Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As midnight approaches, a mysterious girl stares out of her bedroom’s window, gazing tiredly into the night. The trees surrounding her house stand proudly under a starry sky, their silhouettes highlighted by the moonlight. The brightness of the stars collides with the sky’s darkness, making it a lovely sight to behold, she thinks. Or she would, if she could actually see anything.

Rose Lalonde sighs for the umpteenth time that day and, as graciously as she can, flops into her bed, accidentally knocking her phone to the ground. She doesn’t bother with it but considers putting it on silent (since it has been vibrating every two minutes with text notifications) before dismissing the idea. If she can deal with nightmarish visions, this isn’t going to bother her. Besides, she’s going to fall asleep soon and the friend messaging her knows that.

Rose lays in her bed, waiting for the moment midnight comes. Tomorrow will be the thirteenth day of April, her least favorite day of the year and coincidentally her friend’s birthday. The same friend who’s been pestering her for ten minutes. Rose suspects he might be trying to slowly annoy her into answering him. Not that she doesn't appreciate his concern, but can't a lady have a moment for herself before succumbing to her yearly nightmare? 

She closes her eyes and tries to drown out the noise. She briefly wonders what would happen if she were to fall asleep before midnight came. Neither she nor her friends knew, but only one of them usually went to bed before midnight anyway. He would often berate the other two for their messed up sleep patterns but they shrugged him off. Besides, if he didn’t have his father to ensure a healthy sleep schedule he would probably do the same.

At least one of us has a responsible adult to look after them, Rose muses, her mind wandering to her mother. It has been three years since she last saw her, having lived on her own ever since. Somehow social services hadn't gotten wind of her situation and so she was left alone in the house (though, if she guessed, money was probably the reason they never appeared). Nowadays, the only human contact she gets is from the rare trips she takes to the city for supplies. However, as of late, she has been immersing herself in the joys of online shopping, restricting her social interaction to texts with her friends. Like the ones that she still hasn’t stopped receiving. It’s been over fifteen minutes, why won’t he just give up?

The phone goes off. Again. Rose gets up, cursing him internally, and finally opens her texts.

-- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 23:34 --

EB: hey.
EB: how are you holding up?
EB: did you already start feeling any secondary effects?
EB: rose?
EB: don't tell me you already passed out.
EB: oh man, i thought you still had some time left!
EB: your powers don't usually start acting up so early!
EB: ...
EB: now that i think about it, you're probably just ignoring me.
EB: i wonder if this is how dave feels like when half of the chat is just his texts.
EB: rose?
TT: Sometimes I too wonder if his habits are starting to influence you.
EB: oh, so you were ignoring me.
TT: Yes. It's a little hard finding motivation to socialise right now.
TT: Which is something you should already know, seeing as we have the same discussion every year.
EB: i know, i know.
EB: but i also know you like to pretend this doesn't affect you as much as it does.
TT: How much this bothers me is irrelevant. There is nothing we can do to stop it and I have about ten minutes before I fall asleep, so, please, let's wrap this up.
EB: are you feeling it already?
TT: I'm not drowsy yet, but my skin has already taken its annoying unearthly glow.
TT: The air is also getting warmer by the minute.
TT: I suppose I might pass out in a few minutes. Midnight is near, after all.
EB: so you're going out like a light soon, huh?
TT: ...
TT: John.
EB: sorry. hehehe
EB: i'll leave you alone then.
EB: dave still has one hour left, so i'll go bother him.
TT: Thank you.

-- ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 11:55 PM --

Rose turns off her phone and stares at the black screen. Her reflection stares back at her, softly glowing, just like she had told John. For three years, her skin has been prone to glow randomly during unknown periods of time, but at least she can be sure that every year, in this exact moment, she’s going to shine brighter than the sun. Rose is certain that if anyone were to stare at her right now they would go blind (in the back of her mind, she faintly remembers hearing someone joking about her having a third eye, to make her appearance more subtle).

The air is starting to get hot and heavy. Rose drops the phone beside her and groans. She’s not feeling any pain, as all of her visions have always been painless, but she’s not exactly keen on watching her thirteen year old self dying. Again.

She takes one last look outside her window, before midnight comes and she falls asleep. 

Rose wakes up with the worst headache she’s ever had in a dark room, with no prominent features whatsoever. Minutes ago she was in her bedroom, how did she get here? She tries to stand up and feel around the room to try to find any clue as to where she might be. However, she can’t seem to get out of what she assumes is some kind of stone platform. She knows she’s higher than the floor, since no matter how far down she reaches, she can’t feel any ground.

A vague sense of dread fills her. Rose shrugs it off, trying to calm down, and decides to discover how big the slab she’s standing in is. She takes only two steps before her foot presses down on something. Whatever she’s standing in lights up, the symbol of a yellow sun appearing in the middle of it.

“At least now there’s a source of light,” she mumbles to herself. Nevertheless, she still can’t make out anything, except that another slab was on the left of hers and both of them were apparently floating.

Maybe… Maybe there was someone in there. Rose calls out to the hypothetical person but there’s no response. She tries a few more times, the tone of her voice increasing with each try, until a few groans were heard. Whoever it was, had finally woken up and Rose hopes it wouldn’t be long till they came to their senses. She can’t understand what they are saying due to them rambling incoherently, but it is slowly feeding her nervousness and impatience.

The other finally notices her. Rose calms them down and instructs them to find the symbol to step in. They do and a red light engulfs them. After that moment, everything feels like a blurry memory. Both of them recognise each other and attempt to reach out to the other before the room heats up and they’re engulfed in a green beam. When she wakes up again, she’s back in her house, panicking and searching for her mother.

And then, her vision warps and the nightmare ends. This time she’s standing in an open field, somewhere she doesn’t recognise and she’s not thirteen anymore. Her surroundings, however, are just as suffocating as the green light from earlier. Rose looks around. Everything is burning, as far as the eye can see, clouds of smoke swirling around her. She’s having trouble breathing but can’t get out of the spot.

Suddenly, someone calls out her name. The last thing Rose sees is them rushing to grab her and teleport her away, and green eyes filled with worry and thousands of galaxies. She mumbles something about how beautiful they are before passing out.

