MSPA Fanfiction IV

[ToreaderTornado]

It's taken me more than two weeks, 70 pages, and most of a thread to catch up but here I am. I fought my way through nightmares, hybrids, and vaguely sexual works (some less vague than others.) And now I have a few things to say.

First off, if I don't mention your name personally, the following is a message for you:

You fucking rock. I mean it, anyone brave enough to put their stories down here is as brave as I can imagine. I tried to read everything, and everything I read was fucking awesome.

Now, to name specific people:

@Dermonster:

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Can I just say that I love the fics you come up with? These Felt things catch my eye every time, and I'm not disappointed when I open the spoiler. Keep it up man!

@Kawa:

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You are hilarious, and so are the words you put to make stories, which are also really, fucking hilarious. Shula is as fun to read as I'm sure she is fun to write.

@Skaian, @Kass:

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What I want to say to you both can be summarized as follows: You two can combine imagery and storytelling in a way that makes me think, and makes me wish I had one tenth of the talent of either of you.

@Graven:

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Half of the reason I read through all these pages was so that I could ask if it was alright if I maybe kinda sorta copycatted you and wrote some fics based on an alternate session I have in mind. Your fics kind of inspired me to expand on what was previously a few titles and names written down somewhere, and I'd like to take a crack at putting them here.

In other words:

Keep on writing!

[flutterShy]

@Spypoet
..I think I have possibly, name's familar. I do want a link to it though if you have one.

This is part 1, Be Still, My Beating Heart but I couldn't stop being evil to all of you, so naturally, I wrote a second part, My Beating Heart, Please Be Still

[SkaianRedeemer]

@SpyPoet: Why, why, why do I keep not bracing myself before reading your fics? This is not a complicated lesson to learn and yet, I do nothing.

@Nexev: I actually considered something similar for the Denizens at one point! I believe Karkat's exact words were "FUCKING MIND GAMES" so you can imagine my surprise to see your fic, which is far more entertaining than mine was gong to be.

@ToreadorTornado: Thank you, and glad to see you back!

[flutterShy]

@SpyPoet: Why, why, why do I keep not bracing myself before reading your fics? This is not a complicated lesson to learn and yet, I do nothing.

The only thing I can think of is 'sucker for punishment' or 'you keep forgetting'.

Alternatively, you love getting sad!fic'd which means I should go write more Jade/Dave.

[SkaianRedeemer]

I certainly won't be the one to stand in the way of more Jade/Dave...

[flutterShy]

I certainly won't be the one to stand in the way of more Jade/Dave...

If I tell you that you'll regret his, that will be all the warning you are going to get.

[Nexev]

Awesome.

I was thinking of doing more.

CG's having blood color swapping powers. Thus it got to escape from the freakness he had to suffer through.

GC's looked like the various trolls she had killed during her time as Red Eyes.

Eridan would probbaly have Feferi, one who actually loved him, and he had to sacrifce his one true desire.

Tavros's would definitly be RUFIOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Kanaya would be Troll Rose Lalonde.

Aradia would be living her.

Sollux would be the rotting corpse of Aradia, for a guilt trip.

ETC

Edit: The one problem with your fics SP is we all know that they will never happen.

So they are less sad for me, since each timeline is a random doomed timeline that ceizes to exist.

[Wigmund]

Because Kazerad's art had a story to tell.

Too Much To See

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Why did she do this you? What would prompt Jade to do this to her own dreamself?

You can't handle it.

It's so bright. So beautiful.

But it hurts so much.

You want it to stop.

She doesn't understand.

She thinks she was trying to help you.

But all she did was tear you away from your friends and inflict unbearable pain.

You cry in agony and she doesn't understand!

The green sun. You can't stand it.

Every time you look at something you see it. Glowing. Bright. Powerful. It HURTS.

A moment of clarity. If you can't see the sun, it won't hurt anymore.

It's your only hope.

