Chapter Text
Your name is KARKAT VANTAS, and
GT: hey karkat! sorry this is short notice, but could you open your door?
you hardly have time to read what John’s text is when he promptly kicks your door in, not quite knocking it off of its hinges but with enough force that Terezi calls loudly, “If it’s the police, tell them she’s not here.”
You don’t reply. You can’t. You’re resisting the urge to laugh, or to reach out to help.
John is carrying Strider bridal-style. You can see quite clearly from here that the blond’s head is lolled backwards, one hand flopped over his stomach (bleeding) while the other droops towards the ground (bleeding), and John is worrying his lower lip and staring down at the demon’s forehead (bleeding). A quick examination from head to toe also reveals that there is a red splotch by his leg (also bleeding. Jesus frick).
“What the fuck,” you manage, and then Strider lets out the most inhumane noise of pain you’ve ever heard and you yell for Terezi. You know just about jackshit about first-aid, you knew you should’ve looked it up sooner but it never seemed relevant. You can feel the blood pulsing in Strider’s veins, his heart pumping the blood out of his wounds, his –
You stop for a second. Breathe in, breathe out a few times, and listen.
... Never have you heard as steady a heartbeat.
You can see from here that he is breathing evenly, not shallow or quick as you had expected, and it’s exactly sixty beats a minute, you can tell from years of listening to clocks tick. John is eyeing you oddly, likely by your strange silence, and you take only a few moments to listen to Strider’s disturbing life rhythm before you demand, “How the shithive maggots did this happen?” gesturing wildly, almost hitting Terezi on her way to invade Strider’s space and sniff all along his body.
“It’s a long story,” John replies enigmatically, and you huff but lead him to the one ratty couch in the place.
John’s story isn’t very long at all. In fact, it’s merely a repeat of what all demons have faced and not all have survived: demon hunters. The only catch in the story is that those specific demon hunters were Strider’s brother and sister, Dirk Strider and Rose Lalonde.
“It was weird,” John says with a furrow of his brow. A couple of years ago, he would have been acting completely differently – but just months of travels with Strider have matured him, and so instead of panicking, stone-cold logic sees him through. “Like, Rose seemed really reluctant and hung back and stuff, and Dave asked me to stay back, so I did, and he and Dirk were talking up a storm. And then shhtick! Slash slash, blood everywhere.”
John illustrates the story with his hands, making chopping motions that are eerily reminiscent of the cuts painted onto Strider’s body. Terezi is busy with him, having cut away his shirt and part of his jeans, sniffing along to determine the most damage as you cut bandages and hold disinfectant and occasionally use tweezers.
“I have no idea what Dirk was saying,” John went on. “Whatever it was, it put Rose on edge, and she was in the middle of saying something when Dirk brought his blade down. Dave wasn’t even armed, like, he’d told me to hold onto his shitty swords and everything, they’re still in my sylladex and…”
The blue-eyed demon trails off then, lapsing into an uneasy silence as he regarded Strider on the couch.
“Is he going to be okay?” he asked quietly.
Terezi sniffs again – not a sniff that means she’s looking around, but a sniff that means she’s being disdainful. “You know him best, mister Egbert. What do you think?”
You’re about to say something – you can feel his body at work, stitching skin closed, blood mostly flowing to and past wounds, his heart never stopping its strange, rhythmic, impossibly steady pulsing – but Terezi shoots you a sharp glance that tells you to keep quiet. You know better than to try and argue, at least when there are others around, so you settle for crossing your arms across your chest.
“I don’t know,” John replies softly, miserably. You stare at him, a little incredulously. You haven’t seen John in a while – more than a few months, since he and Strider drop by unexpectedly most of the time – but you’ve never seen him hung up like this. You wonder if a relationship like theirs is one you could possibly have with anyone. (Probably not, your mind whispers, who do you know that would possibly love you so, and you want to stab something.) “It’s been a long time since anything like this has happened.”
“Well, he’s not dead, so that’s a start,” Terezi points out, eyes narrowed in concentration. It might have been odd for a blind girl to stitch up someone’s wounds, but you have yet to encounter someone whose blade is as quick and precise as hers. You’d trust her with a needle over yourself, or anyone else, that much is for certain. “And it doesn’t look like he’s dying soon.”
John lets out a long, drawn-out breath, and you don’t notice the slight breeze he’s been stirring up around the room until it stops.
“My question is why Strider let his siblings get within a hundred foot radius of you,” you say, partly to change the subject, partly to satisfy your own curiosity. “As far as I was aware, he was pretty set on not ever letting them find you.”