Rose wakes up gasping for breath. It takes her a few minutes to recompose herself and notice it’s still night. Usually, both the memory of her death and the vision would last until the morning, but this time everything went by extremely fast. She picks up her phone to check the time. It’s still one in the morning.

Still shaken up, Rose makes her way downstairs, towards the kitchen. She briefly considers calling someone but John was still waiting and Dave already falling asleep.

It’s fine, she tells herself, you’ve been through this before. There’s no need to make a fuss just because of a little fire.

Somehow that doesn’t reassure her. Ever since their deaths, three years ago this day, she and her friends have to watch the memory replay in their dreams as soon as April 13th comes. Although, unlike Dave and John, after her “nightmare” she always gets a premonition, part of her powers as the Seer of Light , something she still can’t quite understand, much to her frustration.

Other thing that adds to her growing frustration is the fact that her visions are never wrong. Never. Which means that sooner or later, she’s going to find herself in the middle of a burning field, uncertain if she’ll survive it.

Rose reaches the kitchen and grabs a cup. As she fills it up with water, her mind wanders to the person who caught them in the vision. She doesn’t recognise them but remembers a bunch of messy, long hair and a pair of glasses covering their bright eyes. Even so, thinking about their identity is irrelevant. They’ll meet each other eventually.

As she begins to drink the water, the doorbell suddenly rings, making her drop the cup in surprise. Rose stares dumbfounded at the pieces of glass scattered around the floor before glancing at the door. Why would anyone be at her door at this hour? It couldn’t be anyone she knew, since her only two friends lived in different states. Her other acquaintances were either dead or missing.

Rose becomes hopeful for a moment, before reminding herself it couldn’t be them. No, they had been missing for over two years, without any sign of them being alive. She grabs the closest thing resembling a weapon- a pair of knitting needles she had forgotten in the couch- and makes her way towards the door. Luckily for her, the door was conveniently lacking a peephole, so she had no idea of who was on the other side.

She slowly opens the door. If she were lucky, it was just a prank and they had already left. Sadly, her skin wasn’t glowing anymore so she couldn’t scare them away.

“Rose? Is that you?”

She doesn’t recognise that voice. 

“I’m not here to hurt you! I just want to talk!”

“I don’t have anything to say to a stranger. Go. Away.”

They don’t move from their spot. Rose peeks at the other side and makes out the shape of someone way taller than her and a lot of hair cascading down their back. 

“It’s me, Jade! Didn’t John tell you I was coming?”

“No.”

“Not even a mention of a girl warping in your front step out of nowhere?”

“No.”

There’s a moment of silence before she sighs. “I can’t believe he forgot that! Geez! How am I going to convince you to listen to me now?”

“You won’t. Glad we reached an agreement. Goodbye.”

“Wait, don’t-”

As Rose is about to close the door, Jade stops it with a foot and Rose can finally see her clearly. Jade is a lot taller than her and has indeed a head of long, thick, black hair, currently wet and sticking to her forehead (in fact, her clothes too are wet but she doesn’t seem to mind). She’s also pretty, Rose muses, but what makes her standout is her eyes, hiding behind a pair of round spectacles. They’re a bright green and a dozen of constellations and galaxies are dancing around in them, almost as if they were mirroring the universe.

Jade steps back and opens her mouth to say something, but is interrupted by Rose recognising her and shutting the door in her face in panic. That’s the person from her vision. 

Rose momentarily berates herself for acting out of character and losing her cool, although she can’t help but be a bit shaken up. After taking a few seconds to calm down, she opens the door again. Jade is staring at her in either amusement or confusion, she can’t tell.

“I apologise for my behaviour. You were saying something about John, is that correct?”

“Yes! He was supposed to warn you about me. Sorry about showing up unannounced,” Jade smiles awkwardly. 

Rose stares at her in thought, still skeptical and asks her about what exactly she was doing here. Jade explains that she, just like John and Rose, also has a unique set of powers and is aware of their current dilemma.

“I know you’ve been searching for answers. How and why this happened, what it means and what you can do to stop it. I happen to have most of the answers to your questions, though I can’t guarantee I can give them all,” Jade pauses for a moment, only to raise her arms at the level of her chest, making Rose confused. She opens her mouth to question her intentions but is interrupted by a book suddenly appearing at her feet. Jade picks it up and opens it in a bookmarked page, before shoving it in the other girl’s direction. “But I can tell you that most of your questions have their responses in here.”

It’s impossible to make out what the book says in the dark, the only thing Rose can see is a wheel of symbols. She recognises a few of them, like the sun and the red cog. The one opposite of the sun is also familiar, even if she can’t figure why.

“What’s this?”

“The aspect wheel. Everyone has one aspect associated to them, which is something that influences their powers when they awaken them. However, not everyone is destined to ascend, like you and me.”

Jade pointed at the sun, “This one, for example is light, which is your aspect. It deals with mostly fortune, but the description is kinda vague. It could also deal with knowledge from what I gathered. You also have to take into account how your role as a seer affects your powers too.”

Rose hums in response as Jade keeps explaining aspects and roles and some kind of prophecy. She seems friendly and trustworthy enough and knows a whole deal about their powers, but that’s still not convincing enough. It could very well be a trap. 

Although, she’s not sure what it is but there’s something about Jade that makes her gravitate towards her. Probably some kind of power, since she did seem to have something with space going on. Rose can’t decide whether or not she can be trusted, but something tells her she knows a lot more than she about their situation. And Rose could never say no to additional knowledge. 

Rose opens the door and gestures to the inside of her house, interrupting the explanation, “I see. Would you like to come in?”

Chapter Text

Having an entire island to yourself can sound exciting. There are no rules, nobody can bother you and you can do whatever your heart desires. If you’re feeling down and want to be left alone, then perfect! You don’t even have to bother with explaining to others why you don’t want to socialise since they’re not even there in the first place.  

Of course, you’re going to have to deal with the loneliness that comes with it. Being on your own can be emotionally taxing, just like being constantly surrounded by people can be. Jade Harley, however, decides she’d rather be annoyed into oblivion by someone else than have to spend one more second alone in this damned island.

