Chapter Text
The game- won, but not quite conquered- left John the exact same way he was before the world ended: isolated and without purpose.
Before, he had his dad and the colored texts of his faraway friends on the computer screen to keep him company in the quiet, seemingly desolate suburb he lived in. John hadn’t quite noticed how strange it was then-- but thinking back, he wondered if he ever would have had any friends at all if it weren’t for Jade’s foresight. The streets had never been played on, yards were always empty. John could barely remember anything from his time in school, faces and names of the peers and teachers blurred progressively as his memories faded each day.
Currently, John sat with his legs dangling off the edge of his balcony, slumped forwards to rest his forehead against the steel bars as he watched the lights of Cantown paint the horizon’s midnight sky a yellow hue. The only lights nearby for miles.
He sat, listening to the crackle of the radio in his room play a soothing tune, thinking of the days gone by since the end of the world.
Ten years have passed since they created the new universe, and a lot of things- things he tended to regard with fondness- had happened since. Giving new life to civilization, Rose getting married to Kanaya, friends all finding their peace in a kind world-- just, knowing that you were safe, that no galaxy-swallowing hell of a game would try to kill you anymore.
Aradia had informed everyone in the chipper tone she always used, that Sburb didn’t exist anymore. That none of them were god tiered. They couldn’t die a just or heroic death, as each and every victor were invincible now. everyone’s powers had broadened, their roles no longer important, only existing as a grandiose title-- an Heir of Breath would wield the same abilities as a Seer of Light, but… instead of light it was, y’know, air. Nobody’s class were more significant or powerful than the other.
It was as though each year that passed, their powers melded together more and more, game rules blurring along the guidelines-- becoming more alike true gods, able to manipulate anything however they wanted. Could heal and change any parts of themselves they liked. But John guessed they were still human (or, alien?) and old habits die hard, because he still wore his glasses to this day.
Or at least, that’s the gist of what he’d learned. John didn’t pay much attention anymore to what went on during the meetings the others held every few months. He barely even attended them in the first place.
Partly because John often felt like he shouldn’t be there anyways, but most importantly… he still had his retcon powers.
It wasn’t that big a deal at first. After the last jump through spacetime, when him and Roxy had rendezvoused on the lilypad together with the others, John had thought he’d never need them again. Or he wouldn’t have, if it wasn’t for the fact that somehow, the retcon powers had started using him more than John controlled them.
The first time it happened, he’d been on the beach with Jade and Dirk, two months after the creation of Earth C. Dirk had been (even though he persistently denied it) missing the ocean, so Jade decided to drag him out of his room and take him there-- somehow (with threats) making John tag along as well.
Jade had forgotten to take the towels with her (arguing that John could probably just “dry them off with some wind!!”), and was already knee-deep into the water and pumped as hell to swim, so she asked John to retrieve them from the shared house they had lived in together. He had, begrudgingly, flown back and done just that, and was on his way back to the beach when he noticed his hand glowing an all too familiar white-blue.
He had managed to make it go away by waving his arms wildly in panic, dropping the towels onto the sand dunes in the process.
When Jade had later asked him about their sandy state, John… elected not to tell her about the retcon powers acting up. He’d thought, after all, that it was just a one-time deal, and it was probably better if the others didn’t have to worry about it. They had their own problems and traumas to deal with, anyways. So John lied, telling her he’d tripped over a rock.
It just so unfortunately turned out that it wasn’t a one-time thing. Not at all.
After the beach event, occasionally there were moments where John would feel a surge of energy, a tremor through his veins and down his spine. Then the light would come back, blooming across his skin.
So, he started wearing longer sleeved shirts and hoodies, going so far as modifying his god-tier getup with pockets to hide his hands in. Still, John figured it would pass soon.
He’d moved out of the shared house (which had been built by several enthusiastic carapacians who were eager to help their new gods) once he turned eighteen. Returned to his old home that stood unchanged (though moved), even though they aged the world thousands of years. The same pictures and paintings still hung on the walls, showing snapshots of a dead world and a dead father. Not a single spec of dust had accumulated since it was abandoned last.
And gradually, John stopped talking to his friends. He answered pesterings but never initiated any, excused himself from social interaction by claiming he just wanted to be alone or didn’t feel like it when they asked him to attend the meetings held every other month, choosing to stay inside his room instead.
