A Lullaby For Gods Chapter XLVII

I might be a little feverish while editing this, so if I missed typoes, please feel free to point them out!

XLVII: Are You Ready Let's Go

It’s a little surreal, watching miniature versions of her friends climb out of bags and be taken out from pockets, although she supposes that’s one creative way of working around paranoia and very real threats they could face. Being lax on countermeasures is not a luxury any of them can afford, especially with the situations they’re facing – not that she’s sure those who are outside of the Safehouse crew are aware of exactly what they’re dealing with, aside from the mutant abductions.  

And maybe it’s better that way, honestly. There’s no need for more panic. If they’re not involved, it’ll probably keep them out of harm’s way too, although she knows, past all that wishful thinking, that it doesn’t work that way.  

Nothing is too sacred or too precious to be left out in a war, especially when the goal is simple: win.

Nevertheless, Rose  watches Jade and the others present her friends (and she doesn’t even know how long they’ve been here and how long Jade has known – how did they even get here?) and stares as Kanaya stands from her place in Jade’s palms.

She watches as Kanaya takes a moment to smooth out the wrinkles from her clothes, and then looks up at Rose, the corners of her eyes already tearing up even when she’s clearly trying to keep herself composed.  

Slowly, she’s wrapped in green light and lifted off of Jade’s hands, while Jade herself forms her fingers into the outline of a rectangle and moves them apart, until Kanaya’s feet are on the floor as she stands face to face across Rose.  

Two feet apart, and Rose feels her stomach flipping; whether out of nervousness or excitement, she doesn’t know. Her hands are cold and shaking, and she doesn’t know if she can even speak.  

She wants to reach out, wants to make sure Kanaya is really here, but – Dave had hallucinations earlier.  

If she reaches out, what if the mirage disappears and nothing here is really as it seems? What if she just hears laughter, and realizes what’s right in front of her is the barrel of a gun, facing her this time instead of being pressed to the back of her head. What if it, whatever it is, laughs as it watches her fall into her desperation for hope to be there and just shoots it out of her grasp?

It would be a Heroic death.

There wouldn’t be any coming back from that.

Around her, Jade is unshrinking everyone else, and she’s only vaguely aware of a few of them trying to get used to being their regular sizes again. If it is an illusion, or a hallucination, then it’s too detailed since each of them look distinct – Eridan looks like he’s starved and like he’s just starting to remember what self-care is, Karkat looks nervous and jittery, Roxy’s hair is longer than what Rose had expected it to be and she’s got these pointy anime shades on, Davesprite looks nearly timid and awkward, and Kanaya is -  

Well, Kanaya seems to notice her just staring, thinking (she’s always noticed), and smiles softly, comforting.

Always comforting.

Kanaya has always been a role model for understanding, the one who took risks to make sure everyone was getting along, the one who took care of people even at the cost of her own comfort and reputation. Pushed to extremes, she’d break herself over and over in order to help others put themselves back together.

And god, Rose loves her. She loves her so much.

“Hello,” she says, and she’s the one who extends a hand to Rose.  

Rose breaks and runs to her, so fast she nearly knocks Kanaya off her feet.

“Oh my god.” She feels Kanaya wrap her arms around her, at the same time Rose throws her arms around her neck and bury her face in her girlfriend’s shoulder. She feels the tightness of the hug, she feels the warmth, she feels the relief – she feels that it’s real. “Oh my god, you’re real. You’re real and you’re here. Oh my fucking god.”

“I’m real,” Kanaya says, moving her hand up to Rose’s hair to hold her, gently. “I’m here. I’m real.”

Rose sobs, trying not to make a sound at first, but with Kanaya just holding her, trying to make her feel safe, and her overwhelming relief that this is real, this is happening, she just breaks down and starts crying; she’s hiccuping and trying to stutter something out, but her sobs are making her feel like she can’t breathe.

“It’s okay,” Kanaya says.

“Nearly two years,” she manages, after a long minute of trying to get her voice to work. “I thought I wasn’t going to see you again.”

“I thought the same thing,” Kanaya says, “But as fate would have it, it seems our luck hasn’t run out yet.”

Rose laughs, and maybe it sounds a little hysterical, but it’s justified.  

Kanaya holds her the whole time, combing her fingers through her hair in a soothing motion, while Rose cries into her shoulder, fists bunching up the back of Kanaya’s shirt, holding on like her life depends on it.  