“I don’t know,” John repeats, wringing his hands. “I really don’t. You’ll have to ask him when he wakes up.”
“But why the fuck did Lalonde just stand there? Was it only Dirk who did this?” John nods, and you press, “To his own brother?”
“I’m not Dirk Strider, I can’t tell you why he did it,” John shoots back, and you immediately backtrack because if he’s acting like this, it’s more than obvious that he is simultaneously pissed and worried to hell and back and he may or may not try to hurt you. He deflates as he murmurs, “And I don’t know about Rose, either.”
“He could have been talking to her behind your back,” Terezi says, using a tooth to cut the string she’d been using to stitch Strider up.
“No, he wouldn’t have,” John says. His tone isn’t stony, but the look he levels at the Seer is accusing. “Not without telling me. That’s not how we work.”
“That seems very idealist and petty,” Terezi responds blankly, sitting back from her handiwork to swipe ebony hair from her forehead.
John sets his jaw, and says tightly, “You have no idea what it’s like to trust someone utterly and completely, do you?”
“I trust justice utterly and completely,” she replies, all quicksilver smirks and double-edged snark, and you have to send John a look as he prepares to rise to the jab. You get that Terezi is a bag of hyenas sometimes, but she never means ill – not to other demons, at least. Hunters met the far less forgiving side of her.
Fortunately, Strider takes the proceeding silence his cue to wake up, and he does so by – instead of screaming or groaning or anything, literally anything else – calling hoarsely, “John?”
You don’t even see the demon move, when John’s gone from his anxious perch on the arm of the couch to shoving Terezi out of the way and cupping Strider’s face with both hands in less than an instant. “I’m here,” he breathes, gently pressing his forehead to Strider’s, and the red-eyed demon gives him a faint smile before his eyes close again and he lets out a sigh of relief. It’s terribly romantic, and you want to simultaneously puke and swoon at the same time. Terezi has to tug on your arm when you don’t move, and you jump maybe a foot in the air.
Her blank, scarlet gaze somehow betrays her amusement, and you mutter a preemptive shut up as you filter out of the room and leave Strider and Egbert to their… thing. “I’ve never seen a love so pure!” Terezi cackles once she knows the two of you are out of earshot, and per your predictions, she’s grinning like a shark. “It brings a tear to my eyes.”
“Please. I haven’t seen you cry since you looked straight into the fucking sun with a telescope.”
She pouts and nudges you with her extremely bony shoulder, ow. “Karkles, I’m offended! I am fully capable of feeling sadness and having the consequent physical reaction as such.”
“Don’t you always know what’s going to happen next?” you point out, cynicism lending your voice a sharp edge. “So there’s no point in being depressed at any given point in your miserable existence?”
“Now, now, Karkles, that’s what we might say is a defense mechanism called projection.” She sobers almost immediately thereafter, however, and you sigh as she says, “If you want to know how seeing these sort of things work, you should ask the Knight of Time yourself, Karkat. He will know how to explain it best.”
Knight of Time…
When you’d first heard that Strider Junior had been forcibly recruited into demon ranks, his powers had still been dormant. Even now, the only reason anyone knew that his skills extended to time itself was because Jane Crocker, Jake English and Jade Harley had been killed following Strider’s involvement, and then the rumors had spread. True rumors at that – Strider has demonstrated for you at your request.
You guess asking Strider about time wouldn’t be a bad thing, and it isn’t something you’re totally opposed to – he was a very chill guy at the party in Idaho a while back, no doubt – but there was always something about him that struck you as ‘off’, in some way. The way he stood, tall but dead; how his eyes shone with lackluster, if that were possible. How his heart pumps that disturbingly steady beat…
You and Terezi end up in the kitchen. She tells you that she’s going to her room, which means she’s going to do her Seer-y thing again, and you nod as you putter around, gathering edibles that a person who can’t stand and has blood leaking out of them in several places can eat. Once done, you grab a two glasses, fill them with water, and shove the whole mess in your sylladex as you turn around and make your way back to the living room.
John knows you’re coming somehow, because he’s standing next to Strider’s sickbed (sickcouch? Hm) when you peek a head around the wall to see if their little pale interlude is over with.
“Hey, Vantas,” Strider says weakly, eyes half-lidded. “Sorry to ruin your couch with my gross blood. Eurgh.” He laughs, a little hysterically, and then tells you, “Haven’t seen this much of it outside me in a while.”
