MSPA Fanfiction IV

[Kassiopeia]

Guys, I absolutely don't mean to be ruining your fun here or anything, but - might it be a good idea to shift the troll-baby/hybrid stuff to its own thread, like we did with the SCP and Trollcops stuff?

[JudgeDeadd]

And now it's time for mythical seriousness, with your host, Graven_Image.

How Death was Made

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The city grew.

In time, other cities were found, similar in scope and power. The knowledge given to the first city by the Creators (so called because they insisted they were not gods) was sown freely among the people of the world.

Around this time four more Creators made themselves manifest in the world, all in different cities.

In the first city, named Genesis, home to the Creators, arrived the Seer of Heart.

She was blind, and her shell was pale like a long-dead animal. But her voice was soft, and she was kind to all who spoke to her. She owed it, she said, to a sight beyond sight.

Her blindness was truly a gift. She saw others for their heart, and their beauty within was more stunning than anything in the real world. She tried to show others the way to see to the true beauty inside their heart, but she could not.

Only one woman, a lonely meanderer of the city, would undergo the blinding that true sight required. She followed the Seer for the rest of her years.

In another city, named London by the Creators, arrived the Rogue of Mind.

The Rogue was kin to the Seer, and had powers much like her own. However, he was deaf, and heard only the thoughts of those around him.

He would hear tell of sadness and despair among London's citizens, and would rather rudely attempt to fix them himself, unaware that everyone around him was listening. He grew very unpopular in London, and soon left when he could not bear the angry thoughts that pelted him from every direction.

In a city named Exodus arrived the Knight of Doom.

He was a monstrous being, boasting a thick blue shell pieced together with black metal and wielding a massive harvester's axe. He said his arrival heralded the end of a great era, an era which he repented of having to draw to a close.

Despite his apologies, the people of Exodus grew furious at his prophecies. They did not want to see their golden age end. A crowd drew around the Knight and forced him out of Exodus. He vowed never to return.

In a city named Berlin appeared the Thief of Life.

She walked without being seen, as is a thief's right. If anyone noticed her, she gave account of herself. But there was not yet such a thing as thievery in the world, and so she was left unmolested.

She left of her own accord from Berlin, making her way to Genesis. The Thief had a special thirst inside her, an addiction. Like her name suggested, she thirsted for life. She alone among the people of the world died by inches every day, and she alone feared it more than anything.

She sought out the King of Genesis, the oldest and wisest in the world. He allowed her into his courtroom, expecting a visit from a being to which he owed his life.

"Indeed you do," she told him, advancing on the throne. "And now it is time to repay your debt."

The Thief sougt victims with much life in them, to lessen the numbers of times she had to steal it. The King, being the eldest in the world, was first among her victims. Thus did the first death take place. The Thief's thirst was quenched, but at a terrible cost.

For with death must also come every other evil in the world.

I normally don't like post-Sburb mythology, but your fics are an exception in this regard.

Great writing as always!

[lucidSeraph]

Guys, I absolutely don't mean to be ruining your fun here or anything, but - might it be a good idea to shift the troll-baby/hybrid stuff to its own thread, like we did with the SCP and Trollcops stuff?

Yeah, this. It's kind of starting to overtake everything in this thread, and other fics are getting buried :\

[arcaneCalligramancer]

Not just that but it is a cohesive setting all its own. It deserves it's own thread, at least to me - after all it's spawned fanfiction of itself.

[AppleTree]

Guys, I absolutely don't mean to be ruining your fun here or anything, but - might it be a good idea to shift the troll-baby/hybrid stuff to its own thread, like we did with the SCP and Trollcops stuff?

Yeah, this. It's kind of starting to overtake everything in this thread, and other fics are getting buried :\

Uh. Yeah. Agreed. =/

[Steev]

Hmm. So, I'll just leave this here then?