Death is meaningless now. You can't die. It won't let you die.

You travel to Rose. Such a good friend. She's confused when you ask for the implements. But you tell her that Jade wants to do something with them.

She agrees. But she suspects something. She saw your pain. Maybe she deduced your plans. She gives you a two lengths of yarn as well.

Such a good girl. Such a good friend.

You travel to a place where no one will bother you. In pain and barely able to see anything but that sun, you thread the needles.

Then you remove the pain.

It's all better now.

The green sun can't bother you now. Everything is so much clearer now.

Jade will be so happy to see the beautiful stitching you did by touch.

She'll understand everything now.

[Dermonster]

@Toreador: Thanks.

And as a side note, I was done with about one third of Biscuit's fic a bit earlier, hit preview, and then the forum crashed. I hurriedly hit the back button, but all iterations were 404 or something.

So I RAEG'ed for a bit, and I'mma go RAEG some more.

As a side note, writing inside the 'Post reply' box is not a good way to do this. BUT I'M STILL GOING TO DO IT BECAUSE I'M A CRAZY BASTARD LIKE THAT.

See you la-

Dermonsters computer has snapped in half! Which is really impressive considering it's not a laptop!

[Acey Enn]

Sollux would be the rotting corpse of Aradia, for a guilt trip.

If you do this I will love you forever. MOST DELICIOUS PAIRING.

Also Wigmund that was creepy as hell.

I love it.

[SkaianRedeemer]

Awesome.

I was thinking of doing more.

CG's having blood color swapping powers. Thus it got to escape from the freakness he had to suffer through.

GC's looked like the various trolls she had killed during her time as Red Eyes.

Eridan would probbaly have Feferi, one who actually loved him, and he had to sacrifce his one true desire.

Tavros's would definitly be RUFIOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Kanaya would be Troll Rose Lalonde.

Aradia would be living her.

Sollux would be the rotting corpse of Aradia, for a guilt trip.

In my idea, Sollux was confronted with the (apparent) ghost of Aradia's lusus for the sake of subtlety, while my Aradia didn't have one at all because mine were just illusions (shapeshifters makes more sense) and so she went off to help him instead. Once I realized that was the only interesting thing I had in the fic (besides Feferi's, which has been slightly cannibalized for either HiHH 10 or 11) I dropped the idea, where yours seems to be much stronger. I like your touch with Kanaya especially, I couldn't think of a thing for her without duplicating another Troll's. But yeah, definitely keep it up.

@Wigmund: I just knew Kazerad's return to creepy-art would inspire fics. Just built for it.

@Dermonster: I used to write less consequential fics, like HiHH's recap1 and karmic_lizards, in the Post Reply box until I got too paranoid about it for my own good. Only doom will come of it! Only doooooom.

[Graven_Image]

@ToreaderTornado: It's perfectly fine with me if you make your own alt-session. They exist in-canon. It's just nobody decided to tell us about them yet.



And speaking of alt-sessions, is it OK if I write a post-sburb fic for mine? I was considering it, but I was worried that injecting my OCs into everything would get tiring after a while.

So: Alt-Session + Post-SBurb = Awesome (Y/N)?

[Wigmund]

@ Dermonster: I write my fics the same way. It's fun trying to remember what you wrote four or five paragraphs ago when you can only see five lines of text.
I do keep an eye on the clock though, if it's around the time that the forum does it's nightly shut down, I select everything I wrote and copy it just to be sure. Hell, I do that when I click 'Go Advanced' just in case Hussie unleashed an update and the forums crash under the onslaught of everyone flooding in.

[Metaflare]

@ToreaderTornado: It's perfectly fine with me if you make your own alt-session. They exist in-canon. It's just nobody decided to tell us about them yet.



And speaking of alt-sessions, is it OK if I write a post-sburb fic for mine? I was considering it, but I was worried that injecting my OCs into everything would get tiring after a while.

