Ascend
Your name is Kanaya Maryam, and traipsing through the forest undergrowth in a long skirt was not your best idea yet.
But, one must suffer for their art, so suffer you must.
The rest of your travelling companions had much more sense than you. They’re all wearing black, loose fitting clothes that helps blend them in with the forest around them. They sneak silently throughout the underbush, which is…unusual.
Not for Rose of course—she’s incredibly quiet and sneaky. You can’t count how many times she’s snuck up unheard behind you.
Whisker is also silent. The lithe Pokémon gracefully leaps from rock to branch as if she has been doing this all her life. Which...she probably has, considering she's a wild Pokémon.
But for John and Dave.
They’ve been dead silent ever since you came back to the house. Normally, they’d be talking and flirting and blowing your cover. Now, they’re refusing to even look at each other.
(Obvious tear tracks ran down both of their cheeks. John’s eyes are red and puffy from hours of crying. His cheeks are blotchy and pale. He looks downright miserable standing there with Whisker in his arms.
Dave’s are less so, but they look like they’ve been scrubbed clean with soap and water. He looks a little constipated, like he’s struggling not to have an emotional outburst of verbal shit and its killing him.
Both boys are avoiding eye contact and completely silent.
You wonder what happened.)
You curl your fingers around the tube of lipstick in your palm. Its surface is smooth and solid, comforting in your trembling hand.
Hidden in the intricate workings off this tube of lipstick is a chainsaw.
Your sister gave it to you as a gift for your 16th birthday. You never thought that you’d need it. Guess you were wrong.
(“So, in order to launch a proper full frontal attack, we need weapons.” Rose begins, standing in front of an unassuming basement door.
“I already have a weapon.” Dave breaks his own oath of silence to point to Caledfwlch.
John looks at him a little longingly, a hand pressed to his mouth, as if the urge to make a dick joke was so strong, the only thing to stop it bursting from his lips was his own palm.
“I am very well aware of this fact Dave. But the rest of us don’t” Rose replies. She reaches a steady hand towards the door handle, turning it with determined fingers. She throws open the door and steps inside.
“So this is why we have this room.”
Inside are rows upon rows of weapons. It’s like a hidden room in a good old-fashioned spy movie. There are training dummies, as well as swords, guns, whips, bows, arrows, staffs of every kind. It’s like a weapon nuts wet dream.)
Ahead, John jumps over a log with a sort of…clumsy grace. You don’t know how that works, but John makes it work.
Dave is in front of John, and Rose is leading the whole progression. You’re at the very end to make sure no one falls behind. Whisker is trotting contentedly by your side, tail waving about in the air lazily.
Beside you, a bush rustles. Your hand tightens around your lipstick tube and Whisker hisses at the bush, but John’s got this.
He whips around so that you can no longer see the copy of Inkstuck strapped to his back—instead you can see his steely, determined face. A heavy blue hammer is held tightly in his grasp.
(“Hey, this is pretty cool.” John says, holding a dark blue hammer with a look of awe on his face.
“Well then, do you want it? Dave said you were pretty good with that book. That hammer should be a piece of cake for you to wield.” Rose smiles down at him.
“Really?” John’s eyes light up and his mouth splits into a huge grin.
“Of course dear, but be sure to get lots of practice before we set out.”
John runs off to practice on the training dummies.)
False alarm. It was just a rabbit.
“Good work John. You defended us from an evil rabbit.” You smile at him, a joking tone in your voice.
He smiles at you, a little awkwardly. “Thanks Kanaya.”
“There! Up ahead!” Rose hisses from up the front.
You stare through the thick covering of trees, spotting the all-too-familiar castle in the distance.
Now you just have to fight your way inside and get Dave to Jack, so he can kill him.
Your name is Rose Lalonde, and you must ascend.
“Alright, bye guys. Gotta go avenge my brother, you know how it goes. Great knowing you.” Dave tips an invisible hat your way and zooms off, speed magic enhancing his already swift movements.
“Dave wait!” John calls out, but it is futile. “Be careful…” He mumbles after Dave’s retreating back.
“Well, I guess Dave’s in.” You sigh, brushing your fingers over your knitting needles.
You’ve decided they’re going to be your weapons because John said you can’t fight with knitting needles. You’re a very spiteful person.
“I wish he would stop running off like that…” John mutters, staring at his feet.