HOLDING ON

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Her heart ached for him.
If she closed her eyes, she could imagine staying up late with him, their laughter quickly passing the time. She could imagine his carefree spirit, how his smile lit up any dim-lit room. She could imagine them sitting close enough that their hands brushed gently. And if she really tried, she could feel their fingers laced together. She would always hold on for as long as possible, not wanting to let him go. She could feel his hand sweep slowly through the tangled mess of her long black hair.
If it was quiet enough, she could hear his laughter, hear him say her name, as if he were right there in the room with her. But when she opened her eyes, he wasn’t there. He never would be. All the familiar comforts that Jade longed for, she could never have again.
Tears rolled her cheeks. Breathing should never be so hard.
She found herself alone, utterly alone.
All she had to lean on were memories.
Dave was forever gone.
Her heart ached for him, but now he was just a memory.

D:
I read this when it was still in revisions and it is still sad. Something I didn't notice is how the sentences are staccato towards the end which cements the mood aaaaand just had a little tear well up actually :'(

[Katrika]

Another What If.

Farming

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The question, dear readers, has occasionally been raised as to what, exactly, Jasmet would be like without her beloved moirail, Catlin. Jasmet, after all, does not SEEM like a particularly dangerous personality. Then again, it’s true what they say. Looks can be deceiving…
---
Pongal Farms. This vast empire stretches across the more fertile land on Alternia. It is far too much land for one troll to farm on her own. Luckily, Jasmet doesn’t have to. No, Miss Pongal has workers toiling on her farms. They came to her after hearing of a great way to make a little pocket money, or perhaps after she took over their own farm in one of Alternia’s many Farm-Offs.

Now, Farm-Offs don’t sound very dangerous, but these all-out battles for supremecy over the world of agriculture have a fatality rate of over 30%. It used to be that one could just choose not to participate and toil away on your own small plot of land, but Miss Pongal upped the ante a long time ago, poisoning the fields of non-competetors and making them broke and desparate for a job before they got culled. That is where she stepped in.

She was also careful not to kill her Farm-Off opponents, rather preferring to exploit them for cheap slave labor for the rest of their lives. Increadably for this violent, competetive species, Farm-Offs were declared illegal two sweeps ago due mostly in part to the actions of one Jasmet Pongal.

Life on a Pongal Farm is hard. Pay is minimal, and on the longer days of the sweep, workers are not allowed to go inside at daybreak. If you collapse due to heatstroke, nobody is allowed to help you until shift end. Laborers live in overcrowded shacks by the fields, and often have to fight each other for food. Overseer Pongal sweeps in for surprise inspections, and the least productive workers tend to find themselves invited in for tea and cookies, never to be seen again. Her baking, she tells the press, is ‘to die for.’ Reports indicate that after such disappearences, the crops in newly tilled fields seem to grow awfully well, with a particular zest to the flavor.

Now, you may be wondering why I’m telling you this. The fact of the matter is that Miss Pongal has reached that age at which trolls get shipped off of Alternia. She will become the Gardecimator In Chief of the Ceres System.

Yes, that’s right. Jasmet Pongal will be coming here, to oversee our farms.

May Gog have mercy on us all.

[Sionnan]

Strider bros flashfic.

Dave's an amateur photographer; this is what he takes pictures of.

Snapshots

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Every once in a while, Dave will do a massive picture post on Myspace or Facebook, or one of his blogs. Like, hold onto your wheelchairs, bitches, I'm about to break your dialup huge.

Mostly, they are ironic coolkid pictures, because he likes pissing off the three people tops who get that he's being a troll, and he also likes to laugh at the fans of Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff because they think he's just the shit, and they lap it up like beasts at a watering hole.

But sometimes, he'll slip in a few pictures he privately is kind of in awe of. A bloody sun set screaming across the Texan landscape, primal and merciless and engulfing the view with its sweep. A single orange feather from a kid's school project drifting in a puddle, something that grabs him for some reason that he can't quite place, and he takes a long time making sure the shot is perfectly composed. A shot of dowtown at night in December, holiday cheer resolutely ignoring the lack of seasonal snow, every available surface coated in light; despite the fact that he likes to scoff at the consumerism inherent in Christmas nowadays, he still privately gets excited about the lights.

A lot of the times, though he would never, ever admit that he posts them because he likes them, his Bro features in the photos.

Catching air off of the railing of a public building, mouth open just the slightest, leg and arm muscles cording as he arches to grip the edge of the board.

A still frame of him poised, in the back of a warehouse, sword overhead flashing in the harsh fluorescent lights, brows drawn together, his free arm stiff before him, palm rigid and facing up and out. He looks fluid and carved out of rock at the same time. He looks totally out of place, and totally self assured.