“You’re a dumbass,” you reply, plain and simple, and Strider makes a little waving motion with his hand when John tenses up at the insult. Terezi was right, it’s clear their relationship is serendipitous, and you feel a little ashamed for having interrupted them – not enough to turn back, of course. “Think you can eat? You too, John, and don’t give me that look, I’m not going to stab him.”
John mutters something under his breath and his companion rolls his eyes, though it’s a little hard to tell as Strider makes grabbing motions with his hands. He stops after two seconds, his expression twisting into one of pain, but nevertheless you mosey over, only to pop the water glasses out of your inventory offer it to John. He’s surprised, for a moment, but then he takes it and bends down to Strider’s level and carefully puts the glass to Strider’s lips.
You have to look away, and you feel like you should be doing something with your hands, but you aren’t sure what, and in the end you shrug inwardly and prepare to make like a tree. This plan is ruined when Strider mutters something, and then John calls out, “Karkat, he wants to talk to you.”
“Oh yes, because I’m a bundle of joy any day of the week.” Strider snorts as you draw closer, sit on the floor in front of him. John has reclaimed his perch on the arm of the couch, and he gives you a look that says he isn’t quite sure what to do if you fuck up somehow. You give him a stone-cold glare in return, as you ask tiredly, “What do you want?”
There’s a pause, where Strider lets out a weak cough-laugh, and then he says hoarsely, “They know about Terezi. Her, uh.” Another pause, like he’s trying to think of the words. He finds his silver tongue a moment later. “Her… powers, I think. I don’t know think they know what they are, though.”
Meanwhile, you and John have locked eyes, with mirroring horror slowly dawning in them.
“You’re sure about this,” you say. You don’t phrase it as a question, because Dave Strider never lies. (He’s not physically able to, not with John’s order hanging over his head, and for some reason he doesn’t seem to mind.)
“Yeah.” Cough. “There’s – something I’m missing here, isn’t there.”
“Shit,” John says, drawing out the word to an obscene length, and he is so, so right. You’re out of the place before anyone else says a word.
When you finally manage to drag Terezi out of her room, she’s more than a little skeptical and extremely irritated at being interrupted from her scrying. You tell her it’s important as you pull her along, walking in on John kissing Strider lightly on the lips before returning to his perch on the arm of the couch. You wrinkle your nose but don’t comment.
“This better be good,” Terezi says, snapping her cane out of her sylladex in order to lean on it. She looks intimidating just in the way she holds herself, but Strider looks hardly fazed. Instead, he gives you a quick rundown of where he was – somewhere in North Dakota, two thirty eight and forty one seconds in the morning, three days before full moon – and then tells you what his brother said.
“Dirk told me he knew about a demon named Terezi Pyrope and her powers. He asked me if I knew who that was. I lied and said I didn’t.”
He tells you about his brother’s plan – find Terezi, hold her captive, get information about demons and locations from her. Both you and Terezi laugh outright at that, until he mentions blessed silver and exorcisms, and then he tells you the real kicker: Dirk is willing to stake Rose’s life. “If I don’t bring you to him in one month or less, he will kill my sister,” he says, his face painfully blank.
“And she’s okay with this?” you demand.
“Of course she fucking isn’t,” he snaps, and then winces when it pulls on a wound somewhere. He adds quietly, “I’ve never seen her so terrified in my life.”
John’s eyebrows knit together and he says, “She looked fine to me.”
“Strilondes have the best pokerfaces,” he replies, and something akin to pain flickers across his face. “I haven’t been talking to her, but maybe I should have, if I’d known Dirk was pulling something like this.”
“You still have her number, don’t you?” John asks, reaching down to run his fingers through Strider’s blond hair.
“I guess,” Strider replies, his eyes closing slightly at John’s touch. “I don’t know what to say, though.”
“Why don’t we just kill your brother?” Terezi asks, her voice sharp.
“Good luck with that. Ever since I killed Roxy, he’s gone off the deep end in the worst way possible.” Strider shakes his head slightly. “I wouldn’t want to fight him ever, unless John’s life was at stake.”
“But if Rose is involved – ” John breaks off, for a moment, and then asks quietly, “That means you’re going to try to help her, right?” Strider’s eyes flick upwards, meeting John’s blue ones.
“Your word is my command, love,” he answered, just as quietly. “I’ll do what you think is right.”
“Jesus Christ,” you hiss under your breath. You know you deserve the elbow jab Terezi levels at you.