“Ah well, Dave excels at attracting trouble. He will probably need our help in getting him out of trouble.” You sigh yet again, looking back at John and Kanaya who’ve just walked up to join you.
“I suppose that means fighting our way through hordes of magically enhanced enemies just to have to fight more?” Kanaya asks.
“Well yes, that’s what family does, doesn’t it?”
Johns eyes widen under black-rimmed lenses.
“We’re a family?”
The excitement in his eyes makes your stone-cold heart crack a little.
“Of course honey, ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind.” You crouch down a little to match his eye level.
“Or forgotten.” Kanaya continues, smiling at John.
The grin on his face splits from ear to ear. He looks so happy.
“John, before we go out for our family, I want you to know that you’re always welcome to stay at our house.”
He smiles happily. “Really? Thanks. It’ll be really nice to hang out with the both of you more.”
“No no John, you misunderstand. By stay, I mean live at. We’re offering whether or not you want to live with us after all this is over.”
If possible, his face sets into an even wider grin. Before you can even react, he’s thrown his arms around the both of you into a big hug.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” You chuckle, rubbing his back affectionately.
“Rose, we’ve got company.” Kanaya speaks up.
You break away from the hug and tur towards the castle.
Kanaya is right—several henchmen are running towards you right now, brandishing huge weapons and letting out animalistic snarls.
“Well,” You say, gripping your knitting needles tightly. “Let’s show them what this family can do.”
Your name is Dave Strider and you can’t think that clearly right now.
Speed magic tends to do that—you need all of your concentration to not crash into a wall. Because of this, you can’t think about anything. Which, right now, isn’t a bad thing.
You kind of sped away for a reason.
Reasons which you can’t remember right now, but reasons nonetheless.
All that matters now is finding Jack.
You’ve tuned your senses on anyone possessing the same (or more) amount of magic as you.
In your internal radar, you can see two blips.
You know one is Jack. You don’t care about the other.
You can sense his aura getting closer as you speed down the hall.
Not long no and—ah. There he is.
He’s standing in front of a huge window, staring down at the plains below. As you enter, he turns around to meet you.
“Ah, Mr Strider, I’ve been expecting you…” His voice is calm and soothing, but you can hear the deceit and murderous intent hidden in its depths
“Stalker much?” You draw your sword and point it at him.
“I’m assuming you don’t want to talk this out?”
“With you? Not a chance.”
With no warning, he leaps at you, brandishing a sword. You barely block in time. He swipes again, but this time you’re ready. You strike back and your swords clash together.
He smirks, waving his free hand about. With a flick of the risk, the stench of black liquorice fills the room. A cloud of thick black smoke fills the room. When it clears, you can see something familiar sitting in the palm of his hand.
Bro’s shades, still encrusted with his blood.
You let out a snarl of rage and twist the fingers in your free hand, readying a fistful of fire. This fire isn’t like the fire you showed John. That fire was warm and friendly and meant to amaze. This fire is hot and angry and meant to maim.
You strike him, flames surging from your fist. They lick his face, causing him to writhe and scream. He staggers back, clutching his right eye, and you take this opportunity to point your sword to his throat.
“Give up you filthy mongrel, I’ve got you at my mercy.”
Jack puts his hands up, looking at you. His right eye is horrifically burnt—so much you doubt he can see anymore. The room is filled with the stench of apples, liquorice and burnt flesh.
To your surprise, Jack starts laughing.
“What the fuck is so funny?” You shriek, thrusting your sword in his direction.
He doesn’t answer, only laughs harder.
“Answer me!” You yell louder, striking him this time. A trickle of blood runs down his scorched cheek.
He keeps laughing.
Furious, you stab him, digging your sword into his shoulder. He screeches in agony as you yell at him, screaming over Jack.
“Tell me!”
He laughs harder, blood flowing freely from his various stab-wounds.
After a few minutes of more psychotic laughter, he finally stops.
“It’s just, you want to leave this place?”
That was…not what you were expecting.
“What the fuck do you mean?”
“I mean, this place is amazing! Why would you ever want to leave it?”
At the cocking of your confused head, he continues.
“This place has everything! Women, riches, people to stab—it’s paradise! Best of all, no one here has magic—so I can use mine and be considered a god! I don’t understand why you’d ever want to leave it.”
You look away, refusing to look this murderer in the eye.
“That’s none of your concern. But you will be leaving this world very soon.” You push your sword to his throat.