A picture of him, looking both swarmed by people and somehow totally alone in midday pedestrian traffic, leaning against a light post as they wait for the crosswalk to turn in their favor. His hair and shades and posture make him look like some exotic animal in amongst the drab herd milling around him. He looks like the only person alert and alive; the eyes of the passerbys may as well have locked shutters over them. They look static, even though they are all caught midstep.

One picture as he slouches against the kitchen counter, looking over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of his younger brother stalking him. He is stubbled and in sockfeet, and he would look like any guy if not for the muscles and the air about him, that one where he knows at that very second, the entire world is a joke that only he gets. This is the bro he's most familiar with, and he posts this in a very ironic sense of showing everybody just exactly who he is and the most honest sense of what Dave lives with.

The best part is that Dave knows not a damn person will get it.

[lucidSeraph]

... awww.

orange feathers I see what you did there.

I like this. So few people actually write anything about Dave's photography hobby, and I was just thinking to myself today what a shame that is.

[apocalypticCritic]

I love your Strider fics, Sionnan. Never stop, or I will cry.

And you will feel terrible.

[Katrika]

Sionnan I LOVE YOUR FICS.

Dave does photography?

[lucidSeraph]

Sionnan I LOVE YOUR FICS.

Dave does photography?

He has a darkroom in his room when he's first introduced, and his clothesline is actually for drying prints.

So yes, he does. The old skool way, no less.

[Tenebrais]

It's where the enlarger came from.

[Katrika]

Awww, cool!

Why do I want him to have gotten some pictures with a strange horned ghost in it one time?

[lucidSeraph]

OH SHIT GUYS I WROTE ANOTHER CHAPTER???

reVisions

Brainstorms

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> Hass: Back up a few years.

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It is a few years ago. More than a few, actually. You are younger, about thirty-four... no. It was fifty, wasn't it? Surely it was... no! You had to have been thirty-four. If you were fifty, why, you'd be nearly a hundred by now rather than the stately eighty four you are! The point being that you had already amassed a vast fortune primarily through guile and then secondarily through your brief marriage into the Crocker family. But most of your wealth was your own.

You bought the island and moved onto it, and began to build your tower. You wanted the most fanciful house you could think of, something woven out of dreams (you dreamed of towers... golden towers? How strange...)

You surveyed the place quite thoroughly when you first bought it, which was why you were shocked to find the underwater ruins near the long dormant volcano. You hired an underwater archaeology team in the seventies to begin excavating it, raising it from the deeps, and then you spent quite a while with the best symbologists and anthropologists you could find. Eventually, you decoded the strange reptile glyphs within its walls.

To this day, you're still not entirely certain you understand. It seemed to be a creation myth, a hero's tale, something that stirred wonderful feelings within you.

It wasn't until the late eighties that you happened upon an idea on what to do with your profound discovery. Why, it was simple! You'd break into this new 'game' business.

Of course, the technology for your vision didn't exist at the time, so you had to invent most of it. And that took you nearly twenty years. But you did it. And in 2009, your beta release was finally ready...

> Bro: SHOCKING REVELATION

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TWENTY FUCKING YEARS TO DEVELOP THIS FUCKING BETA!?

You stare at the website in abject disbelief. You hope Dave can't see your totally unironic face. You'd never even HEARD of this game and the forums on Skaianet are abuzz with a chorus of 'fucking finally'. Something about this game changing the world as we know it.

Yeah fucking right.

You immediately compose two dozen ironic videos to put Yahtzee's review of Duke Nukem Forever to shame.

And yet. And yet...

Man, why the fuck not. You put in an order for the thing.

> Lillian: Indulge your daughter.

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Of course. Always. Anything for Rose. Even if she resents it. Years ago when Hass first hired you, he also told you that he wanted to do something with these newfangled videogames. His joy is infectious, and so you decide that, well, Rose should have something fun to do with her friends. He talks of magic. He talks of mystery. He speaks of something to mirror the oldest tales of humanity, of Cambellian quest metaphors and creation myths. He says it's going to change everything.

