Revelations
“So you’re saying the Condesce is back? That’s terribubble!” Feferi gasps. Her image looms over you, but in a somewhat…friendly…intimidating way.
You’re back in your ship, human disguise cast aside and formal clothes on. You’re calling the Empress, with very important matters to discuss. Namely Betty Crocker and the Condesce.
“Well don’t you sound fucking concerned.” Karkat mumbles under his breath. You elbow him—a subtle warning. She is the Empress—and you must pay your respects.
“Yes. I found that packet—“ You motion towards the packet of evil a few feet away from you and Karkat. “—in what humans call a supermarket. There were rows and rows of those monstrosities! And the humans know nothing of their true origin!”
Feferi looks away, fuchsia eyes deep in thought. “When I spared her life in the Arena of the Fuchsia-Bloods, I was warned that I had made a grave mistake. I didn’t listen, because I was young and stupid, with dreams of equality in my mind. I did not want to hurt anemoneone! Even her. So I banished her to the depths of space, far beyond the bounds of our empire. Turns out those old high-bloods were right about it being a grave mistake.”
The gaggle of high-bloods behind her begin muttering to themselves, whispers of ‘she was so young’ ‘she couldn’t have known’ and ‘if the old empress is back, that means bad news for us’ ripple around the council like ocean waves. Feferi waves at them to shush.
“I—thank you for bringing this to our attention. I think you should pull out of this mission. Peace and alliances are important, but the safety of my top scientist and threshecutioner are much more important to me.”
“No!” You shake your head in defiance. The high-blood council around her gasp and titter in shock. Feferi’s eyes widen, mouth dropped open in shock.
“Uh sorry…I just. There are people on that planet that I can’t abandon. I can’t just run with my tail between my legs because there is a possibility she’ll invade! I know some people down there who don’t deserve the oncoming apocalypse! I can’t speak for my moirail, but I am not abandoning my friends on Earth.”
“Gog fucking damn it.” Karkat mutters under his breath. A wave of guilt washes over you—you should have known he won’t leave you behind, even when his own life is in danger.
“Well…if it makes you feel better.” Feferi’s face crumples up with concern and worry. She seems conflicted between commanding you to flee to safety and respecting your wishes.
“It will.” You reply, bowing to her. She bows back.
“Be safe Johnen. Thank you.”
“I will my Empress, I promise.” You bow once again. The video call cuts off, a remorseful looking Feferi disappearing from view.
“What the fuck Egbert.” Karkat rounds on you, pointer finger aimed at your chest. “You’ve done some dumb shit in your life, but this is by far the dumbest. What were you thinking?”
“I don’t know! But what I do know is we can’t just leave them behind!” You reply, frowning back.
“Johnen, why are you risking everything for him? He wouldn’t do the same for you. He hasn’t done anything for you! All he’s done is mooch off your charity! Honestly, it’s pathetic.”
“You’re just saying that because you totally have a black crush on him.”
He glares at you in response to that. “How dare you. I’ll have you know, it’s a purely platonic kind of hate.”
“Suuuure thing Karkat.” You tease. He flushes a deep scarlet.
“We’re getting off subject here. Point is, why are we staying near a planet that could very well be invaded? We’ll be executed when we’re found!”
“What about them!? We at least know what’s coming—but they know nothing! We can save ourselves, but what about them? Can’t I at least save some of them?”
His face crumples up and he looks away. ”I—heh. You always think of others before yourself.”
“Well there are more of them than there are of me.”
“How can I deny that statement?” Karkat replies dryly, crossing his arms.
“You can’t!” You reply mock-angrily, a big grin on your face.
“I know I can’t. Go on then, back to Earth. Before I change my mind and turn this ship the fuck around.”
“Thanks Karkat!” You cheer, kissing him on the forehead. He grumbles happily, and lets you go.
You have friends to protect and an invader to look out for!
* * *
It’s been a month.
A month since you found about the Condesce threat. A month since Jade’s robotics convention. A month since you and Karkat had that fight about staying on Earth.