“But it’s your sister,” John says, eyes wide, voice cracking. “How can you expect me to – ”
“Your brother abso-fucking-lutely cannot get Terezi,” you growl. Terezi makes no move to reprimand your manners, because she knows you’re right. “Losing our Seer means we can’t protect ourselves.”
“Because that makes perfect sense,” Strider mutters, and you’re reminded that he’s very new to the demon community and that he wouldn’t know. It pisses you off anyway – you would think he’d try to learn about the culture he’s in, but then again, he is new, and you really should cut him some slack somewhere.
“Karkles, why don’t you enlighten them about my duties?” Terezi puts a hand on her shoulder and leans in, whispering, “I will be preparing to leave. Find me when you are finished,” and upon your nod disappears from the room.
John says, “Karkat, you don’t have to stay, I can explain about what – ”
“You heard the Seer,” you snap back, and John appropriately shut his mouth. Strider gives both of you a strange look, and you can feel it again, the blood pulsing through his veins, sixty beats a minute, as you go on, “Seers tell us when demon hunters are on the way or have discovered hives. Then they tell us where it’s safe, and then we run.”
Strider’s eyebrows furrow as he spies obvious problems in this plan. “She does this for the entire world?”
“There’s more than one, and Terezi knows how to network, Dave,” John says, and at the other demon’s narrowed eyes he sighs and says, “Let’s just leave it at that.”
“Doesn’t that mean she’s constantly – ”
“Pretty much,” you reply preemptively.
“But – ”
“ – can’t she see the future of demon hives that are doomed? Yes. That’s why she doesn’t bother telling them sometimes.” You stare at him, willing him to understand. “It’s kill or be killed.”
“But the timelines, there’s always – ” He breaks off to hack something into his hand, which, upon further inspection, he grimaces and wipes on his jeans. His wounds seem to be causing him only minimal pain now, though he may just be covering it up. “There’s always at least one timeline with a more favorable conclusion, so why doesn’t she – ”
Again with the timeline business. Terezi had explained to you once, in terms of red time and blue time, and you get the general idea but couldn’t be bothered to understand it further. “Other factors play in, you know – if the demon hive moving affects other demon hives, it’s best not to fuck things up completely,” you say, attempting and succeeding, barely, to not snap at him. “You really want to know, bring it up with the Seer. I’m just her appointed bodyguard.”
“What, so,” Strider grimaces as he braces one hand behind him, and before you can do anything he’s pushed himself into a seated position, pain written all over his face, “You’re not an item?”
You give him a dumbfounded look, receive a blank stare in response, and exchange an incredulous glance with John. “You think she’d slow down for anyone? Hell no. Seers don’t have time for that shit even if they wanted it.”
“Demons are weird,” Strider responds.
“Agreed, they are,” you say with a nod. “Still, we’re still alive even after you humans keep trying to murder us, so I’d say we’re allowed some strange fuckery.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Strider says, a grin flickering onto his face. There’s a moment of silence, and then he says, “Okay, but enough shooting the breeze. You should really get out of here. Time is of essence.”
John rolls his eyes and reminds him, “We should too, dumbass. Your brother still wants to kill me, remember?”
“I would never forget that, John.”
There’s a fierce light in Strider’s eyes, just for a moment, but it disappears the moment you surreptitiously try to get a better look. He looks like a walking corpse, bloody but not broken, alive but not dead, and John helps him to his feet as you turn your head and yell down the hallway, “Are you ready?”
The response is in the form of a sharp-angled girl with red glasses perched delicately on the bridge of her nose, cane in hand, sharp-toothed grin on her face. “Quite,” she says. “But first, a thought for our guests. Strider in particular, actually!”
“I’m listening,” he says. He looks no more pained than usual, but you get the sense he is no more eager to travel than any of you are.
“Have you considered perhaps rescuing your sister?” Terezi examines her nails as Strider’s frown deepens by a fraction of an inch. “I know of a few demons in particular who would likely not be opposed to aiding our cause. One of them happens to be in close proximity of Rose Lalonde’s current location.”
“Actually,” John says, turning to Strider, “That might work. If you let her know.”
Strider hesitates. Doubt is gleaming in his scarlet eyes, but it clears away when he meets and holds John’s gaze, and he says, “Cool. I’m in.”
“Excellent,” Terezi crows as she walks closer, a grin that says she knew his answer all along smeared on her face. “Kanaya will not be pleased, but she will do it.” She gestures with her cane, widely enough that she almost hits you, though at this point you are highly adept at avoiding it. “Come! We will form a plan as we walk.”