You smile. You nod. You tell him that you know a few people you can work with, some game publishing companies and so on. You give him a list and eventually he decides to fund a small ragtag group of programmers. He names the company Skaianet.

You still like it best when he tells you the story he has in mind, and you help to refine it and oversee the production process.

Yes. This will be a wonderful gift to Rose.

You have no idea what you're getting yourself into.

> James: Develop an interest in astronomy.

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You start because you want to be able to talk to Lillian about her work. You pick up Air and Space and Popular Science and Astronomy Today and your read some books and one day John gives you a hand. His friend has 'the best taste in music, the best!' and a few days later you get what John's friend calls 'boring ass creative commons electronica shit' which turns out to be a little group called Symphony of Science. You pass it along to her.

But then you start looking in the papers and you begin to find some peculiar things. Meteor impacts. Some in your very hometown! Peculiar indeed.

What's most peculiar is that the newspaper clippings about the largest ones are from thirteen years ago.

You don't remember any meteor impacts thirteen years ago. Much less one that you were a witness to. You'd think you'd remember something like that. You'd think.

> Bro: Start taking gingko bibliola.

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Hahaha fuck no.

Except you do. You knock back those herbal supplement pills your mother gave you like no tomorrow. You're... forgetting things. Not little things, either. You're still on time to all your Djing gigs, you remember to upload the latest clips for Plush Rump and ship out a box of custom orders, you remember to take Dave to school on time. But someone asked you where you'd gone to school and for about thirteen seconds you stared at him, uncomprehending, before snapping your fingers and telling him the name.

But worse was when your mother called you and you spent four minutes arguing with her, explaining that she had the wrong number and you'd never met her before in your life.

You said a few things you regret, too. Thank god for chill hippie parents.

So you unscrew the cap, and you wash it all down with apple juice.

Also, part one, for those who missed it: 'Outlines' and 'Free Writing / Experiments'

[Domoz]

Hey fic thread.
Been a while.


Low Bloods
(Eridan)

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Well shit.

Your name is ERIDAN AMPORA, and while you would normally get an introduction, you are kind of busy running for your life. At least in your almost home, all you've got to do is sprint around this corner and...


... pray not to die.


You were really hoping these guys didn't know where you lived. You haven't been very lucky lateley.


It really sucks that you've got a psionic after you. If this was about something stupid like your blood color then you wouldn't be in this situation.


In fact your blood color has taught you to be crafty in situations like these, every situation is one of advancing or absconding. In your case, usually absconding.


You've spent far more time in sewer systems than anyone ever should.


At least you can take your time down here, as long as they don't catch on.



HOURS LATER.


You finally get home, or the closest thing someone in your situation can get to one. They gave up on you, at least for today. You're going to have to move again. But first to get some rest, if only this guy wasn't pestering you.

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chaboukTewelbegan pestering crimsonAbject
CT:You Do Realize What You've Done, Don't You?
CT:I Hope They Kill You, You Know.
CT:It's A Shame I Won't Be There To See It.
CA: well first off i know exactly wwhat i did
CA:and second off im not dead
CT:Well Not Yet Anyways
CT: Trust Me, You Will Pay For Killing Her.
CA: yeah i knoww i fuckin deserve it but not from any of you assholes
CA: I MEAN FUCK YOU GUYS IT'S NOT LIKE I EVEN MEANT TO DO IT
CA: ANY OF IT
CT:That Doesn't Change The Fact That You've Done It.
CT: You Can't Bring The Dead Back
CT: You Can't Cure The Blind
CA: FUCK YOU ONCE AGAIN
CA: YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT
CA: fucking
CA: look, ivve been tearing myself up ovver this more than anyone
CA: she wwas my fuckin morail
CA: i can't evven see wwhy you care
CT: She Was Good Despite Her Horrible Blood Color.
CT: Unlike Yourself.
CA: oh man i havvent seen the blood color card used in a wwhile
CA: i bet you just had a redrom crush on her like the rest of them
chaboukTewelblocked crimsonAbject

CA: holy shit

A/N

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Two goals here
1-To improve writing and drawing at the same time
2-To not be so horribad than people's eyes melt out

Yes it is a blood swap fic
Just just
Shhhhh.

To those who actually care enough, who do you think I should introduce next?

