Midgarstuck

Mmmmmmm…..spiced rum mixed with Mountain Dew Voltage....

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:20:00 -0400

Mmmmmmm…..spiced rum mixed with Mountain Dew Voltage. It’s gonna catch up with me here in a bit.

In the meantime, I finally designed Dave and Aradia’s outfits! Having trouble with colors, though, anyone wanna help?

Chapter 21

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 23:38:00 -0400

—Wonder how many of my 12 followers I’m gonna lose for this one? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure you’re all gonna hate me. OwO

~~God, I love writing death scenes, bwahahahaha.~~

Oh, and I put the new Condesce in here, too. You know, the two-braided troll? The new one? The awesome one? OwO—

Dave set the last bomb down behind a small pile of rubble, lifting his shades a little to make sure the gray-colored fuse was indiscernible from the ground. Satisfied, he went back to the first of the five or so explosives – the only one with a set timer, connected to the others by the fuse – and laid his finger on the switch to turn it on.

Briefly, his mind flitted back to earlier that night, to his brief exchange of words with Jade before she’d taken Tavros back to the farm. She’d been worried about him, hadn’t wanted him to go. But, hopefully, she’d seen that he needed to do this; if not for the rest of the planet, then for himself, for the loss of one of the people he loved most.

Hopefully she didn’t come after him.

Just before his finger moved, a hand descended on his shoulder, startling him out of his reverie. He jumped and turned to face Gamzee, who now stood behind him. His poker face never broke, however, and he asked flatly, “Things ready on your side?”

“Brother, this buildin’s gonna light up like the motherfuckin’ sun right before it sets. Burn up just as easily, too.”

Dave let a small smirk tug at one corner of his mouth as he flipped the switch deftly. “That’s what I like to hear. Let’s make some fucking fireworks, Gam.”

“Ooh, can I join in?” came an unfamiliar voice. Gamzee and Dave spun, taking defensive stances as a shadowy figure stepped into view, long braids trailing in the dust behind her.

Deepground, Dave thought in dismay, as the glowing trimmings of her uniform took shape into the unfortunately familiar design. Deepground was the caste of the military above SOLDIER in the days of ShinRa, but their existence was completely unknown until three years after Meteorfall, when they were unearthed – quite literally – and became quite a feared force, nearly wiping out the planet yet again.

Judging from the newcomer’s garb, however, she wasn’t just from Deepground; the fact that the glowing lines on her clothes were a dark pink rather than the standard-issue blue, that suggested she was of a higher status than the average thug.

“You’re a Tsviet,” Dave growled, recalling the name for the more elite within Deepground. He took an involuntary step back. “Who are you?”

She tsk’d in response. “Why ask the name of the person who’s gonna kill you?”

“Why not?” Dave replied snidely. “You’re gonna die, too, if you keep us here. I’ve already activated the bombs.”

“I’m not as fragile as you normal humans,” she sneered.

He moved before she did, the sword normally strapped to his back swiftly gripped in his hand, and he rushed forward despite an exclaimed warning from Gamzee. He held the point of his sword pointing down and behind him as he ran, and swung it up and across easily in time with his pace.

The woman was ready for him, however, and remained stock-still until the last moment. Then she brought up the staff Dave hadn’t noticed her carrying – wait, it was a double-headed trident, not a staff – and braced it in the path of his blade, holding it firmly against the force of his sword before it could cut into her.

The two stood like that for a moment, both grinning confidently at one another, both with sparks smoldering behind their eyes. He took note of her irises, a dusky rose that glowed almost as brightly as the trimming of her uniform.

The Tsviet was the first to move. With a deft twist, she maneuvered the blade of Dave’s sword into a well-placed niche along the shaft of her weapon. She spun the trident, turning it in a full circle, and Dave had to keep a firm hold on the hilt of his Zweihänder to prevent it from being wrenched from him.

This turned out to be a mistake, he realized, as with a metallic, grating crunch his sword suddenly became a lot lighter. He had time to see half of the blade spinning through the air, slicing through the single fuse connecting the timed bomb to the others, before e was knocked backward by the golden metal rod wielded by his opponent. He hit the ground, head cracking on a well-sized bit of rubble, and couldn’t stop his eyes from sliding shut.

The last things he was aware of were his name, called by two different, strangely familiar voices, and a violent eruption of noise and heat that threw him again in an entirely different direction.

The ensuing blackness was tinged with red.

–

Dave woke up several yards away from where he’d blacked out. He shifted, groaning, when he discovered how much he hurt. It took a while for him to convince himself to force his body into a sitting position, straining the scrapes and burns he hadn’t remembered having before. He experimentally moved the fingers and toes on each of his limbs, exhaling in relief when he found nothing was broken. Then he reached up to the aching lump on the back of his head; his fingers came away sticky and bloody, and he felt a steady stream of it flowing down his neck.

The verdict: he was hurt badly, but he’d live.

“Gamzee?” he croaked; his companion had been closer to the bomb than Dave, but then hadn’t been fighting some random-assed antagonist. Dave cringed at how easily he’d gone down. At least the woman seemed to have gone.

He realized his shades had broken in half, and that one half was still danging off an ear; he flicked it away irritably and glanced around. The ground around him was scorched, the result of his homemade explosive. With nothing around being flammable, the entirety of the surroundings being made of stone and concrete, nothing was on fire. The building, apart from being fairly blackened and cracked in places, had no other visible damage, and he remembered the severed fuse. One of his bombs had plenty of bite by itself, but not enough to do much to as big a building as the former headquarters for ShinRa, no matter how old the place was.

He looked around again, trying to catch a glimpse of Gamzee; he finally found the lanky man a few yards away, just starting to push himself from the ground. Dave sighed lightly in relief, his eyes subconsciously drifting to the side just a bit.

His breath caught in his throat when he saw her.

She wasn’t moving, and he couldn’t see her face from this far away, but that black mop of hair was unmistakeable.

He was only vaguely aware of the pain as he practically jumped to his feet and dashed toward her prostrate body on the ground, gathering her in his arms as gently as he could. The throbbing pain in his head went numb, and he brushed singed hair from her blackened face.

“Jade,” he hissed urgently. When she didn’t respond, he repeated her name louder, using the hand on her face to hold her lolling head up. “Jade!”

Please, no…

She stirred faintly, a small, pained smile spreading across her face as she saw him through her cracked glasses. “Oh, hi, Dave,” she murmured softly, weakly.

He was already grasping for his Zweihänder, for the materia embedded in its pommel, before he remembered it wasn’t sheathed at his back. “Hang on, Harley, just hang on and don’t fucking die or your bro’s gonna kill me,” he said, his voice cracking; he didn’t care about “cool” at the moment. “Makara, find the handle of my sword!”

He could barely see her through his blurring eyes now, but he saw one of her hands come up to rest on his scarred face. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “You know materia doesn’t always work, right? It’s not going to help now.”

“Don’t fucking say that,” he croaked. “You’re gonna be okay, Jade. Please don’t die on me.”

“I’m…sorry.” Her voice was barely audible now. “I came back when you told me it’d be dangerous.”

Dave didn’t respond right away; he didn’t trust his own voice at the moment. He settled for stroking Jade’s face gently, regretting every time he’d come close to confessing his feelings for her and ended up remaining silent.

He couldn’t let her die without at least telling her.

He bent over her, gently pressing his chapped lips to Jade’s, trying to convey all he hadn’t said while being careful not to hurt her. He let out a choked sob when he realized she was kissing him back, her hand slipping from his face. He pulled away.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed. And she was still smiling – why was she still smiling? He had technically killed her, and she was smiling at him?

“Shh, it’s okay. It’s not your fault.” Her breathing was more ragged, more shallow; she was slipping away. He gathered her gently to his chest, where she leaned her head against his shoulder.

He held her until she slipped away, and even then he couldn’t let go.

Welp, guys.

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 22:05:58 -0400

I know I’ve said this before, but I have a lot more done of chapter 21 now so it should be up before the Ides of March. Which is tomorrow. Unless I end up procrastinating again…

By the way, you know what everyone should eat for dinner tomorrow? Little Caesar’s pizza. For ironic purposes.

HEY GUYS I JUST MADE A HISTORICAL REFERENCE AS OPPOSED TO THE MOVIE AND WEBCOM REFERENCES I USUALLY MAKE. I CAN ACTUALLY DO THAT. I SURPRISED MYSELF, TOO.

…

*absconds*

Chapter 20

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:29:00 -0500

—Guess what? There’s finally a plot! Like, 20 chapters in! Who knew, huh?

That’s what I get for winging it. >.>—

The woman opened her mouth to speak, but before she could Aradia cut her off.

“Are you a ghost?” she asked, bypassing tact.

The glowing woman laughed, and her voice was more ethereal than anything else. “No,” she answered. “A ghost is a hologram built on emotion, an imprint of someone already having joined the Lifestream. I’m not a hologram, just a visitor.”

“So, like, a demon?”

“Nope, not that, either. I’m Aeris. And you’re Aradia, right?”

Normally in this kind of case, Aradia would be reaching for the whip she had tied at her side. However, something about Aeris’ easy smile and the playful gleam in her eyes – not exactly adherent to the light source, but Aradia suspected the sun didn’t have a say in this – kept Aradia from suspecting foul play. Besides, the name had sparked a bit of recognition in her mind.

“You’re the last Cetra,” she almost breathed.

“And the fact that you knew that word without being prompted speaks pages about you,” Aeris replied, stepping forward. “But Sun’s the last Cetra, remember? I was the second-to last.” Her outline shimmered, and Aradia realized that she was somewhat transparent; the glistening sheet of water was visible, creating the shivery effect on Aeris’ materialization.

“I have a mission for you,” she said.