Or in some rare cases that had become more commonplace recently, running as far as he could manage into the woods surrounding his house just to get that thrumming energy to stop, to get his mind off of things. It didn’t always work, and John would-- secretly, because he would never want his friends to know of how- how angry he couldn’t help but feel-- raise his arms up and rip entire trees by the root out of the ground with gusts of wind. He’d throw them, viscously snap them in half, just to do something. Because he wouldn’t know how to talk to anyone, and the dreams he saw at night made sleeping a new kind of hell he didn’t want to face, riddled with memories that weren’t his.
But it got worse.
Now, there were times when John would double over and clutch his stomach from the overbearing shock of whatever it was curling in the pit of his stomach, ice cold and sharp, like crystals growing inside of him. It wasn’t painful, not the piercing kind of pain that he’d felt inside the game from going limp on blades. It was just… overbearing.
Once, on a late night when he was brushing his teeth before bed and he washed his hands, John had gasped and choked on air when he suddenly felt an unseen grasp twist something inside him, before he had glitched and teleported in a burst of light straight into the bathroom wall. John had coughed in pain and part confusion, rubbing the back of his head where it had hit the tile. When he steadied his weight against the sink, he caught sight of himself-- and his eyes were radiating that haunting, white glow again, like someone had trapped LED-lights under his corneas.
He wondered if that’s when he’d started to loathe himself.
That train of thought was cut short when he heard his phone chime with a notification inside his pocket.
He considered ignoring it, but after the fifth ring within less than a minute, John gave in and pulled it out. As he entered the code to unlock it, he was met with a familiar orange text filling his screen.
timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 02:39 AM
TT: John.
TT: I need you to do us both a favor head straight the fuck to bed.
TT: There’s a meeting tomorrow and I’m telling you right now I’ll drag you there myself if you don’t attend it.
TT: I don’t know when you gained the same atrocious sleeping schedule as I, but you have it, so I know you’re awake right now.
TT: Dude.
TT: Okay if you’re actually, currently asleep then I guess that’s on me. When you read this later, you know where to go.
TT: That is, straight to the meeting.
John couldn’t pinpoint exactly when or even why (regarding how the first conversation went, back in the game) he’d started talking to Dirk, but somewhere along the line he’d stumbled into a conversation with him on pesterchum, and found that Dirk was nearly always online to talk (John assumed the guy just didn’t sleep). And somehow, just checking in on how Dirk was with a short ‘hey’ every so often had eased the hollow feeling John so often felt.
He quickly started typing out a response.
EB: oh, hey dirk!
TT: Called it.
EB: yeah yeah, whatever.
EB: why do you want me to come to the meeting so bad?
EB: i mean… i don’t really have that much to contribute you know, unless they need me to whip up some kind of hurricane all of a sudden!!
TT: John we’re gods now, remember?
TT: We have duties and shit. Or, at least the others do. We’re literally this world’s creators. Gotta preserve peace and unity, and all that.
TT: It’s not constantly about our powers.
EB: okay… still doesn’t explain why you’d need me there! aren’t rose and karkat and like, literally everyone else already busy with that stuff??
TT: Well firstly, I’d point out you haven’t been to a meeting for almost half a year. May want to catch up with what’s going on in the world.
TT: Secondly, I can’t really stop the wandering package of explosive positivity that is Jade goddamn Harley from barging into your house at any opportune moment to check if you’re okay. And let me tell you, she’s starting to get worried.
TT: Everyone is, really.
EB: well, tell them that there’s no need for that! i’m fine, dude.
TT: Why don’t you just fly over tomorrow morning and tell them that yourself?
TT: Come on, man, it’ll be fine. You don’t even have to be there for long. What’s stopping you?
Several things.
EB: ...okay, fine!!!
EB: i’ll come over for a bit. but only for a little bit!
TT: Sweet.
TT: But yeah, goodnight.
timaeusTestified [TT] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 02:48
EB: night.
John clicked the off-switch with a sigh, watching the screen turn dark again.
His gaze trailed up past the vastness of the forest before him, once again taking in the city lights on the horizon that resembled the stars above it. Like they were melting into each other, sky and town into a puddle of lanterns and nebulas.
John frowned at the semi-poetic thought. The sleep deprivation really was starting to get to him.