Nothing has happened. Yet.
It will, in time. The Condesce is out there, and she’s a very real threat. Unfortunately she’s made no move to conquer Earth, which has set you quite on edge.
You’ve been jumping at every little sound, every little movement. It doesn’t help that Dave has been acting strange lately. He’s been hiding in his room, muffled noises leaking from the gaps at most hours of the day. Whenever you knock on the door, the noise immediately stops, Dave’s flushed face appearing at the doorway.
Currently, you’re lying spread out on Dave’s couch, idly flicking through a book Rose lent you. She suggested that perhaps human literature will help with your study of human culture.
This particular series happens to be Rose’s favourite—tales of orphans, fires, kindly judges and dastardly villains with terrible acting skills—and that’s just the first book! You’re quite enjoying it actually.
Dave’s bedroom door creaks open, Dave’s head peeping out. You decide to ignore him in favour of reading your book.
“…John…” He hisses, eyes shifting side to side.
“Hmmm?” You reply, turning the page of your book.
“Come here.”
You look up from your book, raising an eyebrow at him. “But Dave. I’m reading.”
“Ugh no, put the piece of trash Rose gave you away and come with me.” Dave creeps out of his room, coming to a stop in front of the couch. He reaches down and plucks the book from your hands.
“Hey! This is really good!” You reach up to grab it back, but he holds the book well above your reach. “Give it back!” You jump up again, but you’re just too short to reach it.
“Only if you come into my room.”
“That sounds pretty weird dude. What are you planning to do to me there?” You wiggle your eyebrows at him suggestively. He blushes furiously, placing the book on the nearby coffee table and grabbing your hand.
“Just…come with me…ok?”
You make no comment as he leads you into his room. Once the two of you are inside, he closes the door behind him.
His room is the same as it was the last few times you’ve been inside it. A mess of clothes, wires and random objects are scattered around the floor. Various jars of dead things in formaldehyde are perched on his desk and on their dedicated shelves. The window is wide open, allowing you to see the street below.
The only thing different that you can see is that his turntables are all set up—seemingly ready for something.
But ready for what?
“Um…John?” Dave’s voice brings you back to the present.
“Yeah?” You turn to face him, eyes darting away from the various metal-band posters on the wall.
“I want to thank you…for everything you’ve done for me.”
“Don’t mention it.” You smile back at him.
“No! Don’t brush it off.” Dave steps forward, laying a hand on your shoulder. “You’ve been amazing okay? I mean, you paid off my rent for the next ten years, you cook delicious food every night and you expect nothing back! You’re a literal saint John.”
“Oh…thank you…” You mumble, feeling a blush rise to your cheeks. You struggle to keep it hidden.
“I know nothing I can do will compare to your generosity, but…I made you something.” He looks away, obviously a little flustered. He leads you to his bed, pushing you down a little. You decide to settle down on his bed, wrapping one of his blankets around you.
He heads over to his turntables, elegant fingers brushing against the vinyl records. Then, the music begins.
It’s fast paced and electronic, and certainly unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. The way he mixes the music together to create such a smooth melody is stunning! You watch the way he moves—swaying in tune to the music, eyebrows furrowed in concentration, pink lip poking out from pale lips. He’s obviously in his element, and it shows. You can’t help but stare in awe as he makes his melodic magic. You can hear singing in the mix—which you recognise as Dave.
But unfortunately…you have not much prior experience with music—so you have no idea how to describe it.
You enjoy it nonetheless, as Dave put time and effort into this—and he made it for you. You’re almost tearful when it ends.
He turns to you, face unreadable and stoic. A silence settles between the two of you. He stares down at you from his turntables and you stare at him from his bed.
“Did you like it?” He asks, finally breaking the silence.
“Yes! It was amazing! Thank you so much!” You grin, jumping up from the bed, Dave’s sheets still wrapped around you. You rush towards him, nearly tripping over the blanket and piles of junk in the process. Making sure that he doesn’t feel your invisible horns (yeah, they’re kind of a nuisance more than anything now), you gather him up in a big hug.