Not that she had always been on her own, but everyone who had lived with her was either dead or missing. Her grandpa had died when she was little and her dog was gone the moment she gained her powers, due to her ascension going wrong. Jade doesn’t like thinking about it. It’s still a sore subject for her, even if the accident occurred two years ago, and it’s the last thing she needs to be thinking of, right as she’s about to leave her home. There are things to be done and she can’t afford wasting time wallowing in her self-pity nor does she want to. What, is she supposed to sit out, lamenting how things could have gone, while the others are out there, actively trying to solve their problems? No way! She’s getting out of this island and making sure she can sort out her issues too!

Jade sits down on her bed and glances wistfully around her room. It’s probably the last time she will get to do it once she initiates her plan, but maybe she could visit it again once it was all over. Of course that was wishful thinking. She didn’t even know if it would work or what would happen, seeing as how some aspects of the plan relayed on luck and probability (too much for her liking). That was why, Jade decided, it would be best to pay a visit to the Seer of Light first. What better way to ensure your plan goes successfully than getting someone who could predict the most fortunate outcomes of your actions?

Unfortunately, she has no idea if the Seer is actually capable of predicting things in such a large scale as she’s hoping for. Even if she is, there’s no guarantee Rose is aware of that. Her brother, John, said she was clever but that she was growing frustrated by her inability to find more information on their powers and what her visions meant. Jade appreciated how determined she was to take every little detail she could get her hands on and pick it apart until nothing uncertain was left of it, but the plan depended on Rose actually controlling and mastering her powers. Which is where Jade comes in.

To her knowledge, she is the only one with access to the full version of what was named, with a lot of creativity and originality involved in the process, “The Prophecy”. Yeah, no one is particularly proud of that name, but you can’t deny it’s very simple and efficient. Although, if Jade were alive at that time, she would give it a fancier title like “The Prognosis Of The Eight Gods”. That’s a much more thrilling label for something that basically dictated their lives and fates. Jake would agree, if he were here, Jade thinks, bitterly. Oh well, you can’t always have what you ask for.

The Prophecy was constituted by two large books, one in an unknown language, and a few drawings on a temple in Jade’s island (sometimes she wonders if her grandpa chose to live there because he was aware of its secrets and how meaningful it would be in his grandchildren’s lives). It’s impossible to memorise all of its contents, which is why Jade carries the books with her and has photos of the drawings on her phone. However, she does have some of it summarised on her head. According to it, a demon was bound to surge thanks to the combined powers of eight humans but, just as they gave him his powers, they would also take them away. However, it’s not as simple as that, as far as Jade knows. She’s aware that the “demon” has his own little entourage, bent on assuring that he will rise to power but never die by the hand of the “gods”. That’s why Rose, Dave and John awakened their powers unwillingly and she bets it’s also the reason she hasn’t heard from Jake ever since he left two years ago. It’s also why Jade needs to enact her plan as soon as possible and find the other humans from the prophecy.

She had talked it over with John, who offered to explain it to Rose and Dave. The first step was for the four of them to meet up and go look (or maybe rescue, she assumes)  the rest of the gods. Once it was done, they would need to figure out a way to stop any evil entities from taking over the universe. Jade didn’t have a lot planned out for the second phase but eight minds are better than one, after all.

After contemplating her plan a little longer, she finally gets up and warps outside of the island, outside of home and everything she was familiar with.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When she imagined her first meeting with Rose, sitting on her kitchen whilst nursing a cup of tea and wearing a stranger’s pajamas certainly wasn’t how Jade thought it would go. Although the clothes are comfortable and it was very considerate of Rose to offer them, while Jade’s clothes were recovering from her landing into a lake (sometimes her aim is off, especially if she doesn’t know a lot about where she’s warping, and she lands in inconvenient places).

Jade takes another sip and fiddles with the hem of the bright pink tank top. Rose is meticulously watching her from the other side of the counter, one eyebrow raised and her head laying on her palm as she waits for Jade to keep explaining the contents of the book. She’s still holding her phone in her other hand, presumably finished with her conversation with John. According to Rose, he remembers telling her about Jade. He also recalls how Rose was the one who didn’t mention anything about it, so he assumed she just didn’t want to comment any further about the plan, to which she answered he had done no such thing. The two argued a few more minutes while Jade admired Rose’s house and kept drinking.

“John sent me screenshots of our supposed conversations and I doubt he could photoshop the entirety of it in only two minutes, so either my internet connection is even worse than I recall or someone was hell bent on preventing me from knowing about your plan.”

“Do you think someone would do that?”

“Possibly. I don’t think I need to remind you how I was murdered by the same people who want this powerful demon you speak of to rise. If they’re not above killing children I doubt diverting information would challenge their morals, if those even exist in the first place.”

Rose purses her lips. Jade wants to reach out to her and maybe say something comforting but Rose continues speaking, giving her no chance to do so.

“Nevertheless, you’re already here and can explain your plan in person. Please continue, Jade.”

“Right,” Jade places the cup on the counter and faces the other girl. “Like you said, the same people who caused your ascension are aware your powers will be necessary for their own plan. That’s why you, John and Dave were killed three years ago. Ascending requires you to die in a special “bed” but I have no idea how they came across yours.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, do you know how they came across yours ?”

“They, uh, they never did. I had to ascend through other methods…”

She isn't looking at Rose’s face but she doesn’t doubt a mixture of curiosity and regret are present in her features from asking that question.

“Anyway… Their plan is to make us ascend. However, they think that our purpose is simply to bring the demon to life. They don’t have the access to the full prophecy like I do, so for them, the people who will kill him are other people. That’s one of the major faults in their plan.”

“And the other?”

“They lost track of three of us and never discovered another two, me and my cousin.”

“They lost them? When-”

“Two years ago.”

The two share an understanding glance. Jade keeps playing with the hem of the shirt continues, “Someone is hiding them and I think my cousin might have joined them. He left right after we ascended to go look for those three. I think they were all friends. But I stopped receiving any message from him over two years ago, right when the other three disappeared from the map.”

“Do you know anything else that might have happened two years ago?”

“No. Everytime I think I might have found something relevant I either hit a dead end or the information somehow disappears. That’s why I think someone is keeping us from discovering anything related to that. Someone related to the void aspect probably.”

Rose hums in agreement before grabbing Jade’s mug and placing it in the sink. “The void is quite intriguing, huh?”

Jade can’t figure out what Rose is thinking. She’s staring at the mug in thought and her eyes are clouded over. It makes Jade a little nervous, to be honest. Rose had been mostly quiet during their conversation, letting Jade do most of the talking, but there is something disturbing about her silence right now. 