His remaining eye lights up.
“What, you’re seriously leaving? HA. That’s golden. What was it? Did that little boy hurt your feelings? Did you realise he only using you?”
“Shut the fuck up you piece of shit.” You growl.
John is none of his business.
John is precious and pure—you will not let this scumbag tarnish any of that. John would never use you—for anything. He is sweet and innocent and you love him more than anything else.
But after the way you treated him yesterday, you doubt he’d ever speak to you again.
You didn't miss his little hums and sighs of contentment as you kissed him. You didn't miss how he smiled dazedly after the kiss. You didn’t miss the way he trembled underneath you when you raised your hands in disgust. You didn’t miss the tear tracks running down his cheeks. You didn't miss how he sobbed and sobbed all the way up the hall.
You had wished and wished with all your heart that you could go over there and apologise. That you could cuddle him, and kiss his tears away.
But you didn’t.
Because you are a weak, pathetic idiot who can’t express emotions.
John deserves someone better.
John deserves someone who’ll love him for everything he is. He deserves someone who makes him laugh. He deserves someone who makes him feel loved and happy. He deserves someone who loves him.
You love him.
But you don’t deserve someone like John.
Why would he want someone as disgusting as you?
“Come on kid, what are you going to do? Do you want to stay here, or kill me?” Jack laughs, blood dribbling from his mouth.
You grip Caledfwlch’s hilt tightly, pointing it at his throat.
“What are you going to choose pretty boy? Revenge or pleasure?”
You choose revenge.
Your name is John Egbert and there sure are a lot of henchmen here.
As Rose, Kanaya and yourself make your way through the castle, they just keep coming.
Out of every door, crevice and stairway, they’re coming. It’s like a never-ending flow of hench-men.
Every time Kanaya saws one in half, or Rose stabs one aside, or Whisker Psychics one away, or you bludgeon one to death, two more take its place.
You’re beginning to get tired. Your hammer feels heavy in your weakening hands. Your muscles feel sore and over-worked. You’re finding it harder and harder to keep up your optimistic attitude as the battle wears on.
“John! Stay determined! We must beat them!” Rose calls out to you, stabbing a henchman in the chest with a bloodied knitting-needle. He collapses onto the floor in an unmoving heap.
“I’m trying but…it’s so hard!” You call back, hitting a henchman square on the head.
“Don’t worry John, we’re here to help! That’s what families do!” Kanaya mows through three henchmen at once.
You smile, and find the strength to take another swing.
But just as your hammer makes contact with the henchmens skull, it fades away into black nothingness.
Looking around, you notice that all the others are in the same state—all the bodies and all the live ones—they’re gone.
The fading smell of black liquorice fills the room.
“Jack’s dead.” Rose says, voice edged with finality.
“What? How can you tell?” You ask, looking over at her.
“Jack’s magic is what generated those creatures. He’s connected to them—he’s what made them tick. They just disappeared. It’s not that hard to figure out.”
“So Dave did it?” You say, completely ignoring Roses scathing tone. “He killed Jack?”
Rose nudges a pile of ashes with her foot. “It would appear so.”
You let out a relieved chuckle. “That’s a relief…”
“We should go see him. Make sure he’s not hurt.” Rose smiles.
You nod in agreement. All tiredness forgotten, you bolt off to search the castle for Dave, not even checking to see whether or not Rose, Kanaya and Whisker are following.
The first room you encounter is some kind of dining room. A long, mahogany table lined with gold-rimmed crystal glasses and fine china plates takes up most of the room. Rich tapestries cover the walls. But no Daves
The second room is small and crowded with furniture. It looks to be some kind of dungeon? Various swings, leashes and ropes fill the room. You highly doubt Dave is in here.
The third is a large, fancy looking ballroom. Crystal chandeliers hang from the low ceiling and aristocratic paintings line the walls. While it does look like fun to spin and twirl about in this room, you have to find Dave.
He’s in the fourth room you check.
He’s standing over Jack’s corpse with a scary look in his eyes. As you enter, he turns to look at you with such ferocity that you have to take a step back.
“Dave?” You question, a little bit of fear in your voice.
He just looks at you, slight sadness in his eyes.
You try again, stepping forward a little nervously.
“Dave, is everything ok?”
What he says next is so quiet you have to strain your ears to hear it. But hear it you do. And dread and regret and hate it you do.
“Read me back in.”