“I—I…you’re welcome.” You can hear the smile in his voice as he hugs you back. Something wet plops down on your shoulder. You ignore it—but then another one plops own, and another!
“Are you…crying?”
“No.” You pull away, to find his face is wet with tears.
“Dave? Are you alright?” You ask, concern pouring out of you like water from a wet sponge.
“I’m fine.” He replies, sniffing loudly.
“No you’re not! You’re crying! That generally means you’re not okay! Now tell me what’s wrong.”
“I-I’m just so happy!” He smiles down at you, and your heart melts. “Sorry…It’s just…I’ve never had anyone get that excited over my sick beats.”
“Oh Dave…” You sigh, taking one of his hands. “They were really sick, so unreal. I’m so flattered you made it for me!”
“Well, I am in your debt after all.”
“Nonsense.” You wave your free hand at him. “You saved my life after all.”
“I—oh god, what the hell is that!?” Dave breaks off, pointing a shaking finger towards the window.
What is he talking about? Why is he pointing a finger out the window with such a look of terror on his face?
You turn to see what Dave’s pointing at and oh gog the end times are coming.
Bright red ships are hovering in the sky above, bearing the insignia of the Condesce. What appears to be countless drones stream from the ships above. One lands down on the street below, cracking the road between its feet.
You can hear faint screams of fear and shock coming from the surrounding streets. You clutch Dave’s hand tight.
It is the end of the Earth.
The sound of Dave’s whimper draws your attention back to the present. You snap into action. You yank Dave out of his window and onto the small balcony outside it. Dave’s blanket—which is still wrapped around you—knocks over a few potted plants, but it doesn’t matter now.
You pull out your emergency communicator, drawing it to your mouth.
“Karkat! Beam us up!” You scream into it frantically.
Immediately, you feel the familiar sensation of teleportation. Soon, you’re back in the familiar confines of your ship. But there is no familiar hand in yours—Dave hasn’t been beamed up.
“Karkat! I said beam us up not beam me up!” You round on your moirail, frowning. He’s at the control panel, hands on various buttons at once. He scowls, but in a push of a few buttons, Dave materialises right next to you, looking bewildered and very confused.
“Wha…? John, what the fuck just happened!? Where are we? Why the fuck does that guy have horns?”
“Shut up Dave, not now.” You take his hand and yank him off the teleporter. He doesn’t shut up, mumbling incoherencies about your ship and Karkat and the Condesce’s fleet.
“Now this might hurt a little, but I have to do it.” You say, spreading out his palm. You grab Karkat’s hand, using Karkat’s claws to cut Dave’s skin. Dave yelps in surprise as bright red blood dribbles out of a crescent moon shaped mark. Karkat glares at you, obviously knowing what you’re trying to ignite.
“Sorry!” You apologise, letting go of Karkat and turning to the console. You press Dave’s bloody palm against the console. The flat, silvery surface absorbs it, blood disappearing into the disk. A silvery hologram of the earth pops up, with two glowing red dots on the surface. A little less than you expected, but that’s fine, it’s easier to work with now.
You touch the nearest red dot, activating the teleporter. It hums and whirrs as a large shape begins to materialise. But they are too large, and there is only one figure being materialised, not two.
As the figure becomes clearer, you can feel Dave tense up beside you.
The figure is tall and lean, with tan skin and pointy hair. Dark, triangular shades hide his eyes—and his surprise. A huge katana rests at his belt, shining threateningly in the ships light.
“…no!” Dave gasps, staggering backwards in sheer terror.
The man’s attention snaps towards Dave. His fingers slip to his sword, tightening their grip on its hilt.
“No…no…no…” Dave backs away as the man draws his sword. The man leers and steps forward, sending Dave back a few steps. The man begins to charge towards Dave, sword at the ready.
Quickly, you press the button on the console, sending the angry sword man back down to Earth.