She doesn’t even let go when she’s sobbed her eyes dry, still keeping Kanaya close, like she’s afraid she could disappear at any moment (and she knows she can, she knows nothing is safe right now, and with that realization, and the fact that Rose’s friends, and Kanaya is here, with the threat they face – it makes her stomach drop, because it’s not just them now, it’s other people they care about that could get involved in this, and the very thought alone makes her cling tighter).  

“Hello, then,” Rose says, finally, her nose stuffy and her eyes red. She laughs when Kanaya smiles, amused.  

“I missed you,” Kanaya says, moving her hand to cradle Rose’s cheek,  and Rose leans into it.

“I missed you too,” she says, leaning forwards to press a kiss to Kanaya’s lips, and then laughing in relief again. “You have no idea.”

-

She doesn’t let her hand go even after she’s calmed down. Everyone is respectful enough not to talk about her crying her eyes out earlier, and they settle in the room. Rose sits  on the edge of Cecil’s bed, close to Kanaya, while Roxy sits on her other side, a hand on her shoulder in quiet support, so Steve and the others can explain what they’re here for, and how they got here.  

Eridan’s the one who starts the story, and he gives Rose a nod in acknowledgment as he introduces himself. They’ve never really met each other properly, she realizes, especially not since – well, if memory serves, Kanaya sawed him in half.  

He doesn’t look very sawed in half now.

“That’s what Rogers and Stark said the first time,” Karkat mutters.

“Something happened,” Eridan says, “I remember being sawed in half, but I don’t remember what happened after that.”

“Hal says he remembers being merged with a sprite,” Roxy says, pointing to the black, pointy glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. They’re reflecting red lights onto her face.  

“And yet, here...we are,” Eridan says, hesitating at the ‘we’. “Alive and very notably individual.”

“We don’t remember what happened before we were dropped here either,” Rose says. She scans the room briefly.  

Steve and Tony are standing behind where Eridan and Karkat have chosen their seats; Davesprite is hovering beside them; Mrs. H, Mr. G, and Kevin are sitting on the other side of the bed, listening, with Cecil; and Loki is just leaning by a wall, Jade right by him, patient. Khoshekh is still sitting on Cecil’s lap, and Winston has decided to sleep by Mr. G’s feet, content.

Rose glances at him for a moment, and he shakes his head minutely.

She doesn’t nod, but she does discreetly turn her eyes down for a moment. No introductions for him, then.

“There’s only four of us here,” Rose says, “From the game, I mean. Just...” She hesitates, and Kanaya squeezes her hand gently. “...myself and the ones who were in my session. We don’t remember what happened, but I do remember waking up on Earth not too far from where Dave was,” Rose says, “John and Jade were miles away from us.”

Eridan shares a look with Davesprite.

“Okay, that might poke a hole in our theory,” Eridan says.

Rose frowns. “What theory?”

“That whoever’s dropping us is strategically placing us, and one of those target places was New York,” Davesprite says, “You weren’t in New York, were you?’

“No,” Rose says, “I think John was, though.”

“Where is John?” Karkat asks.

“He’s with Dave,” Rose says, and doesn’t miss how Karkat’s lips thin out in concern at that. “He’s stable. He’s woken up.”

“We heard. Jade got a text,” Davesprite says, “Did you get our text back?”

Rose shakes her head. “No.”

“Karkat texted John earlier,” Jade says, “I didn’t get a text back.”

“Maybe it was around the time of the monitor punching thing,” Davesprite says.

Right, Rose thinks. The threat they’re facing.  

“We weren’t here for that, we had to pick his glasses up since he’s photosensitive,” Rose says, “More so than I am. John called us - ” She looks to Loki at that. “ - and told us Dave had punched straight through his heart monitor when he and the others visited his room.”

“Wait, wait – straight through the heart monitor?” Tony asks. That was probably the last straw for him, considering – actually, Rose has no idea how much he knows about the game. If he knows nothing and they’re all talking about it, it’s a wonder he hasn’t asked anything about it yet. He’s probably so lost. “I thought it was like, punching the heart monitor and then getting his fist stuck inside.”

“John said it went right through,” Rose says.

Tony puts a hand to his forehead, trying to smooth it out from the stress. “And – wait, your brother’s a mutant, yes?”

“Yes,” Rose says. He technically is, anyway.  

“Right, I forgot. I was thinking he was just a regular kid.”