“Are you okay, Rose?”

It takes her a few seconds to respond but eventually Rose sighs and nods, finally going back to her place at the counter. She doesn’t elaborate on her question, but Jade can see her eyes shifting to the clothes she’s borrowing every few seconds. Jade knows those don’t belong to Rose, they don’t fit her.

“I don’t want to open old wounds or anything but I don’t think they would be hiding from you if they weren’t sure it’s too dangerous for you.”

“I know. Roxy isn’t the type of person to just leave without a warning. Especially if it means abandoning their younger siblings. I don’t doubt they must be in danger, along with your cousin and my older brother. John’s cousin too, apparently.”

Rose’s not the type to talk about her emotions so openly, Jade notes, so she changes the topic. She still hasn’t explained all of her plan and Rose seems more than eager to steer the conversation in another direction.

“The basics are that we need to find those four and then stop any evil entities from ascending. According to the book, there’s an ancient room somewhere on Earth, which has eight stone beds with our symbols placed in a circle around an unidentified bigger one and linked to it. If we die in those beds while someone is resting in the bigger one, the energy released when we revive is going to power up whoever is in the center, thanks to the links between the stone. Our objective is to completely destroy that place and make it useless.”

“And do you happen to know the whereabouts of this room?”

“No. I think we’re only supposed to find it when all of us have our powers under control. That’s another reason I’m here. To help you with that exact problem! From what John told me, the three of you still have those pesky nightmares, right?”

Rose nods.

“Yeah, I figured. That happens because you’re not fully accepting your abilities.”

“And how do you propose we can fix this?”

Jade brings the book again and puts in the counter, where the two of them can see it. Now that there’s a source of light (not counting Rose’s skin since it still hadn’t glowed after she woke up), reading it is much easier. Jade opens it and points to a paragraph, before answering:

“The yearly nightmares serve as a way of your subconscious reminding you that you can’t deny your powers. Nothing you do will make things go back to normal,” there’s a hint of bitterness in Jade’s tone, “So you better accept that and stop trying to deny it, or else you’re gonna be forced to relive your death until you do. Your body modifications have the same function.”

“Anyway, most of the times it involves training your capabilities and self-control. As a Seer of Light, you’re going to need to find a way to stop random visions from coming in. It’s your power. You get to choose what you want to see. It’s not easy but there are some things you can use for help!”

She summons a cue ball and hands it to Rose with a warm smile. “I found this in the ruins back home. It can make accurate predictions but it’s impossible to see them unless you have heightened vision, which isn’t a problem for you as a seer. You can use it for practice.”

Rose thanks her and takes the ball in her hands. She moves it around, trying to understand how it works. Jade tries to pipe in with helpful advice, but Rose raises an hand to stop her from saying anything. After a few more minutes of tinkering with the device, Rose seems satisfied with the results of whatever she was trying to discover. She places it down, next to the book.

“Once again, thank you. This will be very useful in the future. Unfortunately, as much as I’d like to keep talking about our plan, it’s currently two in the morning and both of us, well, at least I, need to rest. We can discuss things later, at an appropriate time. Come on, I’ll take you to a guest bedroom.”

Jade wants to protest that she isn’t tired (the adrenaline from finally getting her plan in action still hasn't worn off) but Rose manages to convince her to comply with her. 

Jade lays down in bed staring at the ceiling. Somehow, she is getting gradually sleepier, despite her stating otherwise earlier. She wonders if Rose is already asleep (she did look tired when she first saw her) and how well their plan is going to do. They had decided to meet up with John as soon as possible and then with Dave. After that they could start searching for her cousins and Rose’s older siblings.

Things are starting to look up. At least she wasn’t alone anymore, she thinks. Rose was a tough cookie to crack but it was better than living isolated.

She can feel herself finally falling asleep, with Rose and the plan as the last things on her mind, until morning comes to wake her up.

Chapter Text

[Some hours in the past, but not many]

“Well, shit.”

Things were Not going according to plan. Like, at all. Rose wasn’t supposed to let Jade inside to talk about their ridiculous plan. She was supposed to stick to what they had perceived was the human’s personality and do the thing where she doesn’t trust anyone and shuts herself out from the outside world even more, so it would be easier to get rid of her. But now, the two humans were probably happily chatting about how they would bring destruction to the whole universe.

Why were humans so stupid? Did they not have enough space in their monkey heads for things like intelligence and basic understanding of gloomy prophecies. Those idiots were ready to just walk into the enemy’s trap like a bunch of buffoons. Because apparently, it wasn’t enough that they stopped Lalonde and Strider from knowing about Jade. Now they had to stop those four imbeciles from meeting or else they would have to fend off against four ascended morons instead of killing them one by one.

Welp, there was not much they could do about it, now that the damage was done. The others needed to know there was a change of plans.

Chapter Text

Morning has come and Rose makes sure she gets up earlier than her guest. Jade seems trustworthy but you can never be too safe with a stranger, especially if they’re sleeping in the same house as you.

Yeah, in retrospect, maybe letting a random girl inside the house was a stupid idea. Rose’s still not sure what compelled her to trust Jade and go along with her plan so easily.

Rose yawns as she makes her way to the kitchen. Truth is she didn’t get much sleep. Everything from last night seemed almost surreal. Between her nightmarish vision, Jade and the revelation that Roxy might be actively hiding from her, she isn’t quite sure how to feel. Jade’s pretty confident in her plan to destroy the room where their enemy is supposed to rise to power but, according to the “prophecy”, they would only know its location once they got a hold on their powers. Rose assumes that means the room is inaccessible unless the eight of them use their abilities to maybe locate or activate it. Jade’s book wasn’t very specific about it, which wasn’t reassuring.

What wasn’t very encouraging either was the possibility that someone already knew about their plan and was already working to stop them. The whole deal with John’s messages was shady, to say the least, though it could just be Rose’s internet connection failing. However, Jade didn’t seem particularly worried about it last night.

Rose walks towards the counter, where she and Jade left the book and the cue ball. She hesitates for a moment, before grabbing the latter and leaning on the counter while she inspects the artifact. Its simple appeareance betrayed the power held in it, she thinks. Every question Rose had asked it last night was answered with an alarming accuracy, even more than her visions. It’d be nice if her predictions could get more precise with training, but she failed to see how having the ball doing all the precognitive work for her was going to help her master her powers. 