“I’m sorry! Are you alright?” You turn over to Dave, who is shaking with terror. He doesn’t answer, so you grab his hand and squeeze it comfortingly.
You turn back to the hologram of Earth, this time pressing on the other red dot.
The teleporter whirrs up again, this time transporting two people. From what you can see, they’re clinging to each other in sheer panic and terror.
As their figures become clearer, you can see that this time you got it right.
Jade is shielding Rose protectively from…something…her dark hair blowing all over the place. In fact, all their clothes are blowing about from some unknown winds. As they materialise in, their voices get louder and louder—screaming in fear.
Then they stop, comically looking around in surprise.
“John!?” Rose gasps, but there is no time for explanations.
You give Rose and Jade a quick nod in greeting before dashing off to the ships control panel, dragging Dave behind you. You gently place Dave down on the ships floor, wrapping his blanket around him (yeah, it was still wrapped around you). He mumbles incoherencies but you ignore them—getting out of here is more important.
“Karkat! We have to get out of here!” You call over to your moirail, who is staring weirdly at Rose and Jade (who are staring beck equally as confused).
“You think I don’t know that Johnen!?” Karkat screeches at you, breaking the staring contest he had going with Rose and Jade. He gestures at them to sit down next to Dave before dashing off to his side of the console.
“Well I’m just making sure!” You yell back, flipping a lever. This pulls a view-port down, allowing you to see the surrounding ships.
“Oh why thank you for pointing out the obvious dear-moirail-of-mine.” Karkat retorts, yanking one of the various pulleys that hang from his side of the control panel. It doesn’t do anything, but it helps him relieve stress.
“Also obvious—we’ve attracted the attention of three ships from the Condesce’s Armada!” You shout over your shoulder to Karkat, whilst leaping up to yank down the steering wheel.
“Well that’s just fan-fucking-tastic isn’t it!” Karkat shrieks, glaring out the window. Outside, through the view-port, you see the huge ships chasing after your own tiny science vessel.
“Wait what!? You know who these people are!? John what the fuck?” Dave yells, seemingly broken out of his stunned state.
“Shush Dave! We need to concentrate!” You yell, steering the ship so it dodges a spray of gunfire.
“No! I want to know what’s going on! I was dragged aboard a strange ship, with an alien and all these gizmos and a teleporter…There was a monster, and it literally landed right in our street! I saw the pavement crack beneath its feet! I need to know what the fuck is going on here! And you’re flying this no sweat! Are you even human? Are you with those guys? What the fuck is going on!?” He staggers upwards, blanket sliding off his tense form. You give him a quick glance over.
“I’ll answer that in due time, I promise. I know you…might not trust me anymore, but please, try to. I know this must be so hard and confusing and stressful for you right now, but right now we need to get out of here. So sit down, shut up and let us concentrate on getting away!” Dave blinks in surprise, red eyes wide with shock. You immediately feel guilty, but you’ll make it up to him later. Rose gently tugs Dave back down to the place where they were previously huddling.
“Hold on!” You yell, swerving the ship to avoid more gunfire.
Everyone screams. Rose, Jade and Dave go sliding down the ship floor, yelling all the way. Karkat nearly goes flying too—but hangs onto the control deck.
“Karkat! Put pedal to the medal!”
“I’m trying asshole!” Karkat yells, righting himself and flipping a lever.
You feel the burst of speed immediately, and you feel great satisfaction in seeing the Condesce’s ships get smaller and smaller in the viewport. But they’re still coming. In fact, they’ve even speeding up.
“They’re still coming after us!”
“I can see that Johnen! I have working eyes!”
“We have to lose them!”
“Oh wow, thanks for that Johnen—I never would have figured that out otherwise!”
“Karkat, can you stop being a difficult, stubborn piece of shit for like, five seconds please?”
“I don’t know, can you?” He hisses back, spittle flying from his mouth.
“How about you help me fly this thing?” You reply, wiping his gross spit off your face.