Placing a hand on the railing, John hauled himself up, leaving the city behind him as he headed inside. His room was completely dark except for the small, blinking blue lights on the radio in the corner of his desk. He turned it off with a press of a button.
John removed his glasses, folding them before dropping them with a clatter on the bedside table. He didn’t bother taking his clothes off-- not like it mattered if he did-- and crept in under the cool, linen covers.
Sleep took him within seconds.
---
There’s something about Earth C’s good days that make them especially beautiful.
The newborn sun lit the fields of wheat like a golden sea, the breeze rustling the grain into wave-like motions as John flew over them. The few clouds below him parted ways as the wind picked up in his trail, and the long hoodie of his heir attire rippled with every turn and pivot.
No worries or troubles could reach him when he was flying. He’s always enjoyed that-- more so than the others probably ever have or would. They could fly too, but not like John did, who carried himself through the air with the flow and motions of the winds like he was born to do so. Everyone else just sort of… floated from point A to point B.
They would never know the freedom that was flight. Not the real thing-- the blissful pulsing of adrenalin when he’d plummet towards the ground just to shoot up again like a rocket, not the soft promises of a calm evening when he would let himself get carried by the current, like a feather floating gently by the hands of the breeze.
John mourned that fact sometimes, wishing he could share the feeling with his friends.
Speaking of friends.
John glimpsed a cluster of giant, floating cement platforms in the distance, situated between the edge of the wheat fields and the start of the mountain range. They’d been put there by Jade and Roxy, who had been-- in their words-- unspeakably bored one day, and had through “shenanigans” created them out of thin air. Roxy had dubbed it the “get-together party point”, aka where they held the meetings nowadays so that they could have some privacy away from wandering inhabitants.
As John descended, he could see Dave standing, hands in pockets, by the edge along with Karkat. Beyond them, everyone had gathered in a small group, chatting amiably with one another, probably waiting for him to turn up-- assuming Dirk had told them that he’d be there today.
It made sense that they were there earlier than him, considering everyone but John lived pretty close together, and in turn would arrive at almost the same time. Still, he couldn’t help but feel anxious as everyone quieted, heads turning to watch him lower himself onto the platform.
Until Jade quite literally tackled him with a hug.
The force knocked John back over the edge of the concrete, and he had to catch himself and Jade with the wind so as to not fall ass-backwards into the ground forty feet below.
“You’re actually here!” Jade exclaimed with a grin, pulling away from the embrace as John moved them both back onto the platform again. Once sat down, she put one hand on her hip, the other pointing accusingly at John’s chest as her face morphed into a frown. “Which has become a suspiciously rare occurrence, lately!”
John opened his mouth to reply when Dave stepped up beside her. “And you decide to finally show your face, just when we’re planning to bust through your door and hijack you for your own good.” He shook his head. “We were gonna have so much fun and now it’s all spoiled, thank you John.”
Karkat groaned. “I told you that whole fucking sadsack intervention plan was going to burn down in a tragic, disappointing inferno somehow. However we could miss ‘John’s impeccable sense of timing’ on the giant list of ways he’s fucked things up is beyond me.”
John chuckled nervously, wringing his hands together behind his back. He hadn’t talked to any of these people in months, and the sudden attention was making his limbs jittery.
“Well, sorry to let you down!” he said, then hesitated, “Or… not? Considering if I hadn’t willingly showed up here you would have, like, forced me, so really it still would have ended the same way?”
Jade crossed her arms and-- because she’d never stop acting like an actual five-year-old-- pouted. Said, “Still! Anything including a confetti-cannon is obviously the best way to do things.”
John smiled at her. “I can’t argue with that!”
Karkat rolled his eyes before turning towards Dave, stepping closer. “Anyways, dump-ass, Rose is starting the meeting in like a minute, so get in place soon, alright?”
Dave nodded, giving him a little smile and a thumbs up.
Karkat smiled back and... looked like he wanted to do something, but hesitated, eyes flickering over to John for a brief moment before he looked away again. He turned on his heel with a huff and walked off.
In the brief seconds, John couldn't help but feel… cheated, almost. He noticed the way Dave and Karkat stood close-- but not too close-- together. Wanting to touch each other, but faltering because of John being there.
