The house… Their house.
The one he had made her all those years ago. When he was still naive and young. Clueless to what his actions would lead to. There was no possible way it was standing here now, right in front of him, but… He recognized that blue roof and yellow walls from anywhere. Glistening in the light of the falling sun, in the backdrop of a land recovering from war.
Speechless with how impossible this was, Rex moved forward, slowly. Staring at the build like it would disappear from his very own eyes any moment now. He hadn't even noticed he had made it when his toe hit the first step, his eyes moving down to the door. Nothing else could stop him as he climbed the steps and opened the door, standing in the living room.
“Not exactly an apartment, there, buddy.”
Just for nostalgia’s sake, he breathed, “Good morning, apartment…”
Rex flinched with a startled gasp and whipped himself around, his fight or flight instincts immediately kicking in as his hands balled into fists defensively. Turns out, there was no need to.
Because standing on the porch with her arms crossed and brows furrowed dangerously, was Wildstyle. Hair pink and blue but with that dangerous look in her eyes that also always meant business. All he could do was stare.
“You wanna tell me why you, a completely random stranger, decided to show up and snoop around in my house uninvited and unannounced??” She asked, a dangerous accusation very much in her voice. A warning on the edge of it.
The former Master Builder and still Master Builder stared each other off for another tense minute. Seeming to gather himself, Rex managed a scoff and a roll of his eyes, straightening himself and crossing his arms with a scowl of his own.
“Thought all you city folk were supposed to be welcoming to newcomers, such as myself.” He quipped back, just as on edge.
Wildstyle’s brow creased up. “We might have been, once. But even before I don't think anyone would just walk into someone's space like they owned it, especially not in the way you just did.” She looked him up and down, skeptical. “Who are you, anyway?? What do you want?”
He wasn't going to think about the fact that he was completely hypocritical right now, considering how many times he had left his own apartment door unlocked. He'd come home to find stuff missing every time.
Honestly, he felt beyond offended that she had not only looked at him that way, but also was asking if he wanted something. He gave her a mean look of his own. “Who said I'd want anything from you? Maybe I just got turned around somewhere. In fact, this is your own fault if anything. I mean who leaves their door unlocked before going out??”
Regardless, his words did the trick, because now she looked mad, in a satisfying way that had Rex smirk. She stepped to the side with a glower of her own. “Whatever. Just get out. I don't want anyone as unpleasant as you in our home, anyway.”
She didn't mean…?
Rex would have moved, he was all kinds of ready to, but how she said that last part had him pause completely. He furrowed his brows, just a little, and echoed, “... ‘Our home’?”
“None of your beezwax.” Wildstyle stretched her arm out and pointed back towards the city, hissing, “Go. Before I make you.”
The adventurer simply raised his hands in a placating surrender, shrugging. “Okay. Okay fine, I'm going. No need for violence, lady.”
He did just as she told him to, slowly, his eyes on hers and her eyes on his, glaring and irritated. It never took much to get her to blow a fuse, and strangely enough that had been one of the things he used to be attracted to. Among other things, but… Now was not the time.
Just before the first step, feeling her eyes on his back, he stopped and turned his head to look at her. He met his former partner’s confused look and gave one of the softest smiles he had to offer. Just as a test, just to see…
“Not much seemed to change about you despite everything else changing, ey… Lucy?”
One second Wildstyle's eyes widened and the next Rex found his back hitting the ground, the wind being knocked out of him with a surprised, “oof!”. Then there was Lucy’s face over his, covering the sky and her glare burning as she took hold of his vest.
“How do you know that name?!” She demanded in a hiss. “Only one person can ever call me that, only one person ever knew that name!” He was tugged closer, her bangs brushing his forehead. “How do you know that name??”
One moment he was staring up at her incredulously, then burst out laughing, rather inappropriately, making Wildstyle back up a little with angry confusion. But he couldn't help it, it was just too good. The female rebel regained her composure and held onto his vest tighter.
“What's so funny??”
Rex shook his head, trying to contain his laughter and rubbing at his eye. When he was mostly able to control it he looked up at her with one eye shut and a fat-ass grin on his face. “Ha, haha..! Sorry, not sorry actually but, man. That look on your face was priceless and so totally worth it. No Regrets, trademarked by me by the way.” He winked up at her, which had her absolutely lost again, but he paid no mind to it as he went on. “I mean seriously, though. Have I really changed that much to where even you don't recognize me anymore??”