)O(

“The mission she gave me was to come here and find you,” Aradia finished simply, glancing around the room at her six visitors. The other three of them had come not long after she’d had Sollux’s party situated. “And then to go to Cosmo Canyon with you to find the other people the Planet’s chosen.”

“Chosen for what?” Karkat asked, skepticism dripping from his voice. “How do we know you’re not just making up this improbable yarn to betray us and turn us in to the fucking authorities?”

“Because Sun came to me the other day.”

Karkat snorted. “How do we know you’re not making that up, too?”

“Because the only people we told were Dave and them, and also Jade, back home,” John whispered. “We didn’t tell anyone else, and I’m guessing neither did they. They might have had it on the news, though…”

“She told me to give you guys a message,” Aradia said, clearing her voice. “She said not to worry about her.”

“Isn’t that a perfectly generic message,” Karkat muttered, still suspicious.

But Aradia only laughed. “She said it was a perfectly generic message for ironic purposes, for ‘D’s’ benefit. I’m assuming she meant you, Dirk?”

Dirk nodded. “Only Sun uses that nickname for me. That’s settled, then.”

Karkat let out a hefty sigh and headed for the door, only to have his way blocked by Aradia.

“The fuck are you doing? I wanna go enjoy the fucking party,” he growled.

“That’s not a good idea,” she replied.

“And why the fuck not?”

“Look out the window, then ask me that again.”

Karkat obliged reluctantly, shooting her a glare before he went over to the window and looked down. Then he ducked swiftly below the windowsill.

“What is it?” John asked. “What’s out there?” He got up to look himself.

“Sit your ass back down, there’re WRO agents all over the fucking place,” Karkat hissed. “I swear one of them almost saw me.”

“What do we do?” John asked.

“The innkeeper saw us with Aradia,” Sollux said. “If they decide to ask him anything…”

“I already asked him to forget he saw anything,” Aradia assured him. “He’s an old family friend, so it should be okay.”

“What about anyone else who saw us together? Or if they come knocking?”

“It’d be illegal for them to kick the door down to search, so if they come we can just pretend we’re not home.”

“You’ve thought everything out, haven’t you?” Dirk said with a raised brow.

“Hey, I’m an archaeologist,” she answered with a wink. “Paying attention to details is pretty much synonymous with that.”

–

Jade let the phone ring a few more times before she gave up and ended the call. Neither Karkat nor John were picking up; and the one time she needed them to. Her face settled itself into an irritated glare as she dialed Dave’s number.

“Neither of them are answering,” she said when he picked up. “What do we do?”

“Just drive it here yourself without asking, and if he complains you can tell him it was his own fault. This is kind of an emergency. Are you sure you can drive it?”

“I’m pretty sure, I’ve looked at the controls and it seems simple enough. Not much more complicated than the tractor. But, Dave,” she went on, “I don’t think the Bronco can fit more than two people. I’d only be able to fly one of you back.”

“Then take Nitram, he’s the one who really needs to get out of here.” Dave was silent for a moment, and Jade could tell he was thinking. “You guys still have that old wheelchair, right?”

“I already took it out of storage and cleaned it up, it should work fine,” she answered.

“Good. You come out here, get Nitram. The rest of us’ll stay here and take care of the WRO. Oh, and Jade…”

Dave paused again, and Jade waited for him to say something. After a few more moments of silence, she said, “Yeah?”

“Be careful.” And with that, the click of him hanging up was audible.

She smiled at the phone in her hand, knowing that that was the closest he could get to anything mushy for now; boys didn’t like to tell the girls they liked that they liked them, she’d noticed. But Dave was starting to pluck up the courage to tell her, and Jade would be ready when he finally did.

Se shoved the phone into her pants pocket – she’d changed from her dress into something a little more sensible for driving an aircraft, snatching a pair of John’s thick jeans – and flashed out the door, waving to her father on the way to the Bronco.

–

Dave was leaning against the building again, not caring where he smoked this time as he puffed at one of the butts he’d stowed in the cracks between the bricks. It wasn’t as if Sun was around to swat it out of his mouth anymore, anyway.

A gloved hand smacked the butt out of Dave’s mouth, and he jumped, turning to glare at Vincent, who was now standing beside him.

“New management, same rules,” the stoic man informed him. “You know Sun never liked that you smoked.”

“I didn’t care about that when she was alive, either,” Dave said with a roll to his eyes.

Vincent shrugged and walked away, saying, “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Dave plucked the still-burning cigarette from the ground, then thought better of it and dropped it again, grinding it into the dust. He took a fresh one out of the cardboard box in his pocket as he replied, “Don’t worry. I know exactly what I’m doing.

“Who says vengeance is a dish best served cold? ‘Cause that’s a motherfucking lie.”

Chapter 19

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:17:44 -0500

—About TIME, huh?—

Karkat woke to the feeling of cold metal pressed against the skin of his throat, and his eyes flew open to follow the length of red steel to glare into Genesis’ bright green eyes.

“What the fuck is your problem?” he growled, and John stirred beneath him.

“If I were an actual enemy, you’d be dead by now,” the man replied, withdrawing his sword from the boy’s neck to slide it back into its sheath. “You should have posted a guard.”

“We’re all fucking exhausted.”

“And if I weren’t here, you’d all be ‘fucking’ dead.”

Karkat rolled his eyes as he extricated his arms from around John. “Fine. We’ll be more careful from now on. Is that really all you woke me up for?”

Genesis shook his head. “Serket and Ampora are tracking the six of you. They’re almost here.”

“Shit,” Karkat enunciated, and gently shook the half-awake John into full awareness. “C’mon, Egderp, wake your ass up and get it into gear. It’s time to go.”

“Wh-what?” John said, followed with a noise that would have been adorable had Karkat not had other things on his mind.

Around them, their companions stirred as well, either responding to Karkat’s urgent tone or to Genesis’. Within moments the few things they’d unpacked the previous night were haphazardly shoved into their packs and they were discussing the recent turn of events. Their one-winged, self-appointed sentry had gone, ascending through the newly-demolished ceiling to keep an eye on the enemy’s advance.

“What are we doing?” Karkat demanded of the two older men, though the question was mainly directed at Dirk.

“We can’t stay here; even if we hide in the caverns, we’ll all either get lost or they’ll find us, or both. The festival in Kalm’s still going on. We’ll split up and meet there, at the inn.”

“Why split up?”

“It’ll be faster going in groups of three than a group of six,” Dirk answered the question posed by Roxy. “I think we should split the way we did before, John with Jake and me, and Karkat with you and Sollux. Two fighters in each group.”

“I don’t want to split from Karkat again!” John protested, but Karkat rubbed his back.

“He’s got a point,” he told his boyfriend. “Plus, it’ll be easier than figuring out another way of grouping us if we do what we did before. We don’t have time to think of another plan.”

John bit his lip, but he nodded begrudgingly.

Genesis’ voice came to them through the hole in the roof. “If you’re going to leave, do it now, before they get here. I have no intention of revealing myself to them.”

John gave Karkat a timid, frightened look as he went to stand by Jake and Dirk, and Karkat returned it with a reassuring smile.

“Just stick with them, and you’ll be fine,” he emphasized. “I’ll see you at Kalm.”

)O(

Aradia smiled as she peered out the window of the tall building over the flamboyant display below; it wasn’t even midday yet, but already the square was filled with rambunctious, costumed dancers and foreign merchants with wares from places like Wutai and her own Bone Village. The sun was a bright, beautiful disc in the vivid azure sky, and the only dark, ominous clouds in the sky were metaphorical ones that she alone was privy to.

This was going to be a long day.

It wouldn’t be long until the people she was waiting for showed up, and she couldn’t say she wasn’t excited about it. When she’d found that city a couple of weeks ago, hidden deep within the woods – the Sleeping Forest – not far from the village, she’d been ecstatic; but it wasn’t just the discovery of the place she’d found that was so appealing.

It had been the other discoveries; what looked like some kind of tree-like piece of stone jutted out of the earth beside a large, stone staircase that led up to a shrine of crystal. That crystal had attracted her, mesmerizing her in the way it caught the splinters of sunlight that came over the ridge, casting glass rainbows that blinded her and attracted her eyes at the same time.

The rainbow of colors that greeted her today were less crystalline and more rugged, more plain, but at the same time equally beautiful, and she found herself turning to head out the door to join the festivities. The flower petals and colored bits of paper swirled around in the air, and if any were averted in their paths by the door opening, Aradia couldn’t tell.

She had a little while before they showed up. As she went around the booths she recalled what had happened after she’d found the shrine, while she was examining the engravings on the ground around it.

–

A droplet of water plopped onto her bowed head, and she looked up, just in time for a light curtain of water to run down the ridge straight for the shrine Aradia was crouched beside. She braced herself against the stone column, but the water never hit her, merely flowing around the shrine to create a wall of endlessly flowing water, one side of it golden and sparkling as the sunlight danced through it. One could almost forget that there’s a sheer drop on the other side of this, she thought, her hand stretching out to hold her fingertips in the moving water.

A subtle glimmer of color appeared out of the corner of her eye, a toned-down bit of red, and she turned, staring at the figure who now stood beside the shrine. It was a woman, tendrils of green-blue light flowing around her illuminated form, golden-brown hair flowing gently in a breeze that wasn’t there; Aradia’s own mahogany waves whipped around in the torrent of wind kicked up from the water falling around them, some locks tearing free of the loose ponytail she’d tied earlier.

The woman opened her mouth to speak.

–

“Sorry, kid, the inn’s full.” The sound of the innkeeper’s voice a few yards away broke Aradia out of her revery, and she turned. A smile broke across her face, and she paid the man whose festive lei she had been eying, taking two as she made her way across the square toward the arguing men.

