Jade and Karkat
You’ve been wandering the bubble for a few days. You showed Kanaya around your house, and she was enthralled to see it in person. (It was pretty cute, if you’re being honest).
At this exact moment, you’re sitting on a couch. The squid princess sits beside you, as she had before you prototyped her with your dead cat. The silence lets you mull things over.
You feel the sofa dip as Kanaya sits beside you. Her arm presses against yours, and you can feel her hand fumbling for yours. She finds it, and you hold her tightly, and rest your head on her shoulder, and you rise out of your thoughts.
“Are we going to sit around this bubble for ever, or should we do something?” she asks, and you shrug your shoulders a little. Honestly, sitting around the dreambubble doing nothing for ever sounds pretty good to you. You were in the habit of doing nothing, especially after the three years on the meteor. You barely remember that, though; it’s floating around your head in an alcohol-stained haze.
“What do you propose we do then, my dear?” You don’t have the energy to say much more.
“I want to find our Karkat, and maybe even the others that we were with. They have to be around somewhere, don’t they?”
You don’t answer, just nod. You’re not sure how you’ll find them, but if she has an idea, you’ll hear her out.
She seems to understand. “We’re dead, Rose. We don’t mean anything to the intricate cogs and wheels that keep this game working. Bending the rules that we were never given is the only possible option here,” she tells you. Her words sound familiar, almost what you had said before you went grimdark. “And anyway, you’re the Seer here. Perhaps bending the meaning of Light can give us the locations of our friends. It is possible.”
You lift your head from her shoulder, and look at her. “I don’t even think we have to bend the rules. The most fortuitous outcome would be to find them.”
You can see her smile. “Then it can be done.”
“Indeed it can. It’ll take some effort, though.” You’re willing to put in the effort, though. She’s happy, and you don’t want to dash her hopes. She believes in you, you think, and that strengthens your resolve.
You shut your eyes, give her hand a squeeze, and tap into your Sight.
It comes alive. You glimpse Karkat, sitting on a hill in a place you’ve never seen before. In the distance, there’s a tall building with a single orb. You recognize that- Jade’s told you about it, has been telling you about it since you found her pesterchum when you clicked the ‘random user’ button.
That must mean she’s here too, you realise. You can find her too.
Your Sight fades out, and you open your eyes. As usual, once you come out of a Sight, you’re dizzy and you slump onto Kanaya, your head spinning.
“Did you find anyone?” Her voice is anxious, and cuts straight to the point. You swallow.
“I saw Karkat. Tell me, when you used to troll us, did you ever see Jade’s home?”
“The island that she resided on? Of course. I never spoke to her, though. Why are you asking- wait. Did you see Karkat there?”
You nod, slowly. She grins. “It means Jae is here with us too,” you tell her. You can almost feel her grin fade a little.
“The more friends, the better, isn’t it? How does your human saying go…” she trailed off, and you laugh.
“I believe the saying was ‘the more, the merrier’. And yes, it is perfectly true here,” you tell her, and smile.
You’re not sure how long Karkat will be in that certain landscape. He was never really a wanderer, though, so you’re not particularly worried. Regardless, you start talking. “Kanaya, I’m tired. Can you get us there?”
Kanaya frowned and stood from the couch, stretching. (You don’t even pretend to not be watching). She lowers her arms and offers a hand to you. You take it, and she pulls you upright with her alien strength. She tugs you close, holding both your hands. She looks directly into your eyes and you’re reminded of how dead you both are, by the plain whites of her eyes. It’s strange and kind of unsettling- you’re used to seeing yellow and grey when you look at her eyes.
“It might take a few tries, but I’m certain we’ll get there eventually. I’m not exactly god-tier, or have any practice. In that case, are you ready, Rose?”
You smile at her. It’s time to be cheesy. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
She laughs at you, and your surroundings blink to white.
Your surroundings stutter for a moment, and flash to green. It solidifies, into the rolling hills and deep blue sky of Jade’s island. You are entirely ready to collapse, but Kanaya’s strong grip holds you up. You recognise the hills from your vision, but then again hills are pretty generic and this could be any hill.
You tell Kanaya you’re not sure where he is. She shrugs, and calls his name as loud as she can, and your ears start to ring.
She releases one of your hands and picks you up bridal style. You giggle, and she kisses the tip of your nose.
And then she jumps. One leap takes you both to the top of the nearest hill. Rainbow drinker, you remember. Freaky troll vampire powers.