If it turns outs to be because of a shitty reason like the cue ball was fake and “the magic was inside of you all along”, she’s going to flip. 

A sudden thump comes from upstairs, followed by cursing, but Rose doesn’t take her eyes of the cue ball. She still hasn’t figured out the limits of this thing, after all, and she doubts there’s such a thing as unlimited knowledge. Especially if there are people capable of keeping it hidden. Like, you know, a Rogue of Void.

With that in mind, Rose asks it another question, one neither she nor Jade were capable of answering:

“Where is Roxy Lalonde?”

The ball lights up for a few seconds, trying to form an image, before it goes black and then returns to its original state. Rose stares at it for a little longer before putting it back in the counter in resignation. She was expecting that to happen, yet she can’t help but feel a little disappointed and worried. Is wanting to know what happened to your older sibling asking for too much? Apparently, yes.

Maybe the reason she’s letting herself be pulled into Jade’s plan is the possibility of discovering what went down two years ago, in this same day. The only thing she can remember is Roxy leaving to meet up with Dirk and Jane and then never returning. According to Dave and John, those two didn’t come back home either. Nobody knew what the three of them were doing but they had been acting suspicious the weeks prior, hiding things from the younger kids. John once caught his cousin talking about breaking into somewhere but Jane shooed him away before he could hear more.

Whatever it was they did or were planning to do, obviously didn’t end well, and if it was true that Roxy was consciously using their powers to hide, then it meant they had died and ascended too.

A door opens upstairs, reminding Rose of the reason she’s in the kitchen in the first place.

“Right, breakfast,” she mutters to herself before heading to the cupboards.

She supposes she should ask Jade what she wants but Rose still has two packs of oatmeal she’s been dying to get rid of, so that’s what they’re eating.

As Rose goes to get the bowls, Jade finally comes downstairs, yawning. Her hair is tousled, one of the shirt’s straps is slipping and her glasses are slightly crooked (not that she seems to notice). Rose snorts, but can’t help finding the sight slightly endearing.

“Good morning, Jade. Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah, thanks! That bed was so soft, it felt like I was laying on a cloud! Even though you can’t actually do that since- Oh, are you making breakfast? Do you need any help?”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Rose says as she hands her a bowl of oatmeal. “And no, but thank you for offering.”

“No problem. Thanks for the food by the way. You really didn’t have to.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Besides what kind of a host would I be if I didn’t feed my guests? A terrible one, obviously.”

Rose sits down and the two begin eating in silence. Once finished with her food, Rose asks when they are leaving to meet John and what they’re doing when that happens. He can’t exactly come with them since he still has school and she doubts they can convince his father to let him skip it.

Jade’s eyes widen.“You’re right. I can’t believe I forgot school was an actual thing for you guys.”

“To be fair, he’s the only one who still attends it. Some of us prefer online classes or learning through Wikipedia articles.”

“That’s going to make the plan slightly easier, but… Isn’t it a little bit worrying?”

“Yes but I can’t exactly leave thanks to my luminous skin and I don’t think Dave’s “Bro” cares enough to enroll him in a school.”

“What?!” Jade blurts out suddenly, almost making Rose drop her spoon in surprise. “What do you mean doesn’t care enough?”

“I meant what I said. There’s a reason me and Roxy weren’t living with Dave and Dirk.”

“That’s it. Once we arrive in Texas, I’m dropping that guy in the middle of the Atlantic and adopting Dave.”

“Jade, you’re sixteen years old,” Rose points out. “Besides we’re taking Dave with us anyway.”

Jade slumps in her seat in defeat. “Yeah, I guess. And we still have to sort out the John issue. Do you know if there’s any school break coming up?”

“Maybe,” Rose pulls out her phone to check while Jade finishes eating. The moment she turns it on, she’s faced with countless Pesterchum notifications. She ignores them for now, opting to open her browser to see when John is free from school. “Spring break starts in six days for him.”

Jade hums in deep thought. “Do you think his dad will let him skip for a few days? I can forge a doctor’s note so he won’t get in trouble with the school.”

Rose doesn’t question how and why she knows how to forge one (space powers, probably) . “We’ll only know once we get there. Somehow, I doubt that’s going to be convincing enough for his father.”

“You have a point. Maybe we should ask them in person. I’ll contact John to tell him we’re coming when he wakes up, which won’t probably happen for the next three hours.”

Rose nods in agreement before grabbing the two empty bowls and putting them in the washing machine. “That’s a good idea but I can’t say that waiting for that long sounds exciting. We should consider meeting up with my brother first and save us some time later, since he’s probably already up.”

“Fine by me. You just need to tell him about it and then I’ll take us there.”

“Alright but before we forget,” Rose points towards Jade’s clothes, “You should get out of those pajamas. Come with me.

Rose leads her to the laundry room to grab her old clothes before Jade leaves to change. In the meantime, Rose proceeds to read all of her messages.

-- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 02:13 --

EB: hey!
EB: i already talked to dave about jade, so you don't have to worry about having to explain anything to him.
EB: talk to you later!

-- ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 02:15 --

-- tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 09:26 --

TT: Thank you.
TT: Talk to you soon.

-- tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 09:27 --

That’s going to save her from having to give a long and detailed explanation to Dave, that’s for sure. Speaking of which:

-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] at 09:26 --

TG: whats this about johns secret sister coming out of nowhere to drag us on some kind of adventure to wreck some kind of secret room
TG: and why am i only now hearing about this
TG: also tell egbert he cant just drop a bomb like this and then go to sleep
TT: Wait. You didn't know about Jade either?
TG: no
TG: john says he told me about it tho
TG: but im looking at our chats and theres nothing
TT: And I'm assuming a shitty internet connection can't be at fault?
TG: nah our wifi is as smooth as they come
TT: I suspected so.
TT: It seems someone is trying to keep us from following her plan.
TG: what
TG: who????
TT: I also didn't receive any messages from John pertaining to this matter, although he has evidence suggesting otherwise.
TT: We don't know yet. Although we suspect it might be the same people who are intent on making us give power to the demon.
TG: we really need to give that guy a name
TG: we cant keep calling him the demon or the evil dude we are gonna make all powerful
TT: Somehow I doubt that's of utmost importance.
TT: But fine. Let's give the douche who's going to ruin our lives (and the universe) an actual name, so we don't have to keep refering to him with the first negative adjectives and nouns that come to our minds.
TG: sweet
TG: something along the lines of soggy snakeheaded dumbass
TT: Destructive draconic douche
TG: lame anaconda licker
TT: How lame can he be compared to that insult?
TG: gimme a break
TG: i just woke up
TT: Unbelievable.
TT: And here I was under the impression that the Strider charm worked 24/7.
TG: shut up
TT: As you wish.
TT: But we still need to discuss the Jade situation.
TT: I'm guessing John told you we need you to come with us?
TG: yeah
TG: just say when you need me to be ready
TG: not like i have much to do anyway
TT: Perfect. How about in ten minutes?
TG: what
TG: you're joking
TG: how are you even getting here in ten minutes
TT: Jade can teleport us there.
TG: oh ok
TG: thats a thing now uh
TG: sure would have been nice to know about it too
TT: Dave, shut up. We don't have time for a temper tantrum.
TG: oh wow
TG: rude
TT: Can we come or not?
TG: yeah sure
TT: Ok, it's settled then. See you soon.

Having finished that conversation, Rose gets ready to move on to the next set of messages. She doesn't recognise the username and considers not even answering since she has better things to do. Eventually she gives in and decides to open them but, weirdly enough, all she sees are a bunch of random characters and the occasional eight. Rose dismisses it as a troll who has nothing better to do than bother strangers (which is the only thing internet trolls do, as far as she's concerned) and blocks them.

Just as she does that, Jade comes up to her, now in her newly washed clothes "So, did you talk to your brother?"

"Yes. We can leave now if you want."

Jade grins widely before taking Rose's arm in hers.

"Perfect! Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

A flash of green engulfs the two of them before they disappear, leaving Rose's house behind.

Chapter Text

[Meanwhile]

"Hey, Sollux! I thought you said you had fixed the problem with the translator!"

Sollux groans in annoyance before spinning in his chair to face the person talking to him, "I did fix it. It's not my fault this shitty planet has even shittier technology that can't handle any of my upgrades without exploding. Besides, what do you even need the translator for? You can already read their language."

The other scoffs and crosses their arms.

"Isn't it obvious? It's because the humans can't understand our language."

"Why would they need to- Wait, you're not actually planning on talking to them, are you?"

"Well-"

"Vriska, are you fucking insane? These are the same idiots that are going to destroy the freaking universe! We've been busting our asses day and night to try to find a way to stop them without them noticing us and pulverising us and you're trying to talk to them? I know you love being in the limelight but this is just plain stupid."

Vriska rolls her eyes. "Oh, stop being overdramatic! Those guys aren't going to find us. Besides remember who you're talking to. I literally have all the luck, Sollux. All of it. They're gonna need a miracle to even hope to beat me."

He doesn't answer, opting to keep fiddling with his computer. A few seconds go by before Vriska gets impatient.

"Soooooooollux. Are you going to fix it or not?"

"If that gets you off my case, then yes."

"Perfect. This way, please." Vriska grabs him by the arm to her assigned computer. A few minutes pass until Sollux manages to convert the Alternian alphabet characters into Latin ones (not that he knows what Latin even is- another weird human convention probably). Vriska grins and thanks him before shooing him off her seat.

He watches her try to message the Rose human before huffing in frustration and slamming her hands on the desk.

"I can't believe she blocked me. Now if I talk to her, she's going to know something's up."

"Somehow I doubt she doesn't already know that. Most of us here aren't exactly subtle."

Vriska doesn't say anything back. Sollux considers leaving her alone before he notices another chat window opening, this time with a blue username. "Wait, are you going to talk to another one?"

"Well, duh. If I can't manipulate one I have to try another. I have to make sure this plan works."

"What plan?"

"My plan to trick them into offing themselves, of course. If I manage to manipulate them into doing this for us, we won't have to face them."

She side eyes him before pouting, "Would you mind leaving? This is a delicate process."

Sollux scoffs but obeys. However, just as he's about to sit down in front of his computer, he turns to her and asks, "You do realise KK won't approve of this, right?"

Across the room, Vriska snorts.

"And what is he going to do? Curse me into oblivion?"

He doesn't doubt that but chooses not to answer as the two of them go back to focusing on the screens in front of them, in complete silence.

Chapter Text

Jade and Rose arrive instantly at Dave's place and narrowingly avoid falling in a very sharp pile of weapons. After the initial shock of almost being impaled, they start scrutinising their surroundings, looking for any other type of danger. They don’t find it but, shockingly, that’s not what bothers them the most.

The apartment is, too say the least, a freaking mess. It gave off a better vibe than the cold and distant atmosphere of Rose’s mansion but Jade can't help but want to get out of there as soon as possible.

“Are... Are we at the right place?” Jade asks, eyeing nervously the collection of swords and puppets scattered around the room. Rose just nods before dusting off her skirt and motioning towards a door.

"We should go find my brother," she says as she lets go of Jade’s arm and heads out of the living room. However, as soon as she reaches for the door handle, the door bursts open and Dave comes out holding a cardboard box, surprising both him and Rose. The two immediately take a step back in shock and almost trip. Jade tries not to snort at the sight of it but fails and Dave finally notices her. She waves her hand awkwardly, to which he nods.

“Hey. Jade, right?”

“Yup.”

Rose moves out of the way to let Dave in. He puts the box down before turning to the two girls, “That was quick. Part of me kinda thought Rose was kidding about the whole teleportation thing.”

“Oh, no. That is a thing that is very much real.”

“Nice. That’s pretty useful. Certainly could help with stuff like spring cleaning.”

“Is this why your apartment looks like it was run over by a tornado?” Rose asks as she scans the chaos that surrounds them. Dave snorts.

“Bold of you to assume it doesn’t always look like shit. But yeah, cleaning. I gotta find some place to shove all this stuff in before any more stabby accidents occur.”

Dave motions towards the various plush puppets haphazardly thrown around the room. “Who would have thought smuppet’s bodies were so easily penetra- wait, no, phrasing. Those guys are impossible to sew back when repeatedly slashed by swords.”