“Boys, please.” Rose interrupts, standing between the two of you and staring out your ships windshield. “Look up ahead—we could lose them in there. This ship is small and nimble—whereas their ships are huge and clunky.” She points to an asteroid belt swiftly approaching your ship.
“The Milky Way…” Jade gasps in amazement.
“Great idea! Thanks Rose! Karkat—“
“—yeah yeah, I know. Pedal to the metal.” Karkat rolls his eyes, but flips the switch anyway.
You grip the steering wheel tightly, dark knuckles turning white. Rose and Jade start making awed noises at all the asteroids, whilst Dave holds his stomach and looks kind of sick.
“Dave! Don’t you dare vomit on my ship!” You yell, turning the ship so it narrowly dodges a rather large asteroid.
“What!? This is your ship!?” Dave replies, sliding down the floor a little.
“Obviously! Now suck that puke in, or else you clean it up!” You swerve the ship to dodge yet another asteroid
“Oh wow, what a threat!”
“Shut your trap you fucking asshole! Let us concentrate on getting out of here!” Karkat interrupts, turning his mighty glare onto Dave.
“What are you gonna do? Make me clean up my own puke?”
“No, I’ll do much worse than that.”
“Ohhh I’m so scared.”
You roll your eyes and focus instead on steering the ship. You seem to be losing the Condesce’s ships, but you have to be completely sure. It doesn’t help that Rose and Jade are backseat driving whilst Karkat and Dave are having a heated argument.
It hasn’t even been five minutes, and already your ship is in chaos!
A loud crash interrupts everyone, sending your ship spinning out of control. You scream loudly, struggling to right your ship. Rose and Jade go tumbling down the ship, landing on top of Dave and Karkat. You quickly press a small yellow button, which attaches your feet to the floor with leather straps.
“My ship!” You shriek in anger, glaring at the viewport. You see parts of your ship flying off into space, on fire. But fortunately, you can see your ships drones rushing out to repair the damage. “How dare they! Karkat! Get up and assess the damage!”
“Oh I’d love too, but I have several assholes on top of me!” Comes the muffled reply.
“Well move them! My ship needs tending to!”
“Let the drones handle it!”
“They are handling it, but I need you to handle it too!”
“Ugggh, if you hadn’t paused to pick these humans up, we wouldn’t be in this situation! We would have escaped months ago, and our ship wouldn’t be completely fucked up!”
“Hey! It’s not their fault! I couldn’t just leave them behind! You know what she would have done to them.”
Karkat doesn’t reply, just shoves Rose and Jade off him. He stalks off, probably to help the drones repair your ship. Once again, you feel a little bad, but you can have a feelings jam about it later.
Suddenly, strangely, the ship that shot at you pulls away, to join the rest of its fleet. You continue to fly away, but you’re still perplexed at this. Perhaps all the asteroids deterred them? It would make sense, seeing as you’re out of firing range now. Besides, they can’t follow you into the asteroid belt.
Soon, the red ships are gone in your viewport. You’ve successfully escaped their ships! But…not the confrontation that will no doubt follow.
You feel a hand on your shoulder, warm, steady and shaking with fear and anger.
“Just exactly who or what are you?” Dave says, fingers clenching on your shoulder.
Slowly, regretfully, you slide his fingers off your shoulder and turn around. Your fingers rise to the amulet hanging around your neck. You begin to lift it, being mindful of your horns. Slowly, slowly, you take it off your neck and discard it. It falls to the floor with barely a sound at all.
Gasps of shock and amazement greet you, and you know what they’re gawking at. Long, crazy horns, wild black hair (that’s not any different actually), grey skin covered in blue freckles, wickedly pointed teeth and other various things that humans would find odd.
Rose and Jade don’t look too surprised, but Dave…he…he…
He backs away from you, eyes wide with fear and mistrust. You try to reach out but he flinches away. You draw your hand back, disheartened.
“I-I…can explain.” You whisper, clutching your hands to your chest.
And boy do you have a lot of explaining you have to do.