She calls again. You float gently out of her arms and above her, and call out too.
You look around; while you’re flying, you might as well take a look around. You cast your gaze across the hills- the green starts to hurt your eyes.
Then you spot it. A speck of grey, and a speck of black.
You are one-hundred-percent sure that’s them. Jade and Karkat.
So you fly down, and repay your girlfriend the favour. You scoop her up, and hold her just like she held you. She blushes a little, and you just let yourself fly.
The air holds you, cushioning you. You could practically sit down if you wanted too. (You don’t). You tighten your grip on Kanaya and begin to descend.
The specks grow larger, and the grey one appears to be moving at quite a fast rate. As your shadows near the pair, they both look up to you (at least, you think they do). You’re not sure what you both look like, as you lower yourself through the sky- perhaps two angels, come to rescue them. Or maybe you look like two awkward teenagers who can fly.
You'll take either possibility. You've missed them enough to not particularly care.
Not that you actually saw Jade in person, pretty much ever.
You push that thought aside and you land, shoes brushing the grass gently. Before you address Jade or Karkat, you stand Kanaya up, and offer a hand. She takes it, and you know that she’s having as much fun as you are making them wait.
And finally, you turn to them. As it always has been with Kanaya, you’re unnerved by their fully white eyes.
Jade pushes up her glasses as you grin. “How… How did you find us?”
You glance over at Kanaya, who is glowing softly. “A little bit of vision, and encouragement. We’ve been sitting around, twiddling our thumbs, doing nothing for a few days. Kanaya thought it best to jump-start us getting going again.”
Karkat huffs. “Well, isn’t that just fucking great? That means that there are more of us. More of us that are dead.”
His point is true. Everyone’s silent for a moment.
“Don’t get me wrong, you don’t know how glad I am to see you both.” It almost sounds as if he’s tearing up. Kanaya’s hand leaves yours as she strides forward and picks him up, holding him tight.
You’re watching them for a second, when Jade hits you like a linebacker going in for a tackle. You’re caught off-balance and knocked to the ground. You can’t breathe for a moment, and Jade is crushing you, and crying.
It must have taken a bit to realise we were actually here, you think. And you think you might be crying too.
It’s only a few of your friends, but a few is far better than none. You reach down, and hug Jade tight, ignoring the fact that you’re lying on the floor.
It takes a few minutes for everyone to calm down. Jade rolls off you, and sits up on the grass, rubbing her eyes beneath her glasses. You sit up too, and swing an arm around her shoulders, and bring her a little closer.
Karkat and Kanaya sit down, shoulders brushing each other. Karkat is furiously wiping at his eyes, and you can plainly see the green tear-tracks on Kanaya’s glowing cheek.
You suppose it’s the relief of knowing they you’re not the only two left, to hang around for eternity. And the fact that you’ve missed them so much, not knowing what happened to anyone. Everyone’s not just crying because they don’t have anything else to do.
Jade heaves in a deep breath, and shrugs off your arm. “We’ve been staying in my house. It’s more comfortable to talk there.”
You nod. Standing up, you stretch, and offer Jade a hand up. She accepts it, and you pull her to her feet. She nudges her glasses up, and her white eyes still jar you. Anyone’s white eyes jar you, to be fair.
You’re happy to see her, even if she’s another reminder of life before the game. You wonder if the other kids are around somewhere.
If this is your old friend. You don’t have any way to know this is your Jade, if that’s Kanaya’s Karkat. You suppose you’d just figure it out when you get back to Jade’s house.
You’re walking toward it when Kanaya falls in beside you, and Jade drifts ahead to talk to Karkat. You’re okay with this.
Kanaya finds your hand, and holds it tightly. Her overwhelming emotions have calmed- her skin is no longer glowing, returned to its grey colour.
She walks a half-step faster than you, and pulls you along slightly.
“Do you think they’re ours?” You don’t need to elaborate further; Kanaya understands.
“I hope so. I don’t think you would See someone who isn’t from our timeline, would you?”
You shake your head.
“Then we can hope.”
You nod, and look down. “This means the others are definitely around. What if I’m the only one who can find them?” Your eyes are trained on your feet.
“I suppose we’ll have more of a job to do. It would be nice to have our friends all together I one place once again. We’ve missed them long enough.”
You look up at her. “I just hope I can find them all.”
Kanaya leans over, presses a kiss to your temple. She pulls away and squeezes your hand a little. “I have complete faith that you will.”