“Hobble,” Strider corrects, one arm slung around John’s shoulders, and Terezi cackles as you dutifully follow her, the other two demons behind her. Somehow, even though his face remains entirely impassive, you can hear the smile in his voice as he says, “Let’s get this fruity rumpus asshole factory on the road, then.”
CG: AND THAT’S THE PLAN.
CG: ANY QUESTIONS?
TG: yes
CG: ANY QUESTIONS THAT AREN’T FROM STRIDER?
TG: rude
TT: I am not sure if this is wise. Dirk is not a force one would think of reckoning with.
TT: And if it is not successful, where does that leave me? Once he is aware that demons have made contact with me, any possibility that I remain alive is narrowed further.
GA: Are You Insinuating That I Am Not Capable Because I Can Assure You That You Will Be In Most Capable Hands Indeed
TT: I would never.
TG: ps thats sarcasm
TT: Love you too, brother dearest.
TG: aw sis youre making my kokoro go doki doki
GT: really?
TG: nah it only ever goes above sixty when im speeding time up
CG: THAT EXPLAINS A LOT OF THINGS.
TG: what
CG: NOTHING. IF YOU’RE REALLY THAT CURIOUS I’LL TELL YOU LATER.
CG: ANYWAY, LALONDE. HAVE NO DOUBT THAT KANAYA WILL GET YOU OUT OF THERE BECAUSE SHE FUCKING WILL.
TT: I remain optimistic.
GC: Y3T R34L1ST1C4LLY SK3PT1C4L! YOUR S1ST3R 1S W1S3 STR1D3R
TG: coulda told you that
GA: If We Might Bring The Topic Back To Its Origin
CG: YES, THANK YOU KANAYA. AGAIN, ANY QUESTIONS BECAUSE THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU CAN ASK THEM.
TG: are there any demons versed in life because id like to be healed sooner rather than later
TG: also will i be able to see rose later
TT: Will you not kill me on sight?
GT: jeez, no, of course not! i took back those orders a long time ago. have some faith in me!
TT: My apologies. I was under the presumption that
TT: Well, no. Never mind.
GC: 4G41N 4 W1S3 D3C1S1ON. 1 4M GL4D 3V3NTS 4R3 P4NN1NG OUT 1N TH1S P4RT1CUL4R T1M3L1N3. YOUR S1ST3R 1S QU1T3 4N 1NT3R3ST1NG P3RSON
TG: yo im not sure if youre aware but youre coming off as real creepy rn
GA: Clearly You Have Not Known Her For Very Long Because I Hate To Inform You That She Is Always Like This
GC: TH4NK YOU FOR TH3 VOT3 OF CONF1D3NC3 K4N4Y4 >:[
GA: Its True
CG: OKAY THIS IS GETTING NOWHERE SO I’M GOING TO CLOSE THIS MEMO NOW AND WE’LL ALL SPRING INTO ACTION AT EXACTLY TWO A.M. UNDERSTOOD?
CG: I DON’T EXPECT A RESPONSE TO THAT, JUST DON’T FUCK THIS UP BECAUSE OTHERWISE STRIDER WILL BE A LIABILITY AND TEREZI WILL BE IN DANGER.
GT: also, i will be sad forever if dave is sad about rose being dead.
TG: cute
GT: i’m always cute.
TG: not as cute as me
GT: well, obviously. <3
TG: <3
TT: Are they always this adorable?
CG: YES. IT’S HIDEOUS.
GC: WH4T 4R3 YOU T4LK1NG 4BOUT? 1T 1S 4BOUT TH3 SW33T3ST TH1NG 1 H4V3 3V3R S33N
CG: YOU CAN’T FUCKING SEE!
GC: K4RKL3S TH4TS V3RY RUD3
TG: wait then how the hell does she type
CG: I’M ALWAYS RUDE, THANKS FOR CLARIFYING. LET’S GET THIS SHITTY THING OVER WITH.
GT: ok, i am in position!
TT: And I once again must remind you that I do not believe this plan is wise.
You look up from your phone to give Kanaya a nod. Her skin is porcelain white, but she tones down the glowing until it’s nonexistent before creeping forward. Strider watches her with sharp eyes, a very real, very sharp single-edged sword flipping rhythmically in one hand, though he stops when you shoot him a glare.
CG: REMIND ME WHY YOUR FAMILY LIVES IN A CRAPPY APARTMENT ON THE TOP FLOOR?
TT: Our older siblings are cheapskates.
TT: Also, it’s near the roof.
CG: HOW IS THE ROOF RELEVANT?
TT: Dave can explain, should you ask.