[Sionnan]

@Seraph- hhhhnnngrh

That sound you just heard was my brain trying to evacuate from my skull and join the awesome. It failed, so I brought it back to tellyou how much I loved this.

First- holy crap, the amount of references you put to the tiniest details to both the canon and fandom works is pretty much a treasure hunter's orgy (I see what you did thar). Second- you shift vocab and tone the tiniest bit for each character, and I love that. Newfangled is totally something Hass would say. Third- these are all so believable in context of their characters. I love the extrapolating you do for them, because they're all so natural and it's like, "Well of course x would y to z," but then you realize it's your contribution and ahhh.

YOU DONE GOOD I MEAN TO SAY



@everyone- You guys are the reason I am still here after almost a month. Thank you for all your feedback, it means everything to me.

[Kassiopeia]

@Seraph yessss more Revisions This is so great. Your attention to detail is, as Sionnan said, magnificent.
@Domoz honestly I think this might get more attention under Fanart? Although, interesting concept. I haven't seen much lower-on-the-hemospectrum Eridan, and the difference it would make to his character is probably pretty significant~

[Wigmund]

Oh god, such great fics. I especially loved you ReVisions Seraph. That bit where Bro had to take gingko...

I wish I was dropping more in this thread besides links to stuff I've been flooding the TrollCops with like these: Teapot Mystery Part Three and Two For Pleasure.

But I imagine once we get more updates with Karkat and Jade (squeeeeeee) I'll have something to put here directly.

[rampantVariable]

...Maybe he only had sex ironically.

Maybe he's trying to out-irony his dad in every possible manner.







HOW DEEP DOES THIS GO

That is going into the sig for sure.

[Red Pen]

Here is chapter fourteen, in which there is a callback to chapter six. Omigosh omigosh we are so close to the end, so clooooose!

Also, after spending forever and a day on the waiting list for AO3 I finally got an account, so this fic can also be found there.
http://archiveofourown.org/works/148210

Previously, on Unhinged...
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Unhinged - part 14

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It was Davesprite and Jade against the Medium. Enemies continued to spawn and swarm across the towering house on LoHaC in ever-increasing numbers, an army sent for the sole purpose of killing Dave in his sleep. They'd lost most of the structure already; there were too many doors and windows, copied and pasted by Jade without thought as she built upwards, and it was impossible to seal them all before the creatures found a way in.

Dave's room was their last stronghold. Jade's cursor hovered just outside the door, a cinderblock held securely in her virtual grasp, and she swung it back and forth, bashing in the heads of any game enemy that dared attempt to get past her. Davesprite was at the window, barricaded with another stack of cinderblocks save for a tiny slit at the top, through which he sent laser after laser, frying whatever came close to the shattered glass.

It would have looked, to an outside observer, as if they guarded in silence. But Jade's screen and Dave's iShades were alive with text.

-- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] --

GG: hey dave?
TG: yeah
GG: have you talked to john yet?
TG: no

-- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] --

-- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] --

GG: i think you should talk to john! you two are friends and its dumb that you won't talk to each other just because of some stuff you said when you were upset!!
TG: would you get off my back about this
GG: no!!! >:P

-- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] --

-- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] --

GG: dave....
TG: let me guess
TG: you want me to talk to egbert
GG: no!!!
GG: okay, yes.
TG: why dont you talk to him?
TG: apologize for me or whatever
TG: oh john hes so sorry
TG: how dare he feel insulted at the horrible horrible things you said to him
TG: grovel grovel
GG: you are both being so stupid!!!

-- gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering turntechGodhead [TG] --

-- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] --

GG: talk to dave!!!!!
EB: um..... what?
GG: do it now or i will hate you forever!!!!!! D:<
EB: really?
GG: well maybe a little bit!!!
GG: you wont like it john! every time i see you ill look the other way and pretend you dont exist or something mean like that!!
GG: you think i cant be mean but i can be mean!!!!
EB: thats cold, jade. he doesnt even want to talk to me anyway!
EB: i said some stuff i shouldnt have and i think it made him really mad.
GG: what was that? i think it was the sound of you not existing~
EB: jaaaaaaade!
GG: was that the wind? i think it must have been the wind because it sure wasnt my good friend john!
GG: because my good friend john doesnt exist!!!!
GG: and will continue to not exist until he talks to my good friend dave and they are good friends with each other!
EB: bluuuuuh, you and dave are spending way too much time together.
GG: i think i will close this empty chat window where i am not talking to anybody who exists!
EB: jaaaaaaaaaaaaaade!
GG: watch me be mean, john!
GG: i mean dont watch me be mean because there is no john here!!!!
GG: >;)