Wildstyle’s brows furrowed so hard it was like they were trying to connect. Her grip on his vest lessened immensely. “... What?? I don't know you. What are you talking about??”
The ex Master Builder rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. “Oh of course. You're gone for more than two years and suddenly everyone you thought you knew and loved forgets who you are. How typical, but not surprising, considering that's how most of my life went.” Here was where his grin dropped and he locked a glare straight onto her shocked, bewildered face. “I would have thought that you of all people would've been different. But I guess I was wrong about that, too.” He finished, hate like venom in his voice.
Finally, she had let him go with a horrified gasp, dropping him to the ground and backing up a step. As if having been slapped. Rex sat up on his elbows to watch her face go pale, horror settling into her eyes as she beheld him. Horror and… And guilt?? Huh.
Now that was unexpected.
“No…” Wildstyle whispered, shaking her head. “No, it… It can't be…”
Rex sat himself up and crossed his legs, nonchalant and absolutely unbothered by this display, shrugging. “And why not?? Did you expect your dearly beloved Emmett to come crawling back home instead of me?? Because he's here, alright. But he's me. And I am Rex.” He grinned again, but it was not warm. Cold and hateful. “Rex Dangervest.”
Once again, there was another moment where the two simply stared at each other, tense like two cats ready for a fight. A coil yet to be sprung.
But then, as shocking as ever, he witnessed as the tough and ruthless Wildstyle break before him, her eyes glossing over, a few tears even coming out of her eyes as she covered her mouth.
Okay. Not at all what he was expecting.
Rex stayed skeptical, still, but answered anyway. “... Did you not just hear me?? I said my name is–”
“Emmett…?” She breathed, as if the name was foreign to her.
He didn't get a chance to say anything else. Again Lucy had lunged herself forward except this time her arms were around his neck, absolutely crushing him and a sob coming from his left ear. He had his hands up, unsure what to do with them and himself in general as she held him tighter.
“Emmett, oh Emmett you're alive!!” She cried in a mix of joy, disbelief and sorrow. “I can't believe it, we thought–..! I was so sure and…!! You're here you're really here!!”
There was another mix of a laugh and a sob again. But all Rex could do was stare at nothing in the distance, what she was implying was incredibly disturbing. His chest filled with something gross and foreboding.
That small part of him from the very beginning of this journey returned and desperately wanted nothing more than to hold her back. Hold her close and never let go. But his hands moved, slowly, to Lucy's shoulders to push her off. Which she obliged to, sitting back and looking at him with confusion, blinking at the stoney look on his face. “... Emmett?” She prodded, weary.
He didn't look at her right away. Kept his hands on her shoulders as he thought, hard. Because… Because if what she was saying was true, then everything he did… Everything he had gone through…
When Rex did finally slide his eyes up to meet hers, they were conflicted and dark. “... You thought that, all this time, I… I had been…?”
Again there was that deep guilt that came to Lucy's expression. One she hid away from him by looking down at the ground. But she answered him regardless by just doing that.
Wildstyle's head shot up so fast even he had thought he had gotten whiplash. “What?! Oh no Emmett of course we did! We searched everywhere for you after we came back from the wedding party! We thought… We thought you had stayed back and hid but, everyone told us that you came to try to save us and hadn't seen you since…!” She used a hand to try to wipe at her eyes, trying to regain her emotions. But didn't look back up at her former partner. “Queen Whatevra’wannabe even helped us. We checked every planet, every gateway, every dimension, for so long, but… But…”
That rage, the wound he thought he'd stitched closed, reopened. But he inhaled to keep it contained. Don't come to conclusions. Not yet. Not yet… “You… Didn't bother trying to find me…?”
Lucy shut her eyes, as if in pain, and Rex waited. Even if it felt like his world was crumbling from under him for the second time in his life. Somehow, though, this was worse. Much worse.
She took in a shaky breath to continue, her hands folded together. “What… We found, where we should have found you, was debris. From the, first, house you built us, and… Even if we had found you, it would've been far too late to do anything. So… So we went back to Bricksburg…” Here was where more of her tears fell and again she hid away from him, as if ashamed. “And held a funeral for you.”
That was officially the topping of the cake for him. Rex pulled himself away from her and stood, his back facing towards her shocked expression as he took a few steps away, fists clenched to hide them from shaking. He could feel her stare on his back, but didn't say anything for a while, trying to control his own reeling emotions.
When he did speak again, it was low. “So. You gave up on me, then.”