Jade doesn’t question the veracity of that statement and doesn’t bother asking what kind of accidents end with stabbed puppets. Or why anyone would repeatedly slash them with swords.

Rose coughs into her fist to catch their attention. "Introductions and vaguely disturbing memorabilia aside, we should start discussing our plan, seeing as that's why we're here in the first place. But first," she glanced around the room before setting her eyes on Dave, "We are alone, right?"

"Yeah, don't worry. He left around five, to do whatever it is he does at that ungodly hour, and probably won’t return till noon. But we can go to my room if it makes you feel safer."

“That would be preferable, yes. Thank you.”

The three of them head to Dave’s room. It is considerably less of a safety hazard than the living room, Jade notes as they sit down on his bed. At least she assumes it is, since there are two beds in it.

“So, how much do you know about what we’re doing?” she asks him.

“Pretty much all of it, I think. Find our older siblings/cousins, control our powers and destroy a creepy room.”

Jade nods. “Yes, that’s the gist of it. Although we haven’t had much luck in our search.”

Dave hums in response and lays back in bed. Jade turns to Rose but she’s to busy staring at the other side of the room in contemplation to notice her. Jade follows her gaze to a picture resting on a desk. A younger Rose and Dave stare back at her and so do the two teenagers behind them. Roxy and Dirk, she thinks. That blonde hair was unmistakable.

She turns back to Rose and tentatively reaches to her. Rose doesn’t seem to mind but she finally stops looking at the photo once Jade puts a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you ok?” Jade whispers.

It takes a few seconds for Rose to answer. Her purple eyes bore into Jade’s green ones before she snaps out of it and blushes in embarrassment (Jade can’t help but think that it’s kinda cute). She turns her head away in hopes of getting out of Jade’s line of sight, but unfortunately is met with Dave staring at her with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m fine, quit staring at me like that.”

Jade and Dave share a look before shrugging it off. If Rose didn’t want to talk then they couldn’t force her to do so.

She gets up suddenly and leaves the room, announcing she needs to go to the bathroom to freshen up. Dave yells the directions at her before turning to Jade. “So, Jade, any idea where to start?”

“Well, if we’re being honest, I was kinda hoping that you guys had clues of some sort to discover what happened two years ago. Rose couldn’t find any since Roxy’s very good at hiding.”

“I don’t think I’d be of much help either, everything that night is kinda blurry. Though we could always try to look for something around the house, starting with Dirk’s stuff.”

“But wouldn’t that be an invasion of privacy?”

Dave gets up from bed and shrugs, before heading towards the other side of the room. He motions for Jade to come closer.

“I think that’s the last of our problems.”

Well, yes, but Jade wasn’t sure if she was okay with rummaging through someone's, let alone a stranger’s, stuff. However, Dave didn’t seem to care as he urged her to follow his example and go through the boxes spread around Dirk’s side of the room.

She sighs in resignation before grabbing one full of stacks of paper. It’s mostly blueprints (it looks like he was trying to build a robot of some kind) and some drawings of colorful ponies. In Jade’s opinion they were extremely adorable and nice to look at, even more than the ones of anthropomorphic animals that were in the bottom of the box (although those too were pretty and she would have spent more time looking at them if she wasn’t a girl on a mission).

Jade tries to put the drawings aside but Dave stops her. “Woah, you found his MLP fanart! Haven’t seen that one around in a while. Also his furry art.”

“What? Oh, you mean these! Yeah, they’re really cool. Wish mine came out as good. ”

“Wait, are you a furry? I don’t mean to disappoint you but those aren’t legit. Pretty sure he only does that to be ironic.”

Dave shakes his head solenmenly.

“Dirk’s a fraud and a disillusion for the furry community.”

“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I wonder how many of his followers and fans will get heartbroken once they find out the fake that he is. They really don’t deserve any of his lies.”

“Right, I’m just gonna-”

Jade puts the papers back in the box before moving on to another one. This one is full of cables, too tangled to be of any use. She considers leaving them be but something catches her eye. In the bottom of the box, there’s something pointy, black and shiny. Jade gets the cables out of the way and grabs the thing, just as Rose walks into the room. She puts the object down once again, not even bothering to see what it is, and turns to the other girl. 

Rose simply nods before asking what they’re doing. Soon enough she’s helping them rummage her older brother’s belongings. 

Once she’s sure Rose is actually alright, Jade turns her attention back to what she was holding.

A pair of pointy anime shades. Wow, and here she was hoping it was going to be something more interesting. Oh well, back to the box they go.

However, as soon as she’s about to throw them away, a bright red light emerges from the shades and an unknown voice speaks up:

"You're finally coming back after leaving me alone for two years, huh? That wasn't very cash money of you, bro."

Chapter Text

Everyone immediately stops what they're doing to stare at the sunglasses. Objects are dropped, eyebrows are raised, eyes are widened and mouths are hanging open in shock at the (possibly) sentient shades. A soft humming comes from them as they glow red in Jade's hands.

An heavy silence ensues as the three kids try to make sense of what's happening. Rose and Jade turn to Dave for an explanation but he simply shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders. The girls share a look between each other before the shades speak up again.

"Wait. You're not Dirk."

Dave leans on his side to whisper to the girls, covering his mouth from the glasses, hoping that that was enough to prevent them from listening.

"It has Dirk's voice. What the actual hell?"

"Yes, I noticed that, Dave," Rose whispers back. "And why are you so surprised? You've been living with him for sixteen years, a pair of talking sunglasses surely couldn't have gone unnoticed."

"Except it could, because it's Dirk we're talking about!"

"Yeah, okay, I can't argue with that."

As their whispering continues, Jade turns her attention back to the possibly possessed shades. "Uhh, hi?"

"Hey, who are you?"

"Who are you ?"

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

"That's not- Wait, is that Rose?"

At the mention of her name, Rose stops talking to Dave, leaving him to mumble alone about their conspiracy theories about what else Dirk had been hiding from him. She raises an eyebrow.

"And how do you know that?"

"Are you kidding?" The shades make a noise that Rose and Jade assume is supposed to be a snort, but sounds way off with the metallic tone of their voice. "I have all of Dirk's memories, of course I know you are."

"You do?" 