-- gardenGnostic [GG] blocked ectoBiologist [EB] --

-- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] --

EB: hey...
TG: sup
EB: can you tell her to unblock me?
TG: cant man
TG: she wont talk to me until i talk to you

An awkward silence.

EB: are you really mad? about how i said you werent our dave?
TG: nah
EB: okay.
EB: i was going to pester you right back and say something but i figured you were pretty mad.
EB: and then some other stuff came up, like getting jade into the medium and that kind of thing, so i guess i figured i would do it later!

Another awkward silence, which John seemed compelled to fill.

EB: so.....
EB: im going through my second gate right now.
EB: i know its stupid to just give jack what he wants, but theres still stuff we can do about it!
EB: so im going to check up on rose. just to make sure her regular body is okay, you know?
TG: good idea
TG: what about jade?
EB: ive got my cosbytop so i can get her in from wherever.
EB: all i really have left to do is prototype her sprite and weve got a while to decide anyway.
TG: great
TG: hold off on entering until rose is out of there though
TG: last thing we need is another prototyping
EB: well duh!
EB: hey, um...
EB: dave are we cool?
EB: you know i didnt mean that stuff about you and i know you didnt mean that stuff about rose.

Davesprite sighed and blasted an ogre to oblivion without really thinking about it, knowing that Jade could see him on her screen and was waiting for him and John to make amends. They weren't cool, not really, but it made a difference that John wanted to be.

TG: hey
TG: two options here
TG: we could talk this thing out and get all weepy
TG: cry on each others shoulders like little girls
TG: swear to never fight again
TG: that kind of thing
TG: or we could be real men
TG: avoid the subject entirely
TG: and lie out our butts when she comes back
EB: but dave! i have always wanted to cry on your big strong shoulders!
TG: i know right
TG: theyre just irresistible
TG: so manly
EB: so manly!

-- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] --

GG: are you guys friends yet??
TG: weep, john
TG: weep and i will cradle you in my wings and whisper sweet nothings in your ears
TG: whoa okay wrong chat window
GG: .........

-- gardenGnostic [GG] blocked turntechGodhead [TG] --

- - - - - - - - - -

In silence Dave landed on a narrow ledge about halfway up one of the palace towers, just below the row of windows that led to Rose's office. The other three towers loomed distant and massive, and beyond them yawned the dark void of the Furthest Ring, where Dave could vaguely make out the drifting shapes of the Horrorterrors, black, formless shadows in the darkness of his shades.

He gripped the little glass vial he'd been given by Pariah, straightened up, and peered carefully into the window just above him, careful not to be seen. The Fenestrated Walls were glowing faintly, and Rose's desk sat vacant before them; it seemed like no one was here.

The Knight grasped the grating he'd ripped out of the wall before (she'd made him put it back, so no one would get suspicious), and pulled it away easily. He laid it aside on the ledge beneath him and climbed inside. "Rose?"

At first there was no answer, and the horrible panic struck him that they'd moved her again, that she was lost forever, that he'd never be as lucky as to find her a third time. "Hey, Rose!"

There was blood on the desk.

It was smeared across the papers and files and dark purple wood, and drops of it had spattered against the floor, still bright and wet and red. Dave's heart twisted sickening for a split second (blood on my hands blood all over me and I'm lying on the floor dead with DD's switchblade in my back and now I know exactly how much blood there is in a human body oh god oh god I have to get rid of it before Jade sees because she will freak).

But before they've killed her had time to become a fully formed thought, he heard her voice from behind one of the Fenestrated Walls. "Dave."

He practically sprinted the length of the room, some part of him embarrassed for not being cool about this and the rest of him not caring. Rose was sitting in the shadows, her back to the dark side of the Wall and her chin resting on her knees. Dave stared down at her, panting, and she looked up at him with watery eyes and an ash-pale face.

