Chapter Text
They think it's night. It's hard to say when there is no sky, just a blur of stormy green and yellows and blues. They can't really depend on their internal clocks, not when they've been falling asleep and waking up and dying and reviving at the rate they've been going. They can feel the tension wrapping their bones, waiting for something to give.
Davesprite says it's April 14. Early morning. good fucking night
After conducting a thorough examination of the battleship, they find three bedrooms, rather bare and cold, but bedrooms. With sighs and hugs that fall somewhere between I'm-doing-this-because-I-should and Do-not-ever-scare-me-like-that-again-I-hate-you-I-love-you, they retreat to the dusty gold rooms.
Jade falls asleep to thoughts of Prospit, its sunglow hues swirling in the black. She remembers venturing towards Skaia, though never reaching it. The boy sleeping in the tower over always pulled at her conscience. (She remembers falling into Skaia, screaming and crying and shaking that boy.)
She wakes to a low clank reverberating through the door and a muffled jade? ... jade, are you awake?
mmmh... In her sleepy haze, she wonders where she is and how someone is knocking at her door. Cold air pours through the small window and reminds her.
sorry, i'll just... sorry.
im awake
hold on... She pushes herself out of bed and drags the door open. John is sporting several bags under his eyes. He looks weird without glasses. whats wrong?
nothing, i just. i couldn't sleep. He clears his throat. i thought maybe you would be awake since you like, kept falling asleep and stuff. i don't know. i'm dumb.
oh my god john She takes him by the elbow and leads him down the corridor. come on
where're we going?
Jade shrugs. you wanna wake up davesprite too?
John shakes his head after a pause for thought.
okay
John's toes barely skirt over the floor. Jade's feet stick and smack against the linoleum. If she listens closely, she can hear the echo.
this place is so...
big?
empty.
yeah
you know you shrunk the only adults we have left?
It takes her a moment to realize what he's talking about, and then she remembers that the denizens can sort of count as adults, can't they? ...pffffffft i did didnt i
i wonder if they realized.
well its not like i could do anything else! echidna said i had to transport them all to the new session somehow
yeah. He stops in place, eyes wide and gleaming. oh man. jade.
what
you know how all the denizens roar and stuff. what if they have hamster roars now.
Laughter fills the hall as they give high-pitched imitations of their denizens. Jade wipes at her eyes. this is why you woke me up
yeah.
i dont think the denizens will really give a crap about being littlefied though.
i guess not. He keeps biting at his fingernails and staring off into the distance.
are you okay?
yeah.
youre acting kinda weird is all
oh. sorry. it's just... man. i don't even know how to actually say this. give me a sec.
maybe we should go back and try to sleep or something
i tried though! i can't. i mean, last night - april 12, i mean - everything was fine. everything was normal. i talked to you guys and i had almost given up all hope on the beta ever arriving and my dad said he was going to bake like a bajillion cakes and i was like haha whatever and. i didn't even tell him goodnight.
everyone does that sometimes
i still feel shitty.
...
i can't even remember what the last thing i said to him was. heh. hopefully i wasn't being a douche again.
you said... i thought you said you saw him on skaia
John nods absentmindedly. i had to jump over this big cliff thing... but then i woke up before i could actually like. do or say anything.
oh That oh is too soft to carry an echo. It fills John's ears anyways.
he must have known i loved him, right? He looks to Jade for validation.
yeah. he must have