Which bothered him, hurt, in a way that he knew was unreasonable because hey, maybe they’re still just unused to the whole pda thing, and yeah, in the past John might have been a little weird about how literally all of his friends seemed to have fallen on the gay scale. Teenage him hadn’t really grasped the concept yet. It made sense that they wouldn’t do it as much around him.
But it still hurt. Because it was like the two were putting on a show in front of him, acting like they were still thirteen, immature, and always fighting with one another-- because that’s how they thought John viewed them. He weren’t there with his friends on the meteor, never with this timeline’s Jade to grow up with. In their eyes, he hadn’t grown a single day. They never were themselves around him anymore.
Not like anyone had time to talk to him either way, what with their busy lifestyles as gods (and in some cases, CEO’s). They’re not going to spare a minute to talk with him, really talk, because they don’t believe there’s anything worthwhile to speak about.
Which was fair, honestly.
Jade tapped him on his shoulder, and John is snapped out of his thoughts. “Huh?”
She arched a brow in question, dog ears focusing towards him like they were trying to detect something. “You, um, spaced out for a second there?”
He waved her off. “It’s nothing! You were saying?”
Jade doesn’t seem to have dropped whatever that moment was, but continued either way. “...Me and Dave were just saying how you should probably take your seat, It’s starting in a minute.” She grinned, then. “Rose has a really heavy stack of notes with her today, too! Seems like it’s going to be a long meeting, hm?”
Dave groaned. Even, like, threw his head back all dramatically. “God damn it, why did we put her in charge of holding our fucking meetings again?”
“Because we’re our own worst enemies, Dave.” Jade said, mock-solemn. She then turned to hover over to another platform, calling over her shoulder, “Now get in fucking place already!”
---
John didn’t participate much in the conversations anymore, he realized, as he absently watched the creators of the universe discuss what color and flower theme they should use for the spring festival that was going to be held in Cantown.
Someone suggested white roses, which prompted a seven minute lecture in human culture and as to why white would be exceedingly inappropriate, apropos of Rose. Jade then argued that white roses weren’t just for funerals!! which made the trolls ask what a funeral was, a question that in turn made Rose start another seven minute lecture.
So no, John wasn’t paying much attention. Nobody was paying attention to him, either, which he guessed was a plus in case his retcon powers started acting up again.
So instead, he scanned the half-circle of floating concrete and chattering gods, studying them in boredom.
On both sides of him sat trolls. Those trolls John never bothered to talk to, but thought was pleasant enough to be around, because unlike Terezi and Karkat, they were usually silent.
John recalled the ones on his right being named Sollux and Aradia. However, he had… absolutely no idea who was sitting on his left! Not that it really mattered. John looked away.
Rose stood stood tall beside the even taller Kanaya on the highest platform, Rose’s duty as the self-selected chairwoman fitting her like a glove. Kanaya was tapping a pen to her clipboard, wanting to write something down, probably, but unable to because everyone was arguing about flowers and death. Both of them gave off a weird authoritative presence, like mothers overlooking a bunch of children.
On their right, a little ways down, sat Roxy, Calliope and Jane, chattering to themselves. Jane was in a red suit, seemingly having just left work at Crocker corp. John couldn’t help but feel that old, inexplicable hatred for the old baking company return-- so he let his gaze drift away from the three of them.
Dave, Karkat and-- oh.
John paused as he saw Dirk sitting beside his brother on the platform, sipping an orange soda held in his hand. John hadn’t seen him arrive, which made sense-- Dirk had a tendency to just appear out of nowhere, something about never dropping the patented ninja schtick that the Striders had.
John bit his lip to keep from chuckling. Why was this guy so ridiculous? He was even worse than Dave, who John was aware rapped to himself when he was left alone (or well, thought he was alone. ha.)
John blinked in surprise when he heard his phone chime from inside of his pants. Who…?
he pulled out the phone and immediately found himself frowning at the screen.
timaeusTestified [TT] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 04:31 PM
TT: Yo.
TT: You havin’ fun, after all? I can see you laughing.
John looked up, and Dirk looked right back at him through his anime shades. That didn’t-- How the hell was Dirk texting him right now?
EB: how the hell are you texting me right now?!
TT: Oh.
TT: I programmed a computer into my glasses a while ago. I’m transferring thought to text, here, bro.
