Chapter Text
fata organa
n. a flash of real emotion glimpsed in someone sitting across the room, idly locked in the middle of some group conversation, their eyes glinting with vulnerability or quiet anticipation or cosmic boredom—as if you could see backstage through a gap in the curtains, watching stagehands holding their ropes at the ready, actors in costume mouthing their lines, fragments of bizarre sets waiting for some other production.
The three years seemed to drag on and on, as if they would never end. He ticked off the days in his mind, hoping that there wasn’t a leap year because oh god just make the days go by faster already.
Although he had become closer with the others—even getting to know new faces and observing the trolls shock and horror in meeting their ancestors—he was getting tired of it. He just wanted to be back with Jade, John, and Rose, goofing off and forgetting the tragedies of the game.
(He’ll never forget. Not the deaths, the pleas for help, the wailing of someone in pain, nor the quiet sobbing of someone broken.)
And then it’s over. All 1096 days done. (Goddamn leap days) He held his breath in anticipation, waiting for John and Jade’s ship to appear.
He’s about to suffocate when Rose finally points out their ship.
Thank fucking god. Or frog. Or whatever devilbeast is out there. He can barely make out Jade and John at the front of the ship, trying their best to wave at them.
When they get close enough to hear each other, everyone begins screaming at once. He can’t really understand what anyone is saying, nor does he attempt to decipher the overlapping words. Instead, he notices that Jade is screaming one syllable over and over in his direction.
And it’s all too familiar.
Everything becomes white noise save for Jade’s screaming because he knows exactly what she’s saying and that she’s said it before.
Dave!
She’s grinning at him and holding a frog triumphantly above her head, proud that she managed to catch one without his help.
Dave!
She’s running towards him, and he knows that she’s about to tackle him to the ground, but he pretends to be surprised because why not.
Dave!
Hephaestus wonders why he brought someone else with him. ‘You must light the forge alone,’ he says. Dave pays no attention and brings her along with him.
Dave!
Her body lights on fire and she’s screaming for him to help her. He doesn’t know what to do and simply stares as her skin melts. She starts screaming for him to end her pain, begging him to make it stop. He takes his sword and lodges it in her chest.
The white noise stops, tears are now falling from his face, and everyone is still yelling. Everyone, that is, except for Jade. She’s now next to him and tugging on his sleeve. He turns towards her and sees that she’s about to cry when he realizes that this is the first time she’s seen him since he died.
He takes his hand and strokes her face, whispering that everything is fine, everything is fan-fucking-tastic. She smiles weakly, but yet the tears still drip down one by one, and he realizes that the silent tears of the broken are now their own.