"You hurt?"

She shook her head. Letting out a heavy breath, he slid down the wall and sat beside her. "God, Rose. There's blood all over."

"I know."

"But you're okay?"

"Yes, Dave. It's not my blood." She was holding the quill pen he'd brought her between her hands, and it shone clean and white in the shadows. "I'm sorry for hiding back here, it's just... Jack came in covered in blood and told me he'd killed a lot of people, and I think it just scared me more than it should have."

"Oh." Ha, imagine him, Dave Strider, panicking over something as simple as that. "Yeah, you may not have picked up on this, but he does that."

She gave a weak laugh. "No, I hadn't noticed. How kind of you to inform me."

He remembered the vial in his hand, and passed it over to her. "Here, it's from my rebel alliance of three."

"I thought you were Darth Vader?" she commented with a sort of forced lightness, taking the vial and watching its dark contents move around with syrupy slowness within.

"Nah, that got old fast. I'm Zazzerpan the Fantastical now."

"That's terrible. You're hardly worthy of Zazzerpan's most ancient and exalted name."

"You can't call it 'ancient and exalted' if you write slashfic about it. Pretty sure that's a universal law."

"Disappointed sigh, Dave. What's in here, anyhow?"

Dave shrugged. "Antidote for poison, I think. Pariah was pretty insistent that you had some, in case Jack or his minions tried to use you as a food tester. I'm pretty sure she's been poisoning his food, so I'd take her seriously."

"I know." Her voice caught in her throat, and Dave turned his head to see her biting her lip, her eyes shining. "I just... I'm aware that his food is being poisoned. Was being poisoned."

"Rose?"

"Dave, I don't... I d-don't..." Her shoulders were trembling, and her hands clenched tightly around the pen.

"Yeah?"

Wide-eyed and white faced, her words came out in a whisper. "I don't want to do this anymore."

There was a point at which something irrational took over, and suddenly that flood of self-hatred and smothered fears that had been dammed up for so long broke free, and you kept talking and talking and couldn't stop yourself because if you did you'd drown in it. "I'm a terrible person. I'm a terrible horrible person and I deserve to have horrible things happen to me, because I'm driving a man insane. I'm tearing him apart inside and I'm doing it WELL and he doesn't even know because I made him blame his best friend. And the worst part is that I didn't even feel bad about it at first because I hated him! I hate him! I was so angry and I wanted to hurt him so much and then I did but it just made me feel sick because of how good I was at it, and-"

"Rose," Dave began, trying and failing to stop the flow of words that sleeted around him.

"-this isn't like my mother, it's nothing like that. I know I say all those terrible things about her but she loves me, and if I don't win one of our stupid little battles of one-upmanship she doesn't even notice, and she won't kill me if I do something wrong. And here I could die if I say even one thing out of line. And I'm scared! I'm really scared and the only thing to do is to keep going forward even though I hate what I'm doing, and I just want to stop! I don't want to do this anymore!"

"Rose!" he said at last, and she gazed at him with cheeks flushed and wet with tears.

"You done?"

"I think so," she said, wiping her eyes with the edge of her Archagent's uniform. Dave put an arm around her shoulders, because that was what his bro used to do when he'd woken from a nightmare, and hugged her to his side. She leaned her head on his shoulder.

He honestly had no idea what to do. He'd never seen Rose this upset before, and he had the odd feeling that who she really needed was John right now. John was the cheerful, optimistic one who always knew the right thing to say. Dave just supplied the irony.

"Okay," he tried. "First off, you're not a terrible person. Like, not even close. I've never seen you kick a puppy or anything so you'd probably suck as a villain."

"I've killed imps."

"Computer game, Rose. That doesn't even count. Actually, yeah, second thing. This is a freaking computer game. The bad guys are evil; it's okay to brutally murder them. Even Jack," he added, as she opened her mouth to contradict him. "I know they seem like people or whatever, but they're characters in a game, and he's our final boss. Fucking up his shit is kind of the whole point."

"You didn't hear him. When he told me about how he'd as good as exiled Droll and Draconian... They were his best friends, Dave! They were like you and Jade and John to him! I ruined that."