“It’s kind of important. You don’t have any rooms at all?” Aradia remembered that lisp, and her smile widened as she crept up behind her old friend. Sollux was standing with a woman and a teenaged boy, the three of them facing away from Aradia and toward the front of the inn.

“Look around. This is a multi-day event. Everyone’s staying here.”

“Then where the hell do we go?”

Sollux cut off when a flowery garland passed in front of his vision and fell softly around his neck, followed by two arms that circled around his shoulders. “Sollux!” Aradia exclaimed as she hugged him.

“AA?” Sollux’s voice was confused, making Aradia laugh. “What’re you doing here?”

“Waiting for you guys, of course!” she replied, releasing Sollux and grabbing his sleeve. “Come on, I have a place for you to stay.”

“This is only half of us,” Sollux began, but she cut him off.

“I know.”

Aradia led the three of them to the building she’d come from, then up the stairs to the room she’d rented a week ago, before the festivities had begun. The other woman, Roxy, was asking endless questions that Aradia consistently evaded with variants of the phrase, “I’ll tell you later”.

“Solly, who is this chick?” Roxy finally insisted when they got up to the room, jealousy evident in her voice.

“We were high school sweethearts,” Aradia lilted, and laughed as a light blush dusted Sollux’s cheeks. “My name’s Aradia,” she went on. “I know who you all are, and I know what organization you’re part of.

“Neo-AVALANCHE.”

I can’t remember what the festival at the beginning of Dirge of Cerberus was for. You know,...

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:47:18 -0500

I can’t remember what the festival at the beginning of Dirge of Cerberus was for. You know, the festival that the Deepground Dipshits crash-landed into?

If anyone else knows, let me know. If not, I’ll just make the festival in Midgarstuck be marking the anniversary of Meteorfall.

Sound good to you folks?

Chapter 19 is now in the works.

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:43:11 -0500

It’s taken me forever to start up again - I couldn’t figure out what I was doing for a bit there - but I think I’ve somewhat gotten it figured out. Whee~

So, yeah. Expect that by the end of the day, if not in an hour or so. I’ma turn on some music to help me out a titch. ^.~

Chapter 18

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:19:10 -0500

—As I warned, nothing but fluff. Besides something Jake says near the end, this part’s not really significant to the plot. I’m just a hapless fanfic writer who needs more fluff in her life, especially two days after V-Day and STILL not in a relationship, and this is my only outlet at the moment because for some reason my fluffly pictures come out stupid and I hate them.

Anyway, have some GunBlade fluff!!! Whee~—

Karkat led the three into the cavern, where Sollux and Roxy were already passed out together on one of the cots they’d laid out. He and John left the other two to their own devices, going to the cot in the middle, where John asked him softly about the bruises on his face.

Jake let the semi-conscious Dirk down on the cot that Roxy had laid out for him in lieu of the ones they’d had to leave in the cavern. The man grunted as he was eased down, having braced himself with the arm that was connected to his injured shoulder. After Jake made sure that the man was at least somewhat comfortably situated laying on his stomach, he knelt by his side and reached for the arrow embedded beside his shoulder blade.

“Take that thing out,” Dirk muttered, so quiet that Jake wasn’t sure he’d heard him; though he’d seen those lips move.

“Beg pardon? Just pull it out?”

“Yeah. It hurts like a motherfucker.”

Jake nodded, gripping the inch or so left of the shaft that had remained attached to the metal point of the arrow. “Ready?” he asked.

“No, but get it over with, anyway.” Dirk’s quiet voice was strained. Jake nodded again, then pulled, the arrowhead coming away in his hands, and Dirk hissed sharply in pain.

“Sorry,” Jake said softly, one hand going back to the newly reopened wound in the other man’s back, surprising himself with the tenderness with which he did so. His palm went over the bleeding gash and pressed down firmly to staunch it, not caring about the blood smearing on his hand.

Dirk let out a shaky sigh and closed his eyes, relaxing into the cot somewhat, but the crease in his brow didn’t soften. His sunglasses were gone, left behind in the cavern.

“Don’t worry about it,” he told Jake.

“But I am.” The younger man’s voice was rank with guilt. “If I hadn’t been there – ”

“Then Zahhak would have been aiming to kill me, and I would have died,” Dirk returned, glowing eyes opening to stare at him with an emotion he couldn’t name. “And if you’d died, I would have wished I’d die instead. See, no one died. We got the best possible outcome.”

“Someone did die,” came John’s small voice from his shared cot. He was still huddled together with Karkat, the latter resting his sleeping head on the former’s chest. John’s blue eyes, slightly illuminated by the glow of the cave, gleamed with unshed tears.

“Who?” Dirk asked with a less snarky tone, and Jake realized he hadn’t been conscious when Sun had arrived.

“Doctor Valentine,” he answered, his voice cracking with the memory. “She distracted him long enough for us to get away, but she…”

“Damn.” Dirk’s eyes closed again. “It’s all gone to shit, hasn’t it? So much for neo-AVALANCHE, we never got a very good explosion in.”

They were all quiet for a moment, the steady breathing of the other three, who’d fallen asleep, and the ruffling of feathers across the pool of water the only things rippling through the silence. Finally, Jake spoke with an abrupt subject change.

“Dirk, take of your shirt so I can apply a poultice of some sort,” he said, clearing his throat.

Dirk’s mouth cracked in a smirk. “A little forward, aren’t you?” But he complied, carefully sitting up to pull the shirt over his head. He turned to Jake, smile still in place. “Don’t have any of that retarded peroxide shit on hand, do you?”

Jake raised an eyebrow and quirked his lips in a half-grimace as he set to work, offering a “Shut up, Strider” as he did so.

)O(

Jake had fallen asleep beside him. That was Dirk’s initial thought upon waking up, and it made him smile a bit to think that the younger man was comfortable enough with him to do that. He resisted the urge to pull him in closer, not knowing for sure if he returned his feelings or not.

God, why was love so fucking hard?

He settled for reaching his hand over and placing it atop Jake’s giving it a small squeeze before closing his eyes.

He woke again what seemed like seconds later, unable to sleep very restfully due to the pain in his back. When he opened his eyes again, he could have sworn Jake had gotten closer. His suspicions were confirmed as the other shivered with a wrinkle in his brow and slid closer.

“Jake,” Dirk murmured, realizing he was having another nightmare. Rather than wake him, however, he did what he’d intended to do earlier; he put his arm around Jake’s shoulders, ignoring the sharp pain in his back as he did so, and gathered him to his chest. His other hand went to caress the back of Jake’s head, and he buried his nose in coarse black hair.

“Shh,” he whispered, as he heard Jake whimper quietly. And the sleeping man complied; his shaking died down somewhat, and Dirk felt a hand grip the front of the shirt he’d put back on before falling asleep.

He realized that Jake was speaking softly, his slight accent rounding out the words in a way Dirk had always found endearing for some reason. He strained his ears to listen.

“Dirk,” Jake was saying. “Don’t die. Please don’t die.”

Those six words served to wake Dirk up a little more, and he felt tears prick at his eyes as he realized that was exactly what he’d nearly done: died; yes, to save the life of someone he loved, but the pain was still the same, if not worse.

After all, Sun had died for the three of them, hadn’t she? Dirk felt an emptiness in the pit of his stomach. The woman who’d practically raised him and his brother, had trained the both of them and entrusted them with the job she couldn’t finish. He’d failed her. He’d failed all of them.

His arms tightened around Jake, and he felt the man stir in his grasp. But he didn’t care. He was crying now, the floodgates that were his cursed fucking eyes unleashing wave after wave of salty despair into thick strands of his love interest’s hair. He felt arms go around his waist and rub his back in circles, and tried vainly to quell his shaking breath.

“What’s wrong?” he heard Jake ask softly into his chest. He paused, then continued. “No, wait, don’t answer that. I’m fairly certain I can discern it.”

And Dirk couldn’t reply; he didn’t trust his voice enough to not crack around the words he didn’t want to say. So, instead, he rode out the storm that was his sudden change of emotion, letting his grief pour out until there was nothing left, nothing but dry sobs amidst Jake’s attempts at comforting him.

“She told me to take care of you,” Jake said when the last of the sobs died down. “To keep you safe. I thought she meant because you were hurt at the time she said that, but now I know. You’re not really as aloof as you play yourself off to be, eh, Strider?”

Dirk scoffed. “So we’re back to last-name basis, huh?”

“Dirk,” Jake amended. “Sorry. Force of habit, I wager. Though, I don’t think you’ve ever called me by my last name, have you?”

“You never really told me what it was.”

“Oh, right,” Jake said airily, as if the notion had completely slipped his mind. It probably had. “It’s English.”

“Jake English,” Dirk repeated. “How do you even have a name, if you were created?”

“I don’t think I was,” he replied. “I think, perhaps, that I was born a normal human-type creature, and then was captured and fiddled with. Which is a slightly disturbing prospect.”

“I’ll say.” Dirk took in a shaky breath, his recent emotional breakdown still wearing off. “God, I’m tired…”

“Go to sleep, then,” Jake said.

“Don’t know if I can. This hurts a lot more than I make it seem.”

“Why don’t we use the materia, then?” With that, Jake pulled away and sat up, much to Dirk’s chagrin. He sat up, looking around, then found what he was looking for: the gun that he’d laid aside before going to sleep. “How do you use materia?” he asked as he aimed the barrel at Dirk.

“For one thing, don’t aim that at my face, dipshit,” he replied facetiously, but relaxing when Jake lowered the gun with a quick apology. “For another, have you never used materia before?”

“I’m assuming it’s different for white magic than black,” Jake replied with a small pout – which Dirk found somewhat endearing.

“It is. Kind of. You can’t have a malicious intent, which is exactly the opposite of pointing your gun in someone’s face.”