“Godtiers don’t exactly have incredible strength,” Davesprite says. He shares a look with Eridan, who turns to Roxy, who turns to Kanaya, who turns to Karkat.

“So...that’s bad?” Tony asks.

Ah, so maybe he does know a little about the game.  

“It could just be because he was...I don’t know, spooked?” Davesprite says, “I’ve lived through his life, maybe it’s just the lifelong training plus the SBURB experience.”

“It could be something else,” Kevin says.

Everyone turns to him, as he’s been silent this whole time.

Steve frowns. “What do you mean?”

“It’s – I...” He turns to Rose. “Can I tell them?”

“It depends on who they’ll be reporting back to,” Luke says, interrupting. “Due to the fact that they’ve been housing your friends for however long and are concerned about mutants being kidnapped, I imagine it shouldn’t be S.H.I.E.L.D. Unless, of course, it is.”

“We’re not with S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Tony says, and then grimaces and does a little shrug. “Well, technically, we are, we’re both Avengers, but we’re not here on behalf of them.”

“It’s not official business,” Steve says. “And they don’t know we’ve been helping these guys.”

“We were camping out at this guy’s - ” Karkat points to Steve with a thumb. “ - hivestem until we had to move to this other guy’s tower.”

“It was just Karkat and myself at first,” Kanaya says. “Rogers found Karkat first, and then he helped him hide. We found each other later and he told me he had met someone earlier who looked like me, and I thought that if it was another troll, perhaps we could help each other out of here.”

“How long ago was that?” Rose asks

“A while,” Karkat says, “There were these little fucking furbeasts all over the city and they kept trying to bite my head off.”

“Oh,” Jade says, “Well that...that happens a lot here.”

“We noticed,” Eridan says, “We got here during some sort of festival of yours, and then we had to deal with furbeasts on fire.”

Jade winces.  

“Yeah, and Steve found us,” Roxy says, “Except, he says he didn’t.”

Luke frowns. So does Rose.  

“I know I found Karkat and Kanaya,” Steve says, “But I really, really don’t remember finding you guys at all.”

“That’s...certainly strange,” Loki says. “Perhaps our side has only had a corner of the puzzle all along.”

“What do you mean?” Tony asks.

“Strange things have been happening to us too,” Rose says.

“More than playing some fucked up game and getting thrown into another universe?” Tony asks, “Which still makes fuck-all sense to me, by the way.”

Rose snorts, smiling, and beside her, Kanaya snickers.

“Stranger things than that, Stark,” Loki says, “We really do have much to discuss.”

“Yeah,” Davesprite says, “But maybe we should get to helping who we came here for first.”

“Who’s that?’ Loki asks.  

Davesprite looks to Karkat, who just sighs and pulls on the drawstrings of his hoodie until it bunches up awkwardly against his neck. He walks over to the end of Cecil’s bed, and lifts an arm to point to him.

“You.”

-

The whole situation is one that requires a meeting with the entirety of the War Council,  but sadly a lot of people aren’t present – Rose had seen Loki talk to the pool master earlier, and then to their best friend, and someone needs to look after Dave, so they haven’t asked John to come over yet, although she did call him to ask about her brother’s situation and told him that Eridan, Roxy, Karkat, Kanaya, Hal, and Davesprite were here, and he sounded like he had to cover his mouth to stop from screaming excitedly – so they’re just trying to get a grasp of the situation they actually have to deal with, because curse of all curses, it’s time-sensitive.

“Around a few days into being on Earth,” Karkat says, and he pronounces Earth weirdly, “I started getting nightmares. And at first, I thought it could have been an awful allergic reaction to your planet, because this place is like a knock-off version of Alternia – and what makes that sadder is that Alternia is the knock-off version of Beforus.”

Rose sees Tony turn to Steve for a moment to mutter, “What the fuck.”

“But it turns out those nightmares weren’t really nightmares at all,” Karkat says, “At least, not anything that’s just cooked up by my thinkpan.”

“Were you on the moons?” Rose asks.

“No,” Karkat says, “But honestly, dear Empress, I wish I was. That and gouging my eyes out would have been more bearable than having to wake up to Skaia looking like someone shat blood all over it nearly every single fucking night.”

Rose stills. Kanaya notices, turning to her in concern.  

“Skaia,” Loki murmurs. “The battlefield?”

Karkat turns to him in surprise. “I don’t fucking remember you in any session, do you know about Skaia?”