"We're gonna have to kill him, you know. All the stuff he's done, he deserves it." He repeated himself, just to make sure she understood. "It's just a game. And the bad guys are evil. Even if they're people. Especially if they're people. People suck."

She nodded, slowly, her cheek brushing his shoulder. "He said he'd kill you and have you stuffed like Jade. He knew he'd killed her dreamself, and he knew it hurt me to hear that. And he thought it was funny."

"See, he's a creep. And the last point, and this is the important one... are you listening closely?"

Another nod.

"There is an open window right over there." Dave rolled his eyes and gave her a little shove. "You don't have to keep doing this. You're not a prisoner anymore. You can literally leave any time you want to, and go back to your tower on the moon and never have to think about this again."

Rose gave a little laugh that turned into a hiccup. "I know."

"Then why are we still talking about this? We could be partying it up in my dream-room right now."

"Because..." She sighed. "Because I have to be here. No, I suppose it isn't that I have to, it's because I am. I don't think I can go back now. At least, not yet."

"Not yet," he repeated flatly. "Don't tell me you actually like being kidnapped. Stockholm Syndrome, or whatever. Are you and Jack a thing now?"

"Yes Dave, Jack and I are a 'thing'. Well done, spotting that."

"Ha ha. But seriously, what the hell. You have had so many chances to be rescued and I'm getting sick of waiting on you."

She had regained most of her composure by now, but her face was still pale. "It's like you said, I'm not a prisoner anymore. When this whole thing started, I was just angry. I didn't know what I was doing, I just wanted to make Jack suffer for what he'd said and done. But now I have power over him; he trusts me. It's an opportunity we may never have again: to weaken our final boss without a fight. I can't waste that."

"Yeah," said Dave, watching her fiddle with the pen. "But you don't want to."

"It's alright. I was just emotional because... Well, honestly that had been building up for a while." She cracked a small smile. "As these things do, with hysterical dames."

"Oh yeah, of course."

"So I think I should stay. Just a little longer, just for that one opportunity. I'll escape before Jade enters the Medium. That can't be more than a few hours away, anyhow."

But hours for Rose's sleeping body could, and already had, amount to days in the twisted spacetime of Derse. And Dave didn't say it, because looking at her eyes he knew she knew. All he responded with was, "You sure?"

"I'm sure. But... Dave?" Her hands tightened unconsciously on the quill again. "Could you stay on Derse with me? I need you to... um... I need you to get me some... ink. For my pen."

"Ink." In his mind's eye, he could recall at least three brand new inkwells sitting atop her desk.

"Yes. It's vitally important to my Zazzerslash."

"Sure," said Dave, because after a conversation like that it was impossible not to read the undertones of that simple request. I'm scared, and I just need you to come back once in a while and remind me that I'm not alone. "Of course, Lalonde. Dave the wonderdog, at your service, ready to fetch you pointless junk."

"You should go. I think they're sending someone to clean up the desk."

He released her reluctantly and returned to the window, hearing her call out behind him, "Put the grating back on your way out. Jack and I are having regular therapy sessions now, and I'd hate for him to notice."

He leaped down to the narrow, decorative ledge below, and started slotting the grating back into its grooves in the dark violet wall. "How'd you get him to agree to that?"

"Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing, Strider," was all she answered.

I am so behind on reading these fics. D:

[Metaflare]

-- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] --

GG: are you guys friends yet??
TG: weep, john
TG: weep and i will cradle you in my wings and whisper sweet nothings in your ears
TG: whoa okay wrong chat window
GG: .........

-- gardenGnostic [GG] blocked turntechGodhead [TG] --

I LOVE YOU

[X15lm204]

-- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG] --

GG: are you guys friends yet??
TG: weep, john
TG: weep and i will cradle you in my wings and whisper sweet nothings in your ears
TG: whoa okay wrong chat window
GG: .........

-- gardenGnostic [GG] blocked turntechGodhead [TG] --

This may very well be the greatest thing in the English language I read all year.

[Ganato]

IT IS A GOOD DAY WHEN UNHINGED UPDATES!

I guess Jack isn't the only one with issues.

[Tenebrais]

That made me laugh. Even the main comic doesn't make me laugh. Well done.

Looking forward to seeing the conclusion! You've been writing this fic for so long; it's incredible.