TT: Haven’t I mentioned this before?
EB: huh.
EB: and maybe you have, but i don’t remember it.
TT: Fair enough.
TT: Still, what’s so funny?
EB: oh!
EB: it’s uh, pretty dumb. stupid.
EB: don’t worry about it.
TT: I- Okay?
EB: anyways, when did you get here?
EB: i didn’t see you earlier.
TT: A couple of minutes ago.
TT: And yeah I arrived late, but there’s a valid reason for this, okay.
TT: I was flying out here and there was this fucking bird, right? A seagull, and it was on my ass the entire time.
TT: Do you know how hard those pricks bite?
EB: what.
TT: Like there was a seagull trying to nip me in the asscheek.
TT: I don’t know if I pissed it off by flying over its territory, or something, but it was beyond mad at me, and my sweet derriere was the victim.
EB: dude. what the fuck.
TT: Exactly what I thought. What the fuck. What the fuck did god put in seagulls that made them so viciously evil? So bloodthirsty?
TT: Their snapping beaks were relentless on my sweet, innocent behind.
EB: oh my god, shut up!
EB: bluhhhh this is so stupid.
EB: you could have just, you know, said you got sidetracked or whatever! jesus.
EB: what were you ACTUALLY doing?
TT: I was showering, but you wouldn’t be grinning that widely if I’d have said that.
John immediately forced a scowl on his face. Looking up, he saw Dirk with a barely-there smirk, ever so smug. What an asshole. Instead of texting back, John shook his head and pocketed his phone all while glaring straight at Dirk.
John very pointedly resumed listening in on the discussion. Which he realized was just coming to an end.
“So, we all agree on yellow lilies, yes?” Rose asked, and sighed in relief as everyone nodded. She turned to Kanaya, who was jotting it down in her notes. “Ah… is that the last subject?”
Kanaya gave her a thumbs up.
“Great!” Rose concluded, and faced everyone once again. “Now that that’s finally dealt with, I believe we should be wrapping up this meeting. And, what better way to do that than with the weather forecast, hm?”
To John’s surprise, she looked to him, expectantly. “Now that you’re here, John, I thought you may want to…?”
“Oh!” John exclaimed, sitting up straighter. “Yeah, sure. Why not.”
He’d completely forgotten about this. Since people found out he could somehow (Calliope had said it was probably because his powers weren’t limited to the heir class, and this was edging on seer abilities) perfectly predict how the weather was shaping to be like, they had made him predict the weather every meeting. Like they used to in the old news channels back on earth.
John closed his eyes, pretending not to notice how everyone’s attention turned to him, letting his focus fall instead on the feeling of the breeze circling around him lazily. Immediately, the soft currents stilled, and in his mind’s eye, molded into the shape of shifting clouds.
Pictures formed, of wavering forests with trees that swayed forebodingly in the strong gusts of wind, and above them, ink-black heavens, only lit by flashes of lighting that extended across the skies like cracks on a screen.
Something was terribly wrong.
John’s eyes flew open with a sharp inhale of breath. His head throbbed with a headache, pain blooming in his temples. He blinked once, twice, letting the world slowly come into focus.
Rose’s face, etched with worry, met his gaze from atop of her platform. “John? Is everything alright?”
He hesitated, contemplating whether he should tell her about what he saw or not, before settling on an answer. “I’m okay! There’s just, um… it’s kind of weird? Uh, I guess I mean it doesn’t really seem very plausible?”
“Oh?” Rose inquires, “How so?”
Unable to meet her gaze, John looked past her, to the clear blue skies in the background. “There’s going to be a storm.”
---
The meeting was quickly concluded, after that.
Everyone but the Strider brothers, Karkat, Rose and Kanaya had went home for the day. Nobody had seemed all too worried about the fact that the weather was going to take a sudden turn towards the drastically worse, and had left the meeting without any other questions.
Except for Terezi, who claimed his “winds were bullshit, John!” before shooting off towards the distance with a cackle. John stuck his tongue out and flipped her the bird, even though he knew she couldn’t see him. The universe had to know how much he loathed her. Absolutely despised.
Karkat cleared his throat. “Are you fucking done?”
John tucked his hands back into his pockets and swivelled around to face him, smiling sheepishly at Karkat’s annoyed frown. “Haha, sorry!”