“We’ve been telling him,” Rose says, “And I think – I think whatever it was that you were visiting every time you fell asleep – I think he’s been there.”

“What?”

“I was trying to help Dave,” Loki says, “We noticed that he was stirring days before he actually woke up, and we expected him to wake up when we did. He was moving, he seemed to be in an REM state. The doctors said he would wake up any time soon.”

“He didn’t,” Rose says. “He just started screaming and scratching himself.”

“Like a nightmare having turned into something much, much worse,” Loki says.

“Nightmare on Elm Street,” Tony says.

Loki just looks confused, while Jade laughs, whispering, “It’s a movie.”

“Eventually, we figured out he wasn’t going to be waking up any time soon,” Rose says, “And Luke thought that perhaps there was something else at work here than just a coma from blood loss.”

“How bad was the attack?” Kanaya asks. “Your brother is a godtier.”

“Whatever it was that attacked us,” Rose says, “The horrorterrors said it killed one of them.”

“What the fuck.” Karkat turns around to look at Davesprite. “Can you do that? Can anyone do that? How the fuck do you kill a horrorterror?”

Davesprite doesn’t answer right away, mulling over his words, and Rose feels her skin prickle, like the horrorterrors themselves are tuning in. It’s still such a foreign feeling, the fact that instead of possession, this is symbiosis now, for the sake of getting to a common enemy.

Whatever and whoever that may be.

“You can talk to horrorterrors,” Davesprite says, “I know that much. They’re just sentient beings who live in the furthest rings. Sentient. They’re still just creatures even if they’re...a little fucked up.”

“’A lot fucked up,” Eridan corrects.

“Yeah, but, anyway, I know you can negotiate with them, reason with them, appeal to them. I know they possess people sometimes when they sense emotions so strong it’s an easy gap for them to exploit, because some of them have skewered morals, if they even have any,” Davesprite says, “But I don’t know how you’d go about killing a horrorterror. I know it’s possible, considering...well. But I don’t know how. And I don’t even know if you’re supposed to kill them within the game.”

“Otherwise you’d know,” Rose says.

“But with the way SBURB is built, though, there’s so much that can happen,” Roxy says, “We never really hit walls or anything, because there’s unfinished maps or you can’t interact with objects because there’s no set event for it. Supposed to and not supposed to doesn’t equal to shit in SBURB.”

“Yeah, not according to its Help manual,” Davesprite says, “You can ask me nearly anything about the game from grist to aspects, but when it comes to killing horrorterrors, I come up blank.”

“I don’t think it was ever supposed to be a part of the game. It’s not supposed to happen,” Rose says, “But...something still did it anyway.”

“I don’t think we could kill horrorterrors,” Roxy says, “Just us, I mean.”

“Well, someone out there apparently can,” Karkat says, “And if it’s the same jerkwad who’s been giving me nightmares, then we’re fucked.”

“You said you’ve been having the same nightmares as Dave,” Loki says, redirecting the conversation.

“Well, more like he’s been having the same nightmares as me, because those sound recent, and I haven’t had nightmares in a while,” Karkat says, “At least not any with the bloody battlefield.”

“Have you ever hallucinated?” Rose says.

Karkat frowns. “No, it never got that bad.”

“So it’s treatable, then? Whatever this is, the nightmares?” Kevin hops off his place from the bed to take a step towards Karkat. “You said you were here for Cecil and – Cecil had nightmares too.”

“But none that ever made him scratch himself,” Loki says, “Just nightmares.”

“Oh my god, there’s two,” Tony says, “Fuck.”

Steve crosses his arms and turns to Cecil. “Have you had any nightmares, recently?”  

Cecil only shakes his head and lifts his hand from where it’s petting Khoshekh on his lap to sign. Not any about the battlefield.  

“Maybe it moved to Dave,” Roxy says, “Whatever is causing it.”

“It sounds like my nightmares and See – Seh – Cecil’s nightmares happened at the same time, or at least the same timeframe,” Karkat says, “I don’t think it needs to jump from person to person.”

This time it’s Kanaya who tenses, and Rose puts a hand on her arm in comfort.

“What is it?”

She hesitates, at first, but a few others turn to her.  

“The Seer,” she says, “They said that whoever was infected was terminal.”

The Seer.

Curious.

“Infected with what?” Loki asks. Rose sees nearly everyone from her group tense, panic  rising. Even Khoshekh turns to her, eyes glinting.  