So: Alt-Session + Post-SBurb = Awesome (Y/N)?

yyyyyyyyy

[Dermonster]

... Nightly Shutdown?

[Wigmund]

... Nightly Shutdown?

Every night around 8pm Central the forums goes off line for about ten to fifteen minutes.

Or is this something I alone experience?

[lucidSeraph]

... Nightly Shutdown?

Every night around 8pm Central the forums goes off line for about ten to fifteen minutes.

Or is this something I alone experience?

Nope; it's eaten fic of mine before x_x;

[Dermonster]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

* This goes on for about thirty pages. You don't bother reading it. As you scroll down, you see various obscenities placed within the 'U' section. An exceptionally graphic depiction of depravity graces the 'C' section. That poor mule. You reach the end.*

CK!!!

[DragonNinjaAri]

So Kazerad's beautiful picture made me want to write something and I signed up for an account after lurking for...about a month just to post this. It's not very good. >_<

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Too bright. In the end, it was too bright.

She used one of Rose’s needles and purple thread and took it to both of her eyes as she cried out green tears and green something else as the needle and thread weaved in and out and in and out.

And it hurt.

But not as much as the bright. It was too bright, so she took the bright away, she took the sun away, because even though she couldn’t be with her friends, at least the sun wouldn’t burn her face.

And i can see now and it was perfect, so she smiled, green liquid running from her eyes, tears and that something else and i can see so much better now

But then it shined again and she screamed, because it wasn’t enough.

Because just because her eyes weren’t the only place she could see.

Because...because she couldn’t escape the brightness.

So now she screamed and clutched her sewn-shut eyes, and it burned her still.

It burned her from the inside out.

[Wigmund]

Nice, I hope this bodes well for your future fics.

[draconicAlgorithm]

I've been meaning to come over here for a while, but I've always gotten distracted somehow or another. Anyway, I finally decided to come over now, and I have to say, I'm thoroughly pleased with the fics I've read for this fandom so far. They're all really well written, and every single one I've read has been good in some way. I intend to go back and read some more, of course, but I finally worked up the courage to leave this here while I do. It's something I wrote about a week ago (during the lull after the Christmas updates), so it's AU now, but I still really like it, and I'd like to see what others think. Also, character death. Just a warning.

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The passage through the second gate is instantaneous. One minute you're chillin' in a world full of lava that would make the coolest guy sweat a bit, and the next, you're in a world of snow and ice. You don't do well with snow and ice. Never have. Maybe that was why you lived in Texas all your life.

Your feet touch down on solid ground. You find yourself standing on a platform rising high up into the air, wobbling a little in the cold wind. Not one of your best architectural wonders, that's for sure. You wobble along with it, losing your balance for half a second before you drop to your knees and cling to the platform for your life. The wind subsides, the platform settles. And you are left feeling like an idiot. At least no one was around to see that.

Thank god you decided to bite the bullet and make stairs leading down instead of that dumb ladder. You would have really busted your ass then. You make your way down them with no more mishaps and meander your way into Jade's house.

Jade's grandpa was a whack job. Who keeps this kinda shit in their house when they have a young granddaughter living with them? Suits of armor, guns, stuffed animals (the dead kind, not the "oh god that's so cute" kind), mummies... Nothing worth having. There isn't anything ironic about it. It's just dumb. You finally give up on the stairs and try out one of the freaky portals. You don't have time to waste on this shit.

You re-materialize in an open room, one with a fireplace. You catch sight of Jade immediately. She's sitting cross-legged on top of the alchemiter, messing with something. Judging by that blue outfit and red jacket, plus all the shit she's got piled around her, you take a guess that she just got finished alchemizing all of it. It's like motherfucking Christmas all up in here. You smile to yourself.

Jade apparently hears the portal or something because as soon as you take stock of your surroundings, she's already turning around. Her eyes get huge behind those dorky glasses of hers, and her mouth widens into a cute little "O" of shock. You let her be surprised for a moment, standing nonchalantly like the cool guy that you are. Cool guys don't act like they're running out of time.

"... Dave?" She asks finally.

"In the flesh," you reply. And then she's all squealing, leaping to her feet and running at you and tackling you. She buries her face in your chest, and you don't really mind. You give her a sort of one-armed hug back, and then she starts babbling about it being Christmas and about you being the best gift. You don't really listen. You just let her talk. Finally, she calms down and releases you and takes a step back.

"I thought you were back in your own house?" She asks. You already have an answer for that particular question.

"Time travel, remember? I just went back a bit and decided to pop over here." She smiles.

"Thanks, Dave. I really appreciate it." You can't help but smirk a bit back. Then, she gets this mischievous look on her face that worries you a bit.

"Since you're already here," she begins to say, grabbing your hand as she does, "why don't we go play in the snow?" You start to argue, but she doesn't give you the time to. Next thing you know, she's pulling you around by your arm, out the room and into the snow outside. She turns and gives you this hopeful look as the snow glitters invitingly behind her, and you can't say no.

Sometime between making snow angels and having a snowball fight, you realize that you're really having fun. You're relaxing and just enjoying being alive for the first time in, well, a really damn long time. Since before you entered the Medium, at least. She does that to you. She's so bubbly and goddamn happy in a way that reminds you a bit of Egbert, but at the same time, it's something that she does all on her own. It's just the way she is. You can't spend time with her and not realize what an amazing person she is.

You're helping her put the finishing touches on a snowman when you see it. A scrap of green in the woods, just barely visible. It's like a wake-up call, jolting you back to reality. This perfect world isn't going to last forever. Nothing lasts forever. As the Knight of Time, you realize this more acutely than anyone. Time is running out.

You take off your sunglasses with a flourish and set them delicately on the face of the snowman. They stay in place, glinting in the sunlight.

"There," you say, "now he's really cool." Jade giggles beside you and you turn to her, staring into her green eyes. She gives you a thoughtful look. The silence stretches between you, and finally you say, "They're weird, aren't they?"

"Not really." And then she smiles, and you can't help but smile back. "I'd always wondered what color your eyes were. I guess I know now!"

"Yup." You turn back to the snowman, a little embarrassed by this exchange. "I don't usually show 'em to people, though. Red eyes make people nervous."

"Well, I haven't seen many people." She takes a step closer and stands right beside you, looking up at your face. "Maybe that's why they're not weird to me. But I like them. I think they're pretty." She reaches out for your hand, and you let her take it. She twines her cold fingers in yours. "They don't really match your suit, though. They kinda clash with the green."

"I was just trying to get into the spirit of things," you reply, and she giggles again. She squeezes your hand, and you squeeze back. Time stands still.

But not really.

The moment is broken by an awkward wrongness that creeps up your spine like a snake made of ice. It's a feeling you've come to recognize all too well. You whirl around, momentarily forgetting that you were holding hands with Jade, and you bring her spinning with you.

A green thing crawls up over a hill of ice and snow, its maw grinning evilly and its forked tongue all but dragging on the ground. It is reptilian in shape, though it wears an absurd pointed hat on its head, and its beady white eyes watch the two of you almost hungrily. Damn fucking basilisk.

It pauses for a moment as though weighing its options, or deciding which of you to attack first, before it lunges. Straight for Jade. She just stands dumbstruck for a moment, unable to move, so you do it for her. You shove her, hard, out of the way and into the snow. Of course, as luck would have it, this leaves you with no time to get out of the way yourself. The monster grabs you in its jaws, fangs piercing your arms and back, and shakes you like a dog shakes a rat. You vaguely hear yourself cry out in pain, but you ignore it. Once the lizard is done shaking you, it realizes that you aren't the prey it was after. It tosses you like a sack of potatoes, into the air and into a tree. You're almost positive you hear something crack, and you slump to the ground underneath the tree, pain shooting up your spine.

You hear some gunshots, but your mind isn't really processing anything but pain just then. You sit in a stupor long enough for the lizard to come ambling up to you again, for whatever reason. It rakes its claws along your chest, but you can't do a whole lot about it. You cringe, but you manage not to scream like a baby this time. It lifts its claw as if to do it again when a bullet passes through its forehead. It's enough to kill the thing, anyway. It falls apart into a bunch of grist and other shit around you. And there stands Jade, a gun in her hands, looking like she's about ready to fucking cry.

Dammit. This wasn't how this was supposed to end.

The gun disappears back into her strife specibus, and she runs to your side. "It's going to be alright," you hear her say. "You're going to be fine. I'll get you back to the house and—"

"I'm sorry, Jade," you manage to cut in. She stops and looks at you like you're fucking insane.

"My god, Dave," she says, "you're hurt and bleeding after you just save my life and you say sorry? What's wrong with you?!" You shake your head, then instantly regret it. Hurts like a mother.

"No, you don't understand," you reply. "I'm... I'm not Alpha Dave. I'm from a doomed timeline, Jade. I was destined to die. I'm just... I'm just sorry you have to see it." Oh, god, she's really crying now.

"What... what are you talking about, Dave? You can't die. You're too cool to die."

"Yeah, Alpha Dave's too cool to die," you tell her. "But me, I'm a nobody. I'm unneeded baggage. I'm not supposed to exist. So the Universe gets rid of me." You look up into her eyes, past the dorky glasses and past the tears. You see a vague sort of understanding there, a dawning light. "There's still a Dave that's alive out there, Jade. I just... I just wanted to spend the last bit of my time with you." She chokes back a sob, and your heart breaks. You're pretty sure that it hurts worse than whatever the hell broke in your back when you hit the tree. She huddles next to you, crying while you're bleeding, while you're dying, while your time is running out. You reach out an arm, hugging her weakly, hating yourself for dying like this. Finally, after a few seconds you pull your turntables out of your sylladex. Jade looks up at you uncomprehendingly as you grab her arm and place her hand on your shoulder before spinning them.

Time rewinds. One hour, four minutes, thirteen seconds. The snowman's gone, the grist is gone, but you can still see Jade's house through the snow.

"You don't have time to waste on me," you explain. "Hurry up. Get back to your house and do what you're supposed to be doing, okay?"

"I can't—" She starts to say, but you cut her off.

"Like hell you can't. Bad enough you have to see me like this. You don't have to see me die, alright? Just get the hell back to your house and forget this." She gets up unwillingly, and once she's standing, she looks like she might change her mind any minute. Like her mind is already changing. You start talking again. "Just remember playing in the snow. Remember my eyes, if that makes you feel better. And know that you made my death worth while. Because I died saving you." More tears are coming. You can tell. Before the dam breaks, you spin the turntables again, much farther back this time.

Fourteen years, one month, three days. That oughta do it.

You still see the pained look on her face before she disappears into the timeline. Her house is gone too, or, rather, it hasn't appeared yet. The snow is just the same. Nothing else really changes.

You lean back against the tree, your blood staining the snow red. Really, this isn't a bad way to die. There are worse ones, surely.

It makes sense that you landed here. After all, that green that you saw was a scrap of your suit. You hope to god Jade doesn't accidently find your body or something. She probably won't, though. She probably won't go near that patch of forest again if she can help it. You hope so, anyway.

Your vision starts to get blurry, and black's creeping up on you. You're gonna pass out from blood loss pretty soon. It'll all be downhill from there.

You're not really afraid of death. You're too cool for that. You accepted your fate long before you ended up in this snowy wasteland.

You just wish it wasn't so damn cold.

M'kay, back to reading now.

[rampantVariable]

I've been meaning to come over here for a while, but I've always gotten distracted somehow or another. Anyway, I finally decided to come over now, and I have to say, I'm thoroughly pleased with the fics I've read for this fandom so far. They're all really well written, and every single one I've read has been good in some way. I intend to go back and read some more, of course, but I finally worked up the courage to leave this here while I do. It's something I wrote about a week ago (during the lull after the Christmas updates), so it's AU now, but I still really like it, and I'd like to see what others think. Also, character death. Just a warning.

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The passage through the second gate is instantaneous. One minute you're chillin' in a world full of lava that would make the coolest guy sweat a bit, and the next, you're in a world of snow and ice. You don't do well with snow and ice. Never have. Maybe that was why you lived in Texas all your life.

Your feet touch down on solid ground. You find yourself standing on a platform rising high up into the air, wobbling a little in the cold wind. Not one of your best architectural wonders, that's for sure. You wobble along with it, losing your balance for half a second before you drop to your knees and cling to the platform for your life. The wind subsides, the platform settles. And you are left feeling like an idiot. At least no one was around to see that.

Thank god you decided to bite the bullet and make stairs leading down instead of that dumb ladder. You would have really busted your ass then. You make your way down them with no more mishaps and meander your way into Jade's house.

Jade's grandpa was a whack job. Who keeps this kinda shit in their house when they have a young granddaughter living with them? Suits of armor, guns, stuffed animals (the dead kind, not the "oh god that's so cute" kind), mummies... Nothing worth having. There isn't anything ironic about it. It's just dumb. You finally give up on the stairs and try out one of the freaky portals. You don't have time to waste on this shit.

You re-materialize in an open room, one with a fireplace. You catch sight of Jade immediately. She's sitting cross-legged on top of the alchemiter, messing with something. Judging by that blue outfit and red jacket, plus all the shit she's got piled around her, you take a guess that she just got finished alchemizing all of it. It's like motherfucking Christmas all up in here. You smile to yourself.

Jade apparently hears the portal or something because as soon as you take stock of your surroundings, she's already turning around. Her eyes get huge behind those dorky glasses of hers, and her mouth widens into a cute little "O" of shock. You let her be surprised for a moment, standing nonchalantly like the cool guy that you are. Cool guys don't act like they're running out of time.

"... Dave?" She asks finally.

"In the flesh," you reply. And then she's all squealing, leaping to her feet and running at you and tackling you. She buries her face in your chest, and you don't really mind. You give her a sort of one-armed hug back, and then she starts babbling about it being Christmas and about you being the best gift. You don't really listen. You just let her talk. Finally, she calms down and releases you and takes a step back.

"I thought you were back in your own house?" She asks. You already have an answer for that particular question.

"Time travel, remember? I just went back a bit and decided to pop over here." She smiles.

"Thanks, Dave. I really appreciate it." You can't help but smirk a bit back. Then, she gets this mischievous look on her face that worries you a bit.

"Since you're already here," she begins to say, grabbing your hand as she does, "why don't we go play in the snow?" You start to argue, but she doesn't give you the time to. Next thing you know, she's pulling you around by your arm, out the room and into the snow outside. She turns and gives you this hopeful look as the snow glitters invitingly behind her, and you can't say no.

Sometime between making snow angels and having a snowball fight, you realize that you're really having fun. You're relaxing and just enjoying being alive for the first time in, well, a really damn long time. Since before you entered the Medium, at least. She does that to you. She's so bubbly and goddamn happy in a way that reminds you a bit of Egbert, but at the same time, it's something that she does all on her own. It's just the way she is. You can't spend time with her and not realize what an amazing person she is.

You're helping her put the finishing touches on a snowman when you see it. A flash of green in the woods, just barely visible. It's like a wake-up call, jolting you back to reality. This perfect world isn't going to last forever. Nothing lasts forever. As the Knight of Time, you realize this more acutely than anyone. Time is running out.

You take off your sunglasses with a flourish and set them delicately on the face of the snowman. They stay in place, glinting in the sunlight.

"There," you say, "now he's really cool." Jade giggles beside you and you turn to her, staring into her green eyes. She gives you a thoughtful look. The silence stretches between you, and finally you say, "They're weird, aren't they?"

"Not really." And then she smiles, and you can't help but smile back. "I'd always wondered what color your eyes were. I guess I know now!"

"Yup." You turn back to the snowman, a little embarrassed by this exchange. "I don't usually show 'em to people, though. Red eyes make people nervous."

"Well, I haven't seen many people." She takes a step closer and stands right beside you, looking up at your face. "Maybe that's why they're not weird to me. But I like them. I think they're pretty." She reaches out for your hand, and you let her take it. She twines her cold fingers in yours. "They don't really match your suit, though. They kinda clash with the green."

"I was just trying to get into the spirit of things," you reply, and she giggles again. She squeezes your hand, and you squeeze back. Time stands still.

But not really.

The moment is broken by an awkward wrongness that creeps up your spine like a snake made of ice. It's a feeling you've come to recognize all too well. You whirl around, momentarily forgetting that you were holding hands with Jade, and you bring her spinning with you.

A green thing crawls up over a hill of ice and snow, its maw grinning evilly and its forked tongue all but dragging on the ground. It is reptilian in shape, though it wears an absurd pointed hat on its head, and its beady white eyes watch the two of you almost hungrily. Damn fucking basilisk.

It pauses for a moment as though weighing its options, or deciding which of you to attack first, before it lunges. Straight for Jade. She just stands dumbstruck for a moment, unable to move, so you do it for her. You shove her, hard, out of the way and into the snow. Of course, as luck would have it, this leaves you with no time to get out of the way yourself. The monster grabs you in its jaws, fangs piercing your arms and back, and shakes you like a dog shakes a rat. You vaguely hear yourself cry out in pain, but you ignore it. Once the lizard is done shaking you, it realizes that you aren't the prey it was after. It tosses you like a sack of potatoes, into the air and into a tree. You're almost positive you hear something crack, and you slump to the ground underneath the tree, pain shooting up your spine.

You hear some gunshots, but your mind isn't really processing anything but pain just then. You sit in a stupor long enough for the lizard to come ambling up to you again, for whatever reason. It rakes its claws along your chest, but you can't do a whole lot about it. You cringe, but you manage not to scream like a baby this time. It lifts its claw as if to do it again when a bullet passes through its forehead. It's enough to kill the thing, anyway. It falls apart into a bunch of grist and other shit around you. And there stands Jade, a gun in her hands, looking like she's about ready to fucking cry.

Dammit. This wasn't how this was supposed to end.

The gun disappears back into her strife specibus, and she runs to your side. "It's going to be alright," you hear her say. "You're going to be fine. I'll get you back to the house and—"

"I'm sorry, Jade," you manage to cut in. She stops and looks at you like you're fucking insane.

"My god, Dave," she says, "you're hurt and bleeding after you just save my life and you say sorry? What's wrong with you?!" You shake your head, then instantly regret it. Hurts like a mother.

"No, you don't understand," you reply. "I'm... I'm not Alpha Dave. I'm from a doomed timeline, Jade. I was destined to die. I'm just... I'm just sorry you have to see it." Oh, god, she's really crying now.

"What... what are you talking about, Dave? You can't die. You're too cool to die."

"Yeah, Alpha Dave's too cool to die," you tell her. "But me, I'm a nobody. I'm unneeded baggage. I'm not supposed to exist. So the Universe gets rid of me." You look up into her eyes, past the dorky glasses and past the tears. You see a vague sort of understanding there, a dawning light. "There's still a Dave that's alive out there, Jade. I just... I just wanted to spend the last bit of my time with you." She chokes back a sob, and your heart breaks. You're pretty sure that it hurts worse than whatever the hell broke in your back when you hit the tree. She huddles next to you, crying while you're bleeding, while you're dying, while your time is running out. You reach out an arm, hugging her weakly, hating yourself for dying like this. Finally, after a few seconds you pull your turntables out of your sylladex. Jade looks up at you uncomprehendingly as you grab her arm and place her hand on your shoulder before spinning them.

Time rewinds. One hour, four minutes, thirteen seconds. The snowman's gone, the grist is gone, but you can still see Jade's house through the snow.

"You don't have time to waste on me," you explain. "Hurry up. Get back to your house and do what you're supposed to be doing, okay?"

"I can't—" She starts to say, but you cut her off.

"Like hell you can't. Bad enough you have to see me like this. You don't have to see me die, alright? Just get the hell back to your house and forget this." She gets up unwillingly, and once she's standing, she looks like she might change her mind any minute. Like her mind is already changing. You start talking again. "Just remember playing in the snow. Remember my eyes, if that makes you feel better. And know that you made my death worth while. Because I died saving you." More tears are coming. You can tell. Before the dam breaks, you spin the turntables again, much farther back this time.

Fourteen years, one month, three days. That oughta do it.

You still see the pained look on her face before she disappears into the timeline. Her house is gone too, or, rather, it hasn't appeared yet. The snow is just the same. Nothing else really changes.

You lean back against the tree, your blood staining the snow red. Really, this isn't a bad way to die. There are worse ones, surely.

It makes sense that you landed here. After all, that green that you saw was a scrap of your suit. You hope to god Jade doesn't accidently find your body or something. She probably won't, though. She probably won't go near that patch of forest again if she can help it. You hope so, anyway.

Your vision starts to get blurry, and black's creeping up on you. You're gonna pass out from blood loss pretty soon. It'll all be downhill from there.

You're not really afraid of death. You're too cool for that. You accepted your fate long before you ended up in this snowy wasteland.

You just wish it wasn't so damn cold.

M'kay, back to reading now.

Congratulations, that was very gut-wrenching and made me sad. That is to say

[SkaianRedeemer]

@draconicAlgorithm: I liked it! There's something about playing in the snow that's just Jade/Dave. And poor Jade. She gets all the sad lately. All of it.

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I think you might want to change the descriptor "flash of green" to "scrap of green" or somesuch, when Dave first spots the 14 year old scrap of his own clothes. I had assumed instead that it was the telltale sign of a Uranium underling, if not Jack, something that was only backed up by the appearance of the Uranium Basilisk. I was wondering why Dave was ignoring it if that was the case (I assumed he was Up To Something) and didn't quite catch the reference at the end as a result.

[Cas]

Oh my god, that was so adorable in the beginning and sad in the end D': As soon as you mentioned a green suit I was like "fff this is not ending happily D':"

I love fics of the kids meeting "irl" for the first time though I always imagine Jade not really expecting Dave to have a Texan accent or not having ever heard one before and being all squee over it for some reason XD

[draconicAlgorithm]

@rampantVariable: I didn't actually realize how sad it was until I posted it on dA and people said it made them cry. But thank you, I'm glad you liked it.

@SkaianRedeemer: I know! I wanted to write something about Jade and Dave playing in the snow since Jade suggested it, but I didn't end up getting around to it until I wrote this.

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Augh, that makes a lot of sense. I didn't realize how ambiguous that was until you pointed it out. Thanks.

@Cas: Yeah, no happy endings for Doomed Daves. At least he got to have a little fun before it all went down.

That's a great idea! I never thought of actually giving Dave a Texan accent for whatever reason. Even though I know he's from Texas, it just never actually clicked. Maybe next time I'll throw something like that in. xD And yeah, I love the fics where they meet irl as well.

Thanks all of you for the positive feedback.

EDIT: I just realized that SkaianRedeemer wrote those adorable grubling fics on Archive of Our Own, so I'd just like to say that they are, in fact, adorable, and I greatly enjoyed reading them.