You’re in charge of keeping Terezi out of trouble as Kanaya silently scales the building to the fire escape. Somehow her footsteps are dead silent on the metal, which by all rights should be rattling with her weight, and you can only watch, holding your breath, as she continues upwards. Somewhere above, John is flying around, ready to swoop in and save the day if something goes wrong.
“Terezi,” you whisper, and the Seer looks over her shoulder, “What’s the future look like?”
“I can’t say for certain,” she whispers back, which is her perpetual answer to that particular question, but then she says, “There are many ways this could go wrong, and only a few timelines show everything going fairly smoothly.”
“With our luck, we’re not going to get the one where everything’s perfect,” Strider mutters from nearby. Terezi flicks a grin in his direction, sharp teeth flashing in the moonlight, and unlike most, he fails to be unsettled, his scarlet eyes and pale face disturbingly blank.
“You really do come to life around John, don’t you,” you murmur, mostly to yourself, but the slight inclination of his head in your direction confirms your statement. You’d feel good about being right if the thought itself wasn’t entirely depressing.
Your phone buzzes, and Strider pops his out of his sylladex to take a look as you peer at your own screen.
GA: I Cannot Find Rose
GA: I Saw Her Waiting During My Ascent But She Seems To Have Vanished From The Decided Meeting Point
“Fuuuuuck,” Strider groans, and then, “I got this shit, hang tight.”
CG: STRIDER SAYS HE’LL TAKE CARE OF IT.
GA: I Should Hope So Because The Longer I Stay Hidden Here The More Dangerous The Situation Becomes
GT: dave, please don’t tell me you’re doing what I think you’re doing.
You look over at Strider to find him texting near the speed of light. His fingers are literally a blur as he goes, and you get the feeling that he has slowed time around himself in order to improve his response time to whomever his verbal sparring partner happens to be.
GT: karkat, if he’s texting his brother, you have to stop him! they’ve been getting off the wrong foot since the whole thing blew over and at this rate he’s putting kanaya and himself in more danger than before.
GA: Fantastic Just What I Needed To Hear Though That Does Not Explain What Happened To Rose
GA: She Was Very Responsive Before So Do You Suppose Her Cellular Device Has Been Taken Away
CG: EITHER THAT OR IT WAS ALL A TRAP.
TG: say that to my face and ill fucking kill you vantas dont think i will
GC: TH3 S4D P4RT 1S TH4T H3 WOULD SO K33P TH4T R3M4RK TO YOURS3LF K4RKL3S
CG: GODDAMN TEREZI, YOU KNOW I HATE IT WHEN YOU DO THAT.
GT: dave, you have to stop texting dirk. we’ve talked about this, you know it’s a bad idea!
TG: desperate times call for desperate measures
CG: SINCE WHEN DID YOUR SISTER MEAN THAT MUCH TO YOU?
Strider’s head shoots up from his phone to give you a hard glare, the only expression you’ve seen so far, before it darts back down to eye his screen again. You sigh and roll your eyes.
GC: H4RSH
GT: you mean rude!
GA: Despite Your Useless Banter Being Somewhat Entertaining I Confess That I Would Like To Have Some Form Of Direction To Follow
GA: What Should I Be Doing Right Now Besides Waiting Around In Hopes That She Will Appear
TG: chillax like i said i got this
TG: check the window again
GA: Oh
CG: ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS.
GA: You Are In Rare Form Today Strider
GT: dave...
TG: ill talk to you about it later i promise
Three phones simultaneously flip back into sylladexes, and you exchange a look with Terezi – well, she looks slightly over your shoulder, but it’s the thought that counts – and then she looks up and makes a satisfied noise and you turn your eyes up to see Kanaya carrying a half-conscious Rose over her shoulder, darting silently down the fire escape.
“Where’s your brother?” you ask Strider in a whisper. There isn’t a response, and when you look over to where he used to be, you find that he is quite clearly missing.
John lands, follows your gaze, and swears such a colorful array of words that even you’re impressed as Kanaya hits the ground with a solid thud. “I recommend that we reconvene at a rendezvous point,” she says in a clipped voice, jostling Rose a bit when the human makes a noise that is half-groan, half-whimper. “Perhaps the one particular clearing in the woods west of Derse?”
“Fair,” Terezi says. “Split, meet in fifteen minutes?” John sighs gustily but nods, and you dart after Terezi when she takes off down an alleyway, knowing without seeing that Kanaya and John have gone in opposite ways.
You still don’t know where Strider is, and you have to admit that this worries you, however slightly.