“That's not fair.” Lucy responded, sounding downright broken that it made him flinch. “I just told you we searched everywhere we could for you. And I never gave up, Emmett, I swear. I just… We…!”
Her voice broke. He stood there and listened to her trying to quell quiet sobs. His already broken heart bleeding again.
“... I'm sorry.” She eventually whispered. “I'm so sorry I left you. That we… That we gave up. We never meant to, we just… We couldn't find you. Where were you??”
All this time… Rex had assumed they forgot. That they didn't care. But it wasn't that. They didn't know.
Which, in retrospect, if he hadn't let his doubts get to him… Would have made sense.
But how long would he have been under there for?? How long would he be left to waste if he didn't take matters into his own hands?? What would have become of him? If he had just done nothing…
His past self was proving him wrong. Once again. They, or at least Lucy, still did care. She would have come for him, in another time. Another time that wasn't his own. She still did care, by the house she most certainly remade with her own two hands. Exactly how he had made it. Called it “their home”.
The least he could do now… Was give her a proper answer.
“... I was in the Undar of the Dryar System.” Rex finally tells her past the lump in his throat. “In the Man Upstairs’s realm. For five years.”
A cold chill that didn't come from the breeze filled the thick tension in the air. There was no indication that Lucy would start talking again. So he did.
“I waited there. Convinced that someone, anyone, would come find me. Help me out. But the longer I waited, the more I thought, ‘This was my fault. They were right. I'm useless.’”
“I made myself get up.” Rex went in like he hadn't heard her. “I got tired of waiting. Of being useless. A nobody. So I became a somebody. Rex Dangervest.” He raised his hands as if presenting a sign that held his name, then dropped them. “I thought I had to, because no one else told me otherwise. You wanted me rough, tough, edgy. Just like you.” Here was where he turned to her, expressionless to her raw despair. “And now, that's what you got. And you're still not happy?”
“Emmett-”
Somewhere in between his monologuing Lucy had gotten up off the ground herself, but she looked sick. Stuck to where he was pinning her down with the haunted look in his eyes.
“... But, you know I'm not.” The Master Builder rebel manages to get out. “Don't you see that?? I'm not happy, but for something else completely. This… All of this,” She motioned to his whole self. “Was not what I wanted. Does it look like I'm happy…? Happy that you had to suffer like that??”
Rex only stared at her for a minute, analyzing, then looked down at the ground. Which invited her to move up to his side, ever so slowly and carefully. Her hand found purchase on his shoulder and he turned his head away from her.
It was now her turn to continue, and his to listen. “I was wrong for wanting to change you. You're kind, funny, smart… Everything this world needed. Everything that I needed. I just, didn't see that sooner and it… It cost everything.”
He raised his head to finally stare back at her, much less intense. The sunset highlighting her highlights and skin, her eyes glistening. He always liked her eyes…
She tightened her grip on his shoulder when he did. Maybe for encouragement or support, he couldn't tell. “I never should have tried to change you. You're perfect. Just the way you are. The way you have always been.” Lucy’s expression fell into guilt and sorrow then. “Sorry won't fix any of this. I know it's too late. I don't even expect a second chance. But, Emmett…”
The hand on his shoulder lifted to cup his cheek, so tender and soft it took his breath away. When she blinked again, tears trailed down her cheeks. Not many, but enough.
He wasn't ready to admit that out loud, though. So, instead, he lifted his own hand and wrapped it around her wrist gently, pulling it away without breaking eye contact.
“I missed you.” Lucy breathed. “I was so lost without you… And now you're back. That's all I needed.”
Rex stared at her for a long, long time. Her words revolved around his head. She was right. It didn't fix any of it. He didn't think it ever could… But he also knew none of this was really her fault, either. If anything, it was his own. He couldn't take her apology until he fixed himself. Somehow.
“... No.” He murmured. Watching as Wildstyle's eyes widened. “I'm not back. I don't think I'll ever be. … Emmett is gone.” It hurt, terribly, but he had to. He had to step back and let go of her wrist. “I told you. The name is Rex now. … No Regrets.”
Something broke in Wildstyle's gaze. But he won't stick around to fix it. He couldn't.
Rex Dangervest, walking corpse of Emmett Brickowski, stepped around the person they both cared about the most, and left her in the metaphorical and literal dust. Leaving her to stand there in front of their house, watching him leave.
No Regrets. He reminds himself as he makes his way back to the city. Even as his heart bleeds and bleeds and bleeds. Trademarked and mine.
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