Kanaya placed a hand on Karkat’s shoulder, giving him an amused look. “Their jabs at each other seem to agitate you quite a bit, hm?”
“It’s less fucking jabs and more plain, unadulterated hate-flirting. It’s awful, and they should both feel bad for subjecting my hear-ducts to the sound of it.”
Dave nodded. “Yeah, shit man Karkat’s a real dutch girl, expose enough of it to him and he’ll get just awfully hot under the collar and suddenly have to excuse himself-”
“That’s not what I fucking meant, airhead!”
“Airhead, damn, way to cut deep, babe.”
Rose groaned, “Oh will you two please shut up?”
Once they reluctantly quieted down, she turned to John, all serious-like again as she spoke up, “Thank you. Now, John, you said there was a… storm on its way, right?”
“Yeah.” He replied, “Something like that.”
Dirk cut in, which made everyone’s head snap towards him, like they’d forgotten he was even there beside Dave in the first place. “There’s no clouds or anything for several miles, though.”
“I know! But, maybe it’ll happen later this month?” John shrugged, looking down at his shoes. “I never said it was a reasonable vision or anything, it might just be a mistake.”
Rose frowned. “You seemed off-put, earlier. Like you had perceived something alarming.”
“Maybe. It was, um, really dark. unnaturally dark, you know?”
“I haven’t been able to see anything like that in my visions.”
John chanced a glance up at her. To his surprise, she looked almost scared, which made him realize this probably reminded her a little bit too much about, well, the game. Dreams and foresights of hundred different possible futures had plagued her during her time playing it, which took a serious toll on her and then some, if Dave’s to be believed.
“Then it’s probably nothing!” John said, trying for a reassuring smile. “Maybe my powers hiccupped, or something.”
She sighed, exasperated, “Maybe, but I just… I worry, okay?”
Kanaya swept up behind her, wrapping firm, gentle arms around her wife’s shoulders. “I’m certain it’ll be okay, dear.”
Rose smiled, tilting her head back to peck at Kanaya’s jaw. “You’ll protect me from the storm, hm? Shake your chainsaw menacingly towards the clouds?”
“Oh, certainly, honey, I’d never let anything hurt you.”
John laughed as Dave shook his head in disbelief. Dirk snorted, clearly amused.
“So are we gonna try and decide what to do with John’s vision today, or?” Dirk said.
Rose looked to him. “Oh, we are, but it’s gotten awfully windy, don’t you think? My hair’s all getting in my face, and well, it’s probably better if we head to our house and discuss this. I can make coffee, if any of you want some.”
John frowned. Windy? He couldn’t feel any w-- oh. Oh, that’s not fucking good.
There was a familiar coiling in his chest, cold and unnerving, tense like voltage running through his veins, growing more prominent by each breath. Fuck. He’d thought he could have avoided this, should have seen it coming beforehand so he could’ve made an excuse and gone home. But the retcon powers had struck him by surprise, John having thought that maybe, just maybe, today he could see his friends without the thrumming power in his body wearing him down.
He couldn’t let them see it. He’d avoided this so far, so why now?
Just as he opened his mouth to say something, nausea overrode his senses with a sharp twist that made his stomach turn dangerously. Suddenly feeling like retching, he couldn’t prevent his knees from buckling under him. At the last second, he caught his weight with his hands.
“John?” Dirk crouched down beside him. “Holy shit-- are you alright?”
John flinched as he saw his hands splayed out before him, glowing bright as sunlight. He scrambled to get away from the others, desperately trying to hide his hands in his pockets again-- but something in his throat convulsed painfully, and by instinct his hands flew up to clutch at his neck.
He heard the others yell, Dave in terrified confusion, Karkat trying to help, but Rose stopped him-- “Get away! Everyone, get away from him!” She grabbed Kanaya’s wrist, pulling her with by force and trying to distance them from John.
Dirk was still by his side, but even he was blurring out of focus from the tears pooling in John’s eyes. He couldn’t breathe. Something was clogging his throat, and he tried to cough, but something that tasted like copper filled his mouth, hot and awful and spilling over his lips and chin.
Suddenly, a hand gripped John’s arm. There was a blinding flash of light, a loud bang that made the concrete below crack.
The platform crumbled around him, and the world turned dark.