All the kids stare between each other in confusion. (And slight fear. What kind of machine has all of someone's memories?) 

Jade motions with her head to the box, silently asking if she should get rid of the glasses. Dave nods but Rose stops both of them with a raise of her hand. She takes the shades from Jade's hands.

"Yeah," they finally answer, "Not exactly the most glamorous thing to have, but it's what I was programmed with. Beats me why the dude would want an auto responder like that, he can't even stand himself."

Rose opens her mouth to further inquire them, but Dave pipes in, interrupting her. "Wait, are you the reason why sometimes he would talk out of character in his texts? Like, in a even more robotic way?"

"I wouldn't call it 'out of character', but yeah."

"Why didn't I know about you?"

"Your older peers decided it would be best not to tell you and your sister about me. Something about you two trying to exploit my knowledge. Also, if that's who I think that is, Jake also didn't want her to know."

Dave opens his mouth to further inquire them, but Rose pipes in, interrupting him. "Oh, really? And what kind of knowledge do you have exactly?"

"Well, I have Dirk's memories, as I said before, and he wore me on his face, so everything he heard or saw until he very inconsiderately shoved me inside a box, I also saw and heard."

"You said you hadn't seen him for two years, correct?"

"Yes."

Rose chuckles before turning to Jade and Dave with a devious grin, "Oh, we are definitely exploiting your knowledge."

Or at least they would have if the shades, who ended up introducing himself as Hal, didn't claim Roxy told him not to reveal anything about the plan.

Rose huffs in exasperation, "I am so close to throwing you into a puddle of water."

"Nice try, kid. I'm waterproof."

"Let's see how waterproof you are when I shove you down the toi-"

"Okay! I think that's enough from the two of you." Jade takes Hal back again, putting him at a safe distance from a fuming Rose.

"Yes Lalonde, listen to Harley."

Jade puts him down on bed and takes Dave's and Rose's hands to drag them out of the room. Once on the hallway, and ignoring the puppets staring at her, she turns to them, hoping the three could come up with a plan to extract information from Hal.

Dave crosses his arms and leans on the wall. "None of us is an expert hacker, as far as I'm concerned. Wait, Jade do you happen-"

"No, sorry."

"Dang, that would have been awesome. I mean, not that you're not already cool with your whole science and space thing."

"Aww, thanks Dave! I think you're cool too."

Dave immediately blushes but tries to cover it by coughing into his fist and pushing his shades lower. Rose snorts, trying not to laugh, and Dave gently shoves her with his shoulder, in retaliation.

"Uuuh, thanks- I mean! I knew that already but it's nice you think that too Harley."

"Oh, you're welcome!"

Dave and Jade stare at each other awkwardly while Rose is still trying not to laugh. She takes a deep breath before interrupting their staring contest, "Dave, my dearest brother, that was simply the worst."

"Shut up, Lalonde. You're just jealous I think Jade is cooler than you."

"Your words wound me, Strider. However shall I continue now that I'm not deemed the coolest in your list of three friends?"

"You only have three friends too, dumbass. And just so you know, you're behind John."

"Moi? Less cooler than John?"

"Well, yeah, he doesn't steal people's diamonds in Minecraft."

"You did the same thing, you utter buffon."

Jade gasps, "Dave, you stole someone's diamonds on Minecraft? That's not nice!"

"What? Didn't you hear the part where I said Rose did it too? Why's everyone turning on me?"

"Stop changing the subject, David. Answer for your crimes."

"Rose, no-"

"Are the three of you going to keep talking about the illegally of Dave's actions or are you actually going to come up with a plan?"

Hal's sudden remark makes them jump on their feet and stop laughing. How was he listening to them? Did he have enhanced hearing or something? Were the walls just too thin? Or maybe-

"No, we just forgot to close the door," Dave says as he closes it. Inside the bedroom, Hal wishes them good luck on their plan making.

"Okay," Jade puts her fist against her palm. Her determined look is enough to bring Rose's and Dave's attention to her, "No time for jokes now. We've got an auto responder to crack."

Rose shrugs.

"I don't see how we could do anything. Tricking him sounds like the best option at this point, but he seems a bit too smart for that. I would love spending my time trying to prove this theory but we can't stay here for long, unless we wanted to run into… Unwanted company."

The three kids stare at the puppets around them. Their eyes seem to bore into their souls and watching, waiting for them to make their next move. It is, quite frankly, disturbing. Rose pretends not to see Dave trying to suppress a shudder.

"Maybe we could blackmail him?" Jade pipes him, trying to cut the silence. "It's not exactly pretty or something I want to do, but, if it's to help my new friends, then I would do it."

"Harley, keep saying that kind of things and we're gonna have to hug you in the most emotional of embraces, ugly tears and everything."

"Even the snot?"

Dave puts his hand on her right shoulder. "All of the snot, Jade. All of it. You won't be able to escape neither it nor the hug."

"Don't worry Dave. I would accept you guy's hugs, ugly tears and snot and everything."

"Well, I wouldn't. Please keep your nose mucus to yourselves."

"No, Roose. It wouldn't be the same without you."

Jade dramatically drapes her arms over Rose's shoulders, making Rose smile slightly. "Accept our looooove."

"No, I mustn't. Such emotions are revolting to a creature of darkness such as myself."

"Rose, no, you gotta accept it. Jade even prolonged her o's."

"I will do no such thing. We can save the hugs for when we finally meet up with John."

"You're right! We can't do-"

"Ok, you guys are adorable but this is getting sad. Just come here and I'll tell you what happened," Hal interrupts them again.

Still wondering wether he had super hearing or if the walls were just that thin, the kids crept into the room. On top of Dirk's bed, Hal glows red in greeting.

Dave raises an eyebrow at him. "What, just like that? We spent this whole time trying to crack you and now you're just plainly telling us?"

"Yeah, well, I might be a little curious about what happened two years ago too."

Jade smiles sympathetically, as she picks him up. "Oh, do you want to know why you haven't heard from Dirk for so long and why he put you aside?"

Hal bursts out laughing, making Jade almost drop him. "Oh, no, I know exactly why he put me in there. I would explain but we would need a long time to even understand the basics of whatever the fuck is going on in his head."

"Instead, I'll tell you guys about what your older siblings, slash cousins, were planning to do two years ago."