“I see,” Jake said. His face took on a look of concentration, and Dirk sat up.

“I can do it myself,” Dirk muttered.

“I’ve got it,” Jake answered softly, and the two of them became enveloped in a light green glow as the materia in the slot of the gun reacted to Jake’s will. His green eyes were wide and staring into Dirk’s orange ones, and the older man found himself unable to look away.

As if he wanted to.

The glow reached up from the green sphere and reached up and around Dirk, and he felt his pain give way. He tried not to make obvious his sudden change in hit points, but Jake could tell, and his prominent teeth cracked through his lips in a smile.

“Feel better?”

“Yeah,” Dirk answered to the hushed question. “Much. I think I can get back to sleep now.”

“Good,” Jake said, and his hand was on Dirk’s shoulder now. “Then go to sleep.”

But as Dirk started to lay back down, Jake stopped him. Confused, the blonde looked up into Jake’s equally confused eyes.

“Hold on, there’s something I want to do first.”

And then Dirk’s reply was swallowed up by Jake’s lips, anything he wanted to say forcefully thrown to the back of his mind as they kissed. Dirk’s eyes fell closed as Jake took the initiative, pressing forward so that Dirk was under him, and while this wasn’t how Striders did things, Striders were always the ones on top, Dirk was content with this.

More than content, actually, because now Jake’s fingers were tangled in his hair, and another hand was on his chest, and Dirk wasn’t sure where to put his hands but on Jake’s shoulders to pull him closer. The wound on his back, recently healed but not entirely, pulled a bit painfully, forcing small sounds to come from the back of his throat, but other than that he didn’t care.

He knew about as much about Jake English as the man did himself, which wasn’t much, but he didn’t care.

There was an army after their blood, and he didn’t care.

All Dirk Strider cared about was that the man he loved was in his arms and he loved him back, and that was really all there was to say on the matter.

Heads up.

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:01:19 -0500

Next chapter’s nothing but GunBlade fluff. Mainly a belated V-Day thing, since all I did was draw shitty cards.

HAVE SOME FLUFF when this chapter’s done. ._.

Watching Advent Children in Japanese with no subtitties just because I have it memorized. I wish...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:14:44 -0500

Watching Advent Children in Japanese with no subtitties just because I have it memorized.

I wish this portable DVD player had blu-ray capabilities, though, I kinda want to watch Complete. ;n;

Chapter 17

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:41:16 -0500

—Fun fact: I was actually trying to nap, and I try to fall asleep by brainstorming ideas for the next chapter. Thing is, when I remembered the part on FF7 when Aeris says “the roof and the flowers must have broken your fall” (which, much as I love the game, was a tad ridiculous. XD), I couldn’t help it. I HAD TO type this chapter. I just HAD TO.

Took me around half an hour for the whole chapter (sans the first three or so paragraphs). Whaddaya think, not bad, eh? >w< —

“KK, stop moping around,” Sollux growled over his shoulder at Karkat. “Your boyfriend’s gonna be fine. He’s with two fighters, remember?”

“I’m not an idiot,” Karkat countered. “I know that. I can’t help worrying, though. And stop calling me ‘KK’, or your name’s permanently ‘fuckass’.”

Sollux snickered. “With how many times you say that word I thought it already was.” After that remark, though, he was silent, much to Karkat’s relief.

The three were making their way around the small pool of Lifestream, Sollux having to stop Roxy from stopping and staring every five minutes – this was her first time in Banora, and her first time seeing this much of the shining energy at one time. Karkat rolled his eyes every time they had to stop, instead opting to walk several yards ahead of them.

That was when the ground caved in beneath him, and he slid – or, more like careened – down the side of a cliff they hadn’t realized was there. His descent was only hindered by the ground at the base of the cliff; the earth gave way yet again and he finally landed at the bottom, in a dark cave glowing with the traces of Lifestream that hadn’t quite made it to the pool yet. Karkat lay there for a moment; luckily, the cliff hadn’t been very tall, but the ceiling he’d crashed through was a good couple of yards up, and he’d been rendered stunned.

As he recovered, the voices of his traveling companions reached his still-ringing ears. “Hey, Karkat, are you okay down there?” he heard Roxy call tentatively.

Karkat waited a moment to catch his breath before replying sarcastically, “Just fucking peachy. The roof broke my fall, so I should be just fine in a year or two.”

“Good thing we’ll be down there a lot earlier than that,” Sollux returned, and Karkat made out the sounds of rocks shifting several feet above him as he got shakily to his feet.

As his eyes adjusted and his head slowed down its pounding, he looked around. The cave he had landed in was large, but there wasn’t much in it but some rocky pathways and a pool of water about as big as the one of Lifestream outside.

“We’ll have to find another way inside, KK,” Sollux called from the newly demolished roof.

“Just be careful, fuckass. There’s monsters around.” Indeed, he sensed the presence of Mako-created monsters nearby, and found his hand questing for the sickle sheathed at his hip.

He paused in his brief reconnoiter, catching the sight of a large stone near the edge of the water, and he inched closer to examine it. His eyes grew wider as he made out the inscription on the plaque; the words hadn’t eroded with age, considering its placement beneath the earth.

“Loveless – Prologue,” he read aloud, and rather than reading anything below that, he closed his eyes and recited it from memory. “When the war of the beasts brings about the world’s end, the Goddess descends from the sky. Wings of light and dark spread afar. She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Karkat jumped and spun, hand reaching again for his sickle, but the voice that had sounded from behind him turned out to be Sollux. Roxy was coming up from behind him, and Karkat noticed how her magenta eyes were, for once, not clouded in a drunken haze.

“Looks like you guys found a quick way down,” Karkat said.

“Not as quick as your way. What the hell is ‘Loveless’?”

Karkat turned back to the stone, gloved fingers tracing the engraved words. “It’s a play,” he answered. “My favorite piece of literature. It’s about three friends who get separated.”

“By what?”

“Life. You know, shit transpires.”

“Uh-huh,” Sollux hummed monotonously, and paced away, suddenly disinterested in the conversation.

“Whatever, a computer nerd like you wouldn’t know good literature if it slapped you in the face with a side of slimy bacon.”

“Hey, I’m a computer nerd, too!” Roxy protested.

“And a lush.”

“Oh, whatever! Are ya gonna tell me what that other thing you said was about? Something about the world ending and some chick giving us gifts, or something?”

“She’s already given us her gift,” Karkat replied. “And, technically, the world ended twice, once with Meteorfall and then with the whole Omega and Chaos thing. Remember?”

“Then why are we still alive? World doesn’t look ‘ended’ to me.”

“It depends on how you interpret the phrase ‘end of the world’.”

Oh,” Roxy said, as if it were some big revelation. Karkat rolled his eyes. “And what’s the present she gave us?”

“It’s all about interpretation,” he repeated. “My theory is that the gift she gave us was life.”

Roxy blew a raspberry. “That’s boring,” she said. “And cliché. Why not something awesome, like food or something? I’m hungry.”

“That’s the point,” Karkat explained. “You need food to live. And so does our food; like, say, an apple. If you pick an apple off a tree and eat it, that apple was alive, wasn’t it?”

Roxy groaned. “This is getting boring. Can we talk about something else? Like, say, making food?”

Karkat rolled his eyes for what felt like the thousandth time; he had yet to find anyone besides John who would talk with him about things like this. “Fine,” he said. “Sollux, come on and show me the way out of here so we can build a campfire or some shit,” he called over to the older boy, who was checking his cell phone.

But Sollux didn’t reply, instead opening his mouth slightly in a small gasp and snapping his phone shut with more force than necessary.

“What?” Roxy asked, going over to him.

“Sun’s dead,” he answered. “And Dirk’s about halfway to the Lifestream himself. We need to wait here for them instead of going to Kalm.”

Karkat was suddenly aware of another presence there, less monster and more…human. He looked around, trying to spot a pair of eyes or some other clue to the stranger’s whereabouts, but he saw none.

“Sun?” Roxy said incredulously, hands covering her mouth. “How the hell could that happen?”

“A friend of ours named Zahhak,” Sollux growled.

“Zahhak,” said a new voice, and this time Karkat’s sickle came into his hand. “If Barret knew the way his descendent had grown up, he’d be turning in his grave.”

“Who’s there?!” Karkat demanded, the grip on his sickle handle tight. He saw nothing for a moment, but then a man dropped out of the air before him, having been held aloft by a single black wing.

“A fellow lover of literature,” the man answered. “My name is Genesis Rhapsodos.”

Karkat’s grip slackened a touch, but Genesis wasn’t finished. “’Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess,” he quoted. “We seek it thus, and take to the sky’.”

Karkat’s lip twitched into a half-smile as he replied, “’Ripples form on the water’s surface. The wandering soul knows no rest.’ Are you the ‘G’ I’ve heard so much about?”

“I am,” Genesis said. “And what brings you three crashing down?”

“Technically, he’s the only one who crashed,” Roxy pointed out. “Me and Sollux found the more intelligent way.”

“Fuck off, Lalonde.” Karkat flipped her the bird without turning around. “We’re kind of running from the WRO,” he told Genesis.

“I see. Well, make yourselves at home; you’ll be safer here than most places.” He paused a moment before adding, “I’m sorry to hear about Doctor Valentine. She was a strong fighter, and a good friend.” With that, Genesis lifted off from the ground, a single black feather coming loose as he made his exit.

Karkat caught the feather before it drifted languidly to the ground, bringing it up to eye level to examine it. He couldn’t place exactly where he’d seen one just like it.

–

“Ow, fuck, Sollux, that stings,” Karkat said with a hiss of pain.

“Shut up and let me finish cleaning it, Jesus,” Sollux retorted, and he resumed wiping at a scrape on Karkat’s back with the sterile pad. Karkat took fists full of his jeans as he squeezed his eyes shut, wishing John was here to get the unreachable injuries instead of this antisocial lummox. John would be more gently, he was sure.

Sollux finished and placed an adhesive bandage on the scrape, then got up and went to sit by Roxy beside the pool. Karkat got to his feet as well, but headed to the entrance of the cave.

“I’m gonna go wait for the others,” he told them, and didn’t wait for a reply before making his way outside. He favored his left leg, the knee of which was now sporting a bruise the size of a golf ball.

Once outside, he concealed himself in the shade of a tree overlooking the glowing pool, and trained his eyes in the direction of the tunnel that John and the others would be coming out of. Before long he heard the labored footsteps of two or three people, and guessed this would be them, but kept hidden in case he was wrong.

As it turned out, he wasn’t. He was greeted by the sight of John, in front, staring around nervously, then turning back to help Jake with the burden of a still-unconscious Strider. Karkat revealed himself carefully, making sure not to startle them.

“John,” he called, and the boy jumped and looked toward him, visibly relaxing when he saw Karkat’s familiar face. “This way.”

Chapter 16

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:21:00 -0500

—;n;

I can’t believe I just did that…. —

Jake sat staring in horror as his brain tried to run through what had just happened, to try to make sense of it all.

He’d had a dream that was actually a forgotten memory, or maybe a glorified representation of one, and woken up to Dirk attempting to console him. He’d clung to him in a half-awake panic and started questioning himself aloud, only to have Dirk himself say something that…

Had Jake been expecting it? He supposed so, but not right then. Not after he’d cried all over Strider’s sleeve, after he’d rambled about his own trust issues. He had been expecting the kiss they’d almost shared; it wasn’t as if it would have been the first one, after all, even if Dirk had been a tad out-of-it at the time.

He hadn’t expected, however, the sudden, aggressive movement of Dirk throwing him out of the way only to be pierced by an unforeseen arrow.

Jake hadn’t realized he’d called out until he heard his own voice echoing around the tunnel. John jumped awake, noticed the man in military garb in the tunnel before them, and scrambled to stand beside – well, more behind – Jake. The older man wasn’t paying attention, however, he was more concentrated on Dirk.

The blonde had lost consciousness only a few moments ago, but it seemed longer than that to Jake, who stared at him now, aghast. Dirk lay on the ground, the earth around him darkening with the amount of blood pooling beneath him, the arrow sticking out of his back like a blue flag claiming territory. His fingers found the shaft of the weapon, slipping on the grain of the wood as he gently grasped it to pull it out, but he stopped when Dirk’s lips pulled into a slight grimace.

He looked up at the front agent, who had another blue-fletched arrow strung and aimed between his eyes.

He realized he’d never felt as much rage and fear fill him at one time during his entire life.

“John,” he said lowly. “Try and clear away enough rubble for you and Dirk to get away. I’ll deal with him.”

“Okay,” John whispered with fear in his voice, and he moved to do as he was told.

“You truly think you have the capability to ‘deal with me’, lowlife?” stated the agent, glaring through square sunglasses which, when hit with light, appeared as though broken somehow.

“Not only do I have the capability, old chum,” Jake replied, a dark smirk slowly spreading across his face, “I actually quite look forward to it. Show me what those years in bully-training has taught you.”

Zahhak smirked back, and his lips parted in a contemptuous sneer of his own as he tossed his weapons aside.

Then Jake was on his feet, charging for the larger man determinedly.

Rather than rush him blindly, he feinted and spun around the man, clenching his fist and aiming it upward to Equius’ jaw from the rear. However, Equius had anticipated the move and spun with him, easily catching Jake’s fist in one hand and wrenching him aside. Jake stopped just short of colliding headfirst with the cavern wall and turned back, glad that the new glasses Sun had given him before they’d left stayed firmly on his face.

His smirk was gone as he rushed the man again, this time learning from his first failed move and met him head-on, landing a swift right hook to Equius’ side.

The man barely flinched.

“Is that all?” His voice was disappointed as he twisted Jake’s arm behind him and forced him to the ground. Jake cried out in pain as Equius twisted harder, forcing him to remain still so as not to hurt himself further. Jake felt the cool metal of what seemed to be a pair of handcuffs go around one wrist and lock firmly around it.

As he did, Jake struggled against him again, but the only way Equius reacted was by twisting his arm harder. Jake bit back a cry of pain.

“It’s useless to resist me. I am too strong for you.” With that monotonous statement, the agent brought Jake’s free wrist close enough to the other and began tightening the other cuff on it.

“Oi! Are you too strong for me?”

At the sound of a familiar voice, Equius’ grip slackened a bit, and Jake was able to lift and turn his head enough to look toward the source of the sound. Something huge and feathered swooped over him, and Equius’ weight was suddenly off his victim. Jake scrambled to his feet, the cuff sliding off one wrist due to the agent’s distraction in putting it on.

He turned back to Equius and the one who’d accosted him, who turned out to be Sun. She was holding down the man and doing a good job of it, but Jake could tell she was losing. She looked back at him with narrowed eyes.

“Hurry up and help those two!” she ordered. Jake nodded and went to John, who had cleared away a substantial amount of rubble in his panic. Not nearly enough to create any kind of escape route, however. Jake lent his hand, and together they widened the hole enough to fit a person through.

And not a moment too soon. There was a low grunt and then the thud of someone hitting the ground behind them, and they turned back to see Zahhak standing over a prostrate Sun, a bloodied arrow in his hand, which he then snapped in half and tossed in her face.

Then he turned to them.

“Doctor…” John whispered, his eyes wide.

“Did you truly think you could get away?” Equius said, his tone full of contempt. He took a step toward them. “Are you really that absolutely naïve, to think that you stand a cha – ”

He broke off with a yelp and fell to one knee. Sun, still on the ground behind him, had taken up the arrow he;d thrown at her and driven it deep into his thigh, and now she smirked through her bloodstained lips.

“Now’s your chance,” she croaked. “Get D. outta here. Keep him safe, Jake.”

And with that her eyes closed, and she fell back to the ground.

There was a momentary silence, as her body began to faintly glow with the light of the Lifestream, in which Jake took the initiative. He went back to where Dirk lay at the base of the cave-in, gently lifting him and carrying him up the pile of rubble.

“Hurry, go through,” he told John. John nodded, his eyes glistening with barely held tears as he squirmed through the small hole.

When the boy was through, Jake carefully snapped the shaft of the arrow that was still in Dirk’s back so that it wouldn’t snag on his was through – he wasn’t sure whether or not to remove it entirely at the moment – and guided the unconscious man through into John’s waiting hands.

That was when Jake turned back to the WRO agent. Zahhak’s dark face was distorted into a ferocious glare of pain and defeat, and he remained in a kneeling position, in too much pain to move his injured leg. He had removed the arrow from his leg, and clenched it in one tense fist.

“Don’t think this is over,” he said lowly “We will find you. You’ll find yourself ruing the day you first imagined going against the WRO.”

“For the time being,” Jake replied sarcastically, “I believe I shall merely cherish and protect my current freedom, thank you.”

With that, Jake followed John and Dirk through into the adjacent tunnel. He took Dirk from the younger boy’s arms and propped him against his back, carrying him much like he had in the tunnel from Midgar.

“Keep him safe.” Sun’s soft voice echoed down the cavern toward him as he hefted Dirk’s weight on his back.

“I will,” he promised in a whisper. And the three made their way down the ancient tunnel.

)O(

Dave swallowed, his poker face melting somewhat as he read John’s text message. He looked up at Rose, and he saw her face grow more somber – if that was even possible – as she examined his.

“What happened?” she asked, but her tone wasn’t hopeful.

It took a moment for Dave to regain enough composure to answer. “Bro’s hurt bad,” he replied. His eyes flicked toward the staircase, where Vincent was returning from his bedroom. “And Sun…”

“I know,” Vincent told him when his voice faltered. “She came to me a minute ago, before returning to the Planet.”

Dave gave a strained, attempted-comforting smile, but then gave it up and went to the couch to sink into it. He removed his sunglasses, practically throwing them onto the table, which caused them to slide off and fall to the hardwood floor with a clatter. He saw Rose bend to pick them up before she went to his side and put her arms around him.

“What the fuck are we supposed to do now?” he growled, his voice cracking. “We can’t do this. We can’t keep this shit up. Sun was only the first to die, she won’t be the last. Who’s going to be next?!”

“Don’t say that,” Rose murmured.

“Not saying it would be lying by omission,” he retorted. “You’re both thinking it, don’t deny it.”

“So you’re just going to lie down and accept the noose when it comes?” interrupted a new voice. Terezi stood above them with her hands on her hips, having come from the dumbwaiter during Dave’s spiel. “Lie down like a wounded deer before the wolves,” she continued, her lips quirked into a sneer. “Isn’t this some kind of terrorist conglomerate? Do you really give up that easily? Because if so, it’s not worth the WRO wasting time and resources coming after you.”

“I haven’t given up,” Dave said menacingly.

“Sure sounds like you have,” she answered.

“No,” he said, disentangling himself from Rose’s arms to stand up. “I haven’t. I’m not giving up to them. That ain’t my style – it ain’t the Strider style.”

“That’s what I thought,” Terezi said with a smile.

Sorry, guys.

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 04:26:19 -0500

I haven’t gotten around to finishing the next chapter. ono I mean, I started typing, but then some awesome friend of mine came over and we’ve spent the last two days watching Buffy together. And then I wrote a little at work today, but then I wanted to color that sketch of Sollux and Raiden when I got home and I’m STILL not done with that. And I want to finish that before I continue Midgarstuck.

LE SIGH~

Well, if they don’t call me off work tomorrow it’s likely I’ll write some more and have some substantial rough draft to work on. It’s just that, well, Saturdays are early shift (yes, noon is early to me. Get off my back, it’s 2:30 here and this is when I’m usually sleeping).

Hahahaha.
Craig: What happened to sleep?
Me: Typing a blog.
^^^just now.

Anyway. I should wrap this up. Sorry for all the excuses, too, guys. ^^’ I promise I’ll have chapter 16 done by tomorrow, Sunday at the latest. The next chapter, I think, is gonna be a pretty good one!! OwO

Thanks for reading this, and for following me. You guys are great. <3

Reblog if you'll answer anything in your ask right now.

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:41:45 -0500

Chapter 15

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:40:00 -0500

—HEY LOOK I DID IT. Two chapters in one day. This one’s about a page longer, too. And includes MATERIA. WHEE~

(This chapter’s alternate title is: “In which Equius is the biggest cockblock. It is him.”)—

You would think that it would be slow going in the tunnels because of how many of their party was injured – namely, more than half of them – but, owing to the materia they’d had stockpiled for an emergency such as this, after about five minutes they were all as good as new. They were nearing the exit to the tunnels that Jake and the others had taken the previous night, the one leading to Banora.

Jake peered at the small yellow sphere that had been in one of the two slots in his gun since before the whole thing had started, not having noticed it until now.

“I still have no bloody idea which one this is, Strider,” he called ahead as the six made their way down the tunnels. Sollux and Roxy were in the lead, Dirk behind them, and Jake was in the rear behind John and Karkat.

“It’s yellow, right?” Dirk called back. “That means it’s command materia. Meaning it adds an attribute to you or your weapon.”

“How will I know how it works?”

Dirk rolled his eyes and stopped, waiting for Jake to catch up to him. “Let me see it,” he said when the younger had matched his pace.Jake obliged, handing him the pistol without complaint. He studied the man’s orange eyes through the shades as he examined the materia, and realized he’d just caught himself ogling.

Dirk carefully extracted the small yellow sphere from the slot on the underside of the gun, and held it in his palm before rolling it to pinch it between his thumb and forefinger.

“This shouldn’t be in a gun,” he finally stated.

“Why not?”

“It’s a Slash-All materia. And guns don’t slash,” he added. “It’s basically meant for a sword or similarly bladed weapon to slash all of the enemies you face. It could work in a gun, but it really works best with a blade.”

“You have a sword, don’t you? You take it,” Jake said, holding out his hand for the gun, which Dirk returned.

“All right, but let me give you another one. Then it can be an equal trade.”

Jake quirked an eyebrow, but allowed Dirk to drop a small green sphere into his hand. “All right, but I’m still not used to the bally stuff. I probably won’t use it very often.”

“That’s why I just gave you a Cure materia. I figure you’ll be the type to rely on brute force, anyway. Kind of like me.”

The two paused as John approached them, having separated from the other three when he realized Jake and Dirk had fallen behind. “What are you two doing back here?” he asked. “Come on, we should catch up to the others.”

“Then why did you come back here?” Dirk started, but was cut off by the rumbling of earth above them. He grabbed John’s wrist and tugged the boy behind him, and shoved Jake back as well, as the roof of the tunnel not two yards away cracked and shattered, causing a cave-in of the wall and roof before them. And when the dust settled, Jake blinked, coughing, and stared ahead of them. He realized the cave-in must have been larger than he’d thought.

The entire passageway was sealed off. They were separated from the rest of their group.

“Strider, English, are you and Egbert okay in there?” Sollux’s ever-present lisp seemed somewhat more pronounced than usual from the other side of the newly created wall.

“We’re all fine,” Dirk replied, then turned to his companions. “You are, right?”

“Yes,” Jake affirmed, while John nodded his head. “What about the three of you?”

“We’re okay, too,” Sollux replied. “Hold on, we’re gonna dig you out.”

“No, you’re not,” Dirk said firmly. The sound of rock shifting from the other side had started, but faltered as he replied. “Captor, get those two out. I’ll deal with these two. You worry about yourselves.”

“…All right,” Sollux said after a pause, and his voice was reluctant. “Meet you in Kalm, then?”

“Yeah.”

“Karkat!” John suddenly called frantically.

“It’s okay, John,” answered the gruff voice from the wall of rock that separated them. “Stick with those two, and you’re going to be fine, okay? And so am I. We’ll see each other again, I promise.”

“You’d better keep that promise!” John growled, but his harsh tone cracked with worry.

)O(

Dirk shoved aside yet another boulder and wiped sweat from his brow. It seemed they had been digging for hours, and the three of them had yet to create even a small hole in the thick wall of debris. He had long since told John and Jake to unroll their traveling cots and get some shut-eye, while continuing to dig himself; it had to be nighttime by now, and they needed their sleep, while one of them had to stay awake in case WRO agents came down the tunnel. Because not half an hour before, he’d received a text message from Dave telling him of the news broadcast.

They had to work fast, but they wouldn’t be able to if they were exhausted.

Finally, Dirk’s hand broke through another layer of rock, and pushed through to the other side of the blockage. He allowed himself a small smile and retracted his hand, deciding it was time for a small break. He may have made a small hole, but it had to be large enough to allow passage for at least one person so they’d all be able to get through. And then maybe they should fill in the hole again to hinder their pursuers.

He climbed back down and sat beside Jake’s cot a yard or so away from the cave-in, leaning back against the wall, and stopped himself from closing his eyes – he needed to stay awake. But the strain on his materia-healed injuries was beginning to be too much; his side and leg were very sore.

Before long he felt movement in the cot beside him; Jake shook uncontrollably, in the throes of some dream. After a minute or so of this, with Jake not calming down a bit, Dirk sighed, laying his hand on the other’s shoulder in an attempt of pacification.

“Jake. Wake up,” he said softly, trying not to wake John as well. When Jake didn’t stir except to let out a small whimper, however, he began gently shaking him. “C’mon, man, wake up.”

He was finally rewarded with the sight of Jake’s eyes flying open, still rimmed with fear from his dream. He sat up, staring around wildly, and his eyes landed on Dirk.

Before Dirk could say anything, Jake’s arms were suddenly around him, and the other man was making snuffling noises in the crook of Dirk’s neck.

“Whoa, hey,” Dirk said, startled. “What’s wrong?” His arms went around Jake, too, and one hand softly held the back of his head, fingers laced through coarse black hair.

“N-nothing,” Jake replied, voice cracking and muffled by Dirk’s shirt.

“Bullshit. What was your dream about?”

“I think… I remembered something,” Jake answered after a brief silence. “I mean, mostly everything. I think. But… I think I would have preferred not to have remembered anything.”

“Why? What happened?” Dirk paused. “You don’t have to answer that.”

But he answered anyway. “I think I was a science experiment.” His voice was soft, barely audible, but Dirk heard him.

“What?”

“I was in some sort of glass tube. That was one part of my dream. Then the creature that attacked me before I lost my memory drew some blood from my arm with a syringe. He was huge and pitch-black; had wings, and catlike ears, and a gash across one glowing eye – ”

“Jack Noir,” Dirk breathed. “You’re telling me you were a science experiment in Jack Noir’s lab?”

“I suppose so,” Jake said, then continued. “And then we were outside – there, where I was attacked. By him, actually.” His arms were getting progressively tighter around Dirk’s neck, and he swore he could feel a wet spot where Jake was hiding in his shoulder, as if Noir were here and threatening him right now. “He was the one. He attacked me, to see if I was strong enough. I wasn’t. So he left me to die.”

Yes, there was definitely a wet spot there now, coupled with the sounds of the normally tough man weeping quietly. The hand that Dirk had holding Jake’s head began petting him gently.

“Sh,” he whispered. “You’re not dead now. And I doubt that’s going to change any time in the near future.”

“How can you trust me? How can you, when I don’t even know if I can trust my bloody self?”Jake’s voice was bitter.

And Dirk found himself struggling for the words. The words he’d meant to say from the beginning, that people normally had a hard time saying for the first time anyway, but he was Dirk fucking Strider. Why was it so hard for him? Finally, after moments that felt like years of deliberating, he just said it.

“Because I love you, Jake.”

Jake paused, pulling away to stare at him with wide, tearstained eyes, and Dirk suddenly felt as if that was not what he should have said, that he should have said something else, anything but what he had. He looked away. “Damn it, forget I said that,” he said. “I shouldn’t have – ”

He was startled when Jake embraced him once more. “No, no, you just surprised me, that’s all. I’m just surprised, that you would say that even after all I’ve just told you.”

They sat like that for a moment in each others’ arms, before Dirk spoke again. “Jake, whoever you were in the past, he’s gone now. You’ve made decisions now that your past self probably wouldn’t have. I’m not judging you for your past. I’m not judging you, period. I don’t care who you were. I care about who you are. And I didn’t fall in love with some science experiment. And these emotions you’re spilling all over my sleeve are what make you human.”

This time it was Dirk who pulled away, but he leaned right back in – not for another hug, however. His hand found Jake’s chin and brought it up towards him, and as his eyes slid halfway shut he saw Jake’s own eyes closing.

Before their lips met however, Dirk noticed movement in the corner of his eye, and he instantly snapped to attention. Zahhak was there, an arrow on his bow aimed straight at Jake.

Dirk shoved him aside and turned slightly to catch the arrow in his back, and with a grunt he fell to the ground.

“Dirk!” Jake exclaimed, though Dirk barely heard him. His eyes were shutting of their own accord now, and he struggled to speak.

“Jake. Get out of here. Get John out of here. Run.”

“I’m not leaving you!” Man, what a cliché thing to say. As Dirk fought for breath, fought to stay conscious, he smirked.

“I think… I was kinda hoping…you’d say that,” he managed to gasp out before he lost the fight and fell into deeper darkness.

ME WRITING FANFICTION TO MUSIC.

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:09:00 -0500

*typing normally*

*PSP (on shuffle) decides to play Hussie Hunt*

*proceed to dance to the music and type gibberish*

What I typed after this song came on, copy-and-pasted:

Gf;sssdhld,d.c,z;dl;swksdkzxjskakdlekw,skqaslr;ejsllfja;wlslasklel;zsfm’xlzmlf

GUESS WHAT GUYS.

HUSSIE HUNT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS ON THIS ALBUM.

Ooh, Davesprite just came on. szsf[dl;dsdjkl;dkfnjf,v,vlsksrhjldldldklsensdmflldlslfll;l;xlkcm,as,dlfmdksflslfllas;fkslsf;a.klasdsdlklsdfk

sdlfklsdfklsdjkfjsdkskdkjkfnjddkfksdkjlsldfjkslfjkls;s;kldkvjsdfjklsdjfjfjkl;asdf;

slsejklslsg

…..I’m gonna go back to Midgarstuck now. ._.

(Ooh, Frog Hunt!)

YOU KNOW WHAT I DON'T CARE ANYMORE

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:12:50 -0500

—HERE HAVE PART OF THAT FLUFFY THING I MENTIONED EARLIER. It’ll probably be here in the next chapter or two so NYAH. I’m only giving you a couple of paragraphs, though.—

“How can you trust me? How can you, when I don’t even know if I can trust my bloody self?” Jake’s voice was bitter.

“Because I love you, Jake.”

Jake paused, pulling away to stare at him with wide eyes, and Dirk suddenly felt as if that was not what he should have said, that he should have said something else, anything but what he had. He looked away. “Damn it, forget I said that,” he said.

Chapter 14

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:57:00 -0500

—I LEARNED A NEW WORD. PECKSNIFFIAN. Now I just need to find a good place to use it. XD Thank you, Charles Dickens and dictionary.com.

Oh, yeah. I have a chapter for you guys. I’m really in a writing mood now, so I’ll probably start working on the next chapter tonight (as in, probably the next few minutes. XD)

Anyway, have fun!—

Terezi was shaken awake by a rough hand, and she opened her eyes to darkness. Of course,she was a little more than used to it, so she wasn’t surprised. What did surprise her was the scent of the place she had woken up in; the WRO headquarters still smelled from the years it had been out of use and rotting quietly. Though the smell of cleaning chemicals was ever-present, it hadn’t covered up the smell for her, though she didn’t know of anyone else who could smell it. Her nose was sharper than most.

This place was different. It had the homey smell of dried herbs and lemon-scented hardwood cleaner, of dust from a day ago rather than from decades of neglect. It smelled slightly of alcohol, of homemade food that set her stomach to rumbling.

It smelled more like home to her than anything else ever had.

“Morning, traitor,” a female voice laughed from nearby, and Terezi could tell from the tone that she hadn’t meant to be offensive. “Sleep well?”

The speaker had air currents around her that were different from most people; bigger, though not because of weight. Rather, it was more that there was something extra, something humans generally didn’t have… The air currents reminded her of a bird somehow. And that clued her in to whom she was speaking to.

“Morning, Doctor,” she said, a grin spreading across her face. “Yeah, I did.”

“Good; you might need it,” Sun replied.

“Why, what’s going on?”

Sun explained what had happened the night before, ending with what had led Sun to be down here – in the room below the dumbwaiter that they’d put Terezi in last night. “And that’s how it is,” she finished, “most of the kids are gone and the four of us are down here. Rose and Dave are up top dealing with the authorities now.”

“Wait, the four of us? Who are the other two?” Terezi asked with a melodramatic quirk to her lips.

“…Well,” Sun said after a pause. “Let’s just say that I’m not down here to hide.”

Terezi raised an eyebrow, turning around the woman in front of her to face the rest of the room. She heard the telltale even breathing of someone asleep, and found she recognized the small traces of voices beneath the smooth inhale and exhale of air. She sighed.

“So, you’re down here to keep me from tearing their throats out. I see.”

“It’s actually more to keep Gamzee from ripping your throat out,” Sun amended. “Because, while I don’t altogether trust you, I doubt you’re here to try to kill them. That would be seriously lacking in original strategic plotting.”

“You’re pretty smart.”

“Nah, just old,” Sun chuckled.

“How’s Nitram doing?” Terezi asked after a small silence.

“He was hurt badly, but since I had to use materia on him he’s feeling…almost as good as new now.”

“’Almost’?”

“He’s been paralyzed from the waist down,” the doctor explained. “So I guess not quite ‘almost’. Still, you should probably avoid glancing at him when Gamzee’s awake to prevent death by strangulation,” she added.

–

“Sorry, man, you can’t come in,” Dave said with a voice made of ice. “See, my sister tried cooking earlier. And, well, you thought garlic was bad enough, you should smell its burnt counterpart.”

“I should really keep to knitting,” Rose said with a lighthearted giggle that they both knew was utterly fake.

The man before them in the doorway, a lock of purple hair poking out from beneath his red paper-boy hat, rolled his eyes behind his glasses and glared at them. The two agents behind him shifted somewhat uncomfortably.

“I don’t care what it fuckin’ smells like in there,” he growled, “we have been given orders to search the premises for some captives that were let loose. Can I at least speak to the doctor, for cryin’ out loud?”

Rose’s face took on a look of scornful pity. “Oh, sorry, she has been awake all night, keeping an eye on a particularly ill patient. And she has to fly down to Mideel later today so she needs all the sleep she can get; I’m afraid she won’t take kindly to being woken for this.”

“Doctor’s flyin’ the coop, eh?” The agent’s expression was one of contempt, though there was relief in his eyes, probably stemming from the fact that he wouldn’t have to deal with Sun. “Well, that means you have no right to prevent me from performin’ my legal obligations. An’ that means you two better get out o’ my fuckin’ way before I just barge in th - ”

“Are you threatening my nephew and his friend?” The cold voice behind him made the agent stiffen and turn slowly.

“V-v-v-v-Valentine?”

Vincent, who was a head and a half taller than the agent, narrowed his eyes at him. “Ampora. You know you and your ilk aren’t welcome here. Why do you insist on intruding upon our lives?”

“W-we ha-have orders to s-search the premi – ”

“Get out of here,” Vincent said simply, but with a dark undertone that made the stuttering Ampora gulp audibly and take off. His two subordinates trailed after him.

“Yo, Vincent.” Dave nodded toward the newcomer, and he and Rose stepped aside to allow him passage.

“Good morning,” Vincent said as he stepped inside, Rose shutting the door behind them. “What was that about?”

“Well,” Dave began, but his explanation never formed as the creaking of the dumbwaiter moving upward was heard and the door opened.

“Vinny!” Sun exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck, then she pulled back and pouted at him. “You were supposed to be back a week ago.”

“Nanaki wanted to introduce me to the new students at Cosmo Canyon,” he explained. “You’re lucky a week was all it took.”

“Lucky, schmucky. You told me when you called, remember? I was just trying to be funny.” And she leaned forward to give him a peck on the lips.

Dave rolled his eyes. Sun was always such a badass, even when she was doing doctor things, until Vincent was in the picture. Then she never left him alone, being so clingy and affectionate that it kind of made his stomach churn. He decided now was probably a good time to step in, before they got too into it.

“Shouldn’t you be downstairs, keeping a certain prisoner of war from being throttled by a clown in pajamas?” he pointed out.

“Oh, shut up, Dave, can’t you give me a moment? Honestly, you do this every time, try to distract me when Vincent comes back.” She sighed and pulled back anyway, however. “He’s right, though. I should probably get back down there.” And with one more kiss, she released her husband and went back to the dumbwaiter. When she’d gone, Vincent went over to the couch and sat.

Dave thought he looked about as out-of-place in this homely setting with his cape and weaponry and goth-esque attire as would a wolf in a chocobo stable.

“How was the canyon?” Rose asked as she sat in the other couch – Vincent’s cape was spread across the couch he was sitting on.

“Canyon-like,” Vincent replied with a sigh. “Full of people. Though, it was nice to get away from conventional civilization for a change. Anyway, what was Eridan Ampora doing on our front porch?”

“We might have messed up a mission,” Dave explained nonchalantly. “They almost got Rox and Sollux last night, but I have no idea how they were found out.”

“Probably Roxy on one of her drunken tirades.” Vincent sighed, getting up. “It was a long trip. I’m going to sleep.”

“We’ll try to keep things quiet down here,” Rose assured him as he clopped up the stairs.

Dave turned on the television when he heard a bedroom door close behind the man, inwardly glad that the fact that everyone was gone meant that all the beds were free. Finally.

“What are you putting on?” Rose asked from her vantage point on the couch.

“The news. Probably a good thing to keep an eye on, you know, considering our friends are wanted fugitives.”

“Point taken.”

They left the television on as they went about their chores. Periodically throughout the day, they heard argument coming from downstairs – mainly between Gamzee and one of the women – and once or twice Terezi and Sun came up to get away from him.

“Gam giving you guys a hard time? Dave asked on one of their abscondences.

“To say the least,” Terezi replied. “Honestly, you’d think I shot Nitram, the way he’s acting. Yeesh.”

The bar wasn’t exactly closed that day, but seeing as about ninety-nine percent of their regulars were at the festival in Kalm, it wasn’t what one would call a particularly busy day.

So it wasn’t surprising that, when a particular news story came on, there was no one there to hear it except Rose and Dave themselves.

Dave was running water into the sink to clean off the few dishes that had been dirtied that day, so he missed some of the story until Rose said, “Dave, turn that off!” He complied and dried his hands off, coming into the room where Rose had paused in folding clean laundry to pay more attention to the screen.

“…WRO squad leader Equius Zahhak has told us that the fugitives who escaped the building yesterday are now in pursuit, though we haven’t been told who the escapees are or any clues as to…”

“What do we do?” Rose asked tentatively, interrupting the broadcast.

“Warn them, if they don’t already know. That’s about all I can think of at the moment,” Dave replied. He wasn’t going to admit it, but he was about as tense under his devil-may-care expression as Rose seemed.

“Should we send Sun after them?”

“Nah,” Dave answered. “They’ve got fighters with them, and we gave them some fancy materia before they left. They should be fine.”

“Should be” isn’t the same as “will be”, he added to himself, but he wasn’t about to tell Rose that. Though she was probably thinking the same.

I just thought of the cutest, fluffiest thing GunBlade-related to put into Midgarstuck. So I wrote a...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:06:00 -0500

I just thought of the cutest, fluffiest thing GunBlade-related to put into Midgarstuck. So I wrote a little two-page thing that I’m gonna copy-pasta into a later chapter.

BUT

BUTBUTBUT

IT’S KILLING ME BECAUSE I’M SO PROUD OF IT AND IT’S SO CUTE AND FLUFFY THAT I WANT TO SUBMIT IT NOW

BUT I NEED TO PUT IT INTO A CHAPTER AND NOT SUBMIT IT RIGHT AWAY

WHAT DO I DO?!?!?!?!?

Chapter 13

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:31:26 -0500

—My only excuses for this are: 1. I’ve been depressed most of the night, only having recently felt a bit better; 2. it’s 6:30 AM and I haven’t slept a wink; and 3. writers’ block is a bitch I thought I’d seen the last of.

In other news….HOLY CRAP THIRTEEN CHAPTERS. I’m getting good at this. I think.—

Jake stared after the recently closed door, a hint of incredulity still on his face. “Should we have let him go?” he asked Karkat, who was on the couch with John asleep on his lap.

“Not like we had a choice,” Karkat replied, his fingers lightly smoothing out John’s soft hair. “It’s obvious he’s in love with her, if you think about it. Us preventing him leaving would only have made him angry with us.”

“What if he gets hurt?” Jake asked, and Karkat rolled his eyes.

“You’re a little paranoid, aren’t you?”

“We are members of a terrorist organization,” he pointed out.

“Point taken. But Sollux is virtually safe; no pun intended. All he does is the computer stuff. The WRO wouldn’t recognize him unless he did something in the past, but I don’t think he would have.” His own speech was beginning to make his eyes almost close, and he focused on caressing John’s cheek softly as the boy in his lap slept.

“Oh.” John sighed. “Well, if that’s that…”

“Go check on your boyfriend,” Karkat half-mumbled, his eyes becoming harder to keep open, even through the smirk he cracked at Jake’s indignant noise.

“I’ll check on Dirk,” he emphasized, “and then go to my room for sleep. Are you just going to sleep right there?”

“Even if John wasn’t on me right now, I still wouldn’t be able to move. I’m amazed you’re still standing.”

“So am I,” he replied in a half-whisper, and he went up the stairs, tossing a “good night” back over his shoulder.

Karkat’s hand stilled on John’s face, and he allowed his eyes to slide shut the rest of the way, not caring that the light was still on as he drifted to sleep.

But he wasn’t to remain asleep for long; about an hour or so later, he became aware of the sound of footsteps outside, and the door was shoved open roughly. His eyes remained closed, however, and he was aware of the people coming in talking in loud voices.

“How many thugs? And which ones?” That was Rose’s voice.

“About half a dozen or so.” Sun’s constant matter-of-fact tone. “Shit, quiet down, guys, John and Karkat are asleep.” The lights dimmed, and Karkat felt something warm and fluffy surrounding his shoulders. Sun continued, more softly. “Anyway. Most of them weren’t very noteworthy, but I know I saw Zahhak in there somewhere. How they managed to throw him down I’ll never know.”

Karkat found himself more alert, though still wanting to return to unconsciousness, as he realized they must be talking about Sollux or Roxy, or both.

“Dude, this guy’s heavy,” came Dave’s even monotone. “Out of the way so I can take him upstairs.”

“Are there enough beds?” Rose’s voice asked.

“There’s one left, mine. I’m pretty sure neither of them will mind if we have them share a bed, though.” Sun let out a breathy sigh. “Looks like I’m taking the floor if anyone else gets hurt. This couch looks really comfy, though.” Her voice was half-joking, and Karkat heard the plop of her landing on the other couch. “Think you can take care of them by yourselves? I’m beat.”

“We can handle it,” Rose assured her.

The light went off all the way, and footsteps faded up the staircase. Karkat allowed himself to start again toward sleep, but then he heard the creaking of the floorboards and sensed someone was standing before the couch in front of him.

A gloved hand was ruffling his hair now, and he heard Sun’s voice again. “The hell have I got you kids into.”

Her tone was regretful.

)O(

Sollux woke up cradling Roxy in his arms. The scent of antiseptic drifted in his nose as his eyes opened, and he took in the sight of the woman he was holding in the morning light drifting though the window. Her eyes were closed, her brow furrowed, and there was a small pad of gauze taped to a wound on her cheek.

“Roxy,” he said softly, taking her shoulder in his hand and shaking it gently.

She stirred slightly, groaning as she came awake. “S…Sollux?”

“How are you feeling?” he asked her.

Immediately she cracked a mischievous grin. “Great,” she said. “I could beat up those thugs all day. They were nothing.”

He was silent, thinking back for a moment. Apparently Roxy had been out for a longer walk than usual, nothing more, and in her drunken haze had forgotten to tell anyone. And then Sollux had to get cornered by a group of WRO agents. Of course he fought back; but there was only so much a single computer hacker with no fighting experience could do against a group of six well-trained combatants.

So of course Roxy, upon passing on her way back to the bar, had to save him yet again. How she hadn’t been spotted by Sun in the air or Rose and Dave on the ground escaped him.

And now she was looking quite content, wrapped in Sollux’s arms in the twin-sized bed, and she snuggled closer to him. She had obviously woken hungover, and that coupled with the pain of the fresh bruises on her arms and face probably rendered her unwilling to move.

“One of those ‘thugs’ was Equius Zahhak, you know,” he pointed out. “They must know something’s up or they wouldn’t have attacked us.”

“I know.” And her voice was bitter. Sollux was about to reply when he heard the door slowly open, and they looked toward it to see Dirk standing there. He had no shirt on but was holding one in a hand, and the lower half of his torso was swathed in clean bandages.

“You guys should get up,” he said. “We’re leaving.”

“Leaving? What for?” Roxy growled; she obviously didn’t enjoy the thought of leaving the warm bed.

“Roxy, you guys were attacked by WRO agents. That means they know where you hang out. That means they’ll come looking for you and find us. We need to move out.”

–

Gamzee and Tavros were staying behind; Tavros had since recovered, but they had no way to transport him away. Sun didn’t have a wheelchair for him, and it would take a two-day flight to gather a disassembled one from the doctor in the south.

Though, there was some confusion as to how they would remain undetected by the army; until Dirk pulled a lever beside an arcade game that stood against the wall. The wall beside the door shifted forward and pulled out of the way to reveal a hidden dumbwaiter.

“Uh…do we really have to go, um, in that?” Tavros stammered, eying the dark hole with the kind of look a rabbit generally gives a fox when it’s too frightened to run. Gamzee was carrying him on his back again, and he gave the smaller man a quick, comforting sideways glance. It seemed to embolden Tavros a little, Sollux noticed.

Sun was carrying a pile of sheets and a comforter she’d gathered from a linen closet, and she entered the dumbwaiter first.

“We can’t drag a whole bed down there,” she explained. “For one thing, it’d be too big for the dumbwaiter. For another, it’d look suspicious if one of the rooms didn’t have a bed, so you’re just gonna have to deal with a ton of blankets.”

“Th-that’s okay,” Tavros said as Gamzee carried him into the dumbwaiter, and when Sun nodded, Dirk pulled the lever and the door closed again.

“What if she wants to come back up?” Jake asked.

“There’s a lever on her side of the door, dumbass,” Sollux said. “No one could get it with their arms full.”

“Hey,” Dirk said in a warning tone, adjusting the hat on his head. “This is no time for argument. Sun, mini-Lalonde, and little Bro going to take care of shit here, but that means we need to get out of here. I want that to happen with little to no bickering involved, all right?”

Sollux rolled his eyes pointedly as Jake nodded, and Dirk fixed him with an unamused glare. “You know it’s kind of your fault we have to go through this, don’t you, Captor? I suggest you shut your lisping mouth before we get in even more trouble. Can you do that?”

Sollux glared indignantly at him. “I didn’t thay a fucking word, Thtrider,” he emphasized.

The two stood staring evenly at each other until Dave strode forward and landed a solid punch in his older brother’s upper arm. “Didn’t you say we need to get this done without arguing, Bro?” he remarked.

Roxy came from behind Sollux and laid a hand on his arm, her eyebrow quirked, and Sollux relaxed his gaze a little.

“That I did,” Dirk said in answer to his brother’s question, holding Sollux’s eyes with his own for another moment before turning away. “Let’s go. You know those worm tunnels, right, Captor?”

“Yeah,” he answered begrudgingly.

“Then that’s the way we’re taking.”

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, and the group – Rose and Dave, the two that were staying behind; and Karkat, John, Jake, Dirk, Sollux, and Roxy – exchanged glances with one another. Wordlessly, Dave was the first to move; he held a fist out toward his brother, who bumped it back with his own knuckles, and the smallest of smiles tugged at Dave’s lips while Dirk smirked broadly.

“See ya later, Bro.”