“The bloodleech,” Kanaya says, “It’s what was causing the nightmares for Karkat.”

“And what was causing the nightmares for Cecil, according to The Seer,” Davesprite says, “And what might be causing the nightmares for Dave, although his seems to be far more extreme.”

“Who’s The Seer?” Mr. G asks, speaking for the first time since he’s entered the room with Mrs. H, who just seems to be communicating with him through glances.

Kanaya looks down, as do the others. “We don’t know,” she says, “They’ve been our primary source of information in all this. They contacted Karkat first, and then revealed themself to us later.”

“They told us about the bloodleech after Karkat threw it up,” Roxy says, “They said that the bloodleech was a terminal thing because it seemed to infect a vital part of the person.”

“It was a perversion of a person’s Blood,” Eridan says.

Roxy nods and points to his direction as a gesture of agreement. “Yeah, as in, the aspect.”

“Which is a vital part of a person,” Rose says, “Not only physically, but metaphysically. Blood is - ”

“Connections and bonds,” Davesprite finishes, nodding. “Emotions, empathy, relationships, links. That might influence how people get infected too. It ries to find easy gaps. Easy connections. Like a Blood player who embodies the aspect to be infected itself.”

“Or someone in a tumultuous mental state, which in turn affects emotional state,” Kanaya says, “It’s not a reach to conclude that the easier it is to exploit the link, the worse it can be for a person.”

“And Karkat is a Blood player,” Jade says, realization dawning. “That was the easiest gap it could find.”

“Cecil was already having nightmares from his visions,” Loki says, “Tumultuous mental state. And it was weathered down further by the more nightmares he got.”

“Dave had just been through a near-death experience,” Rose says, leaning back on the wall as she feels the weight of the information settle. “After believing for so long that we were finally going to be able to just live our lives. And we had to fight against Cecil.”

She feels Kanaya let go of her hand to wrap her arm around her shoulders. She leans against her, letting her take her weight, because she’s so fucking tired.  

“We’re all in danger,” she says, letting out a small hysterical laugh. “This is not a situation we can avoid stress in, we’re all – fuck.”

“That might actually be why the Heir is playing with you,” Steve says, and Rose snaps her gaze up. A title. They have a title. “If he needs an opening, and he wants to get to all of you rather than just immediately kill you, then he’s going to make it by putting you in stressful situations.”

Tony frowns. “This is fucked up to say but the fact that he’s actually waiting until he has all of you, to strike, instead of just killing you is...well, fucked up.”

“It’s certainly in line with why majority of us haven’t been infected yet,” she says, “Although people have different emotional barriers.”

“John’s is breaking,” Loki says.  

Jade turns to him sharply.

Rose closes her eyes. Right. He was crying earlier. John doesn’t exactly cry. He’s always pushed aside his emotions in favor of just floating around them, letting things work themselves out.

But then again, things have changed since they’ve settled here.

“It’s called depression,” Mr. G used to say.  

“It could be that it wants to play with us,” Eridan says, “But we got told that it eats through a person’s metaphysical aspects first before eating through the person’s organs, and remember that we also have The Seer and whoever it is they’re working with to help us.”

“We have allies?” Loki asks.

“Apparently,” Karkat says, “I’m still unsure, but.” He nods towards Cecil. “They sent us to help you.”

There’s a drop of silence as everyone considers that. On one hand, it could very well be a trap, and they have every right to be cautious considering what’s happened thus far.

On the other, why would anyone wanting to kill them want Cecil alive and uninfected?

“How can you help?” Jade asks, walking over to Karkat. “You said that you were here to help Cecil. How can you help?”

“Karkat threw the bloodleech up,” Dave says, “Because not only is he an actual Hero of Blood, and the aspect is his domain, he’s...” He trails off and looks to Karkat.

Karkat, who is staring at the floor wide-eyed and fists clenched.

“Oh, Karkat,” Kanaya whispers.  

The poor boy’s knuckles look ashen from how hard he’s clenching them, and Rose sees that there are tears pooling at the corners of his eyes.  

Red tears.

Rose has known, of course. Karkat had stopped caring halfway through during their time in the meteor, but he’s never once brought the subject up himself. He’s never stopped wearing his symbol grey. He’s never acknowledged it.

And for it to be the foil of some entity’s virus, and the very reason they have a fighting chance, and therefore his only weapon so far – it’s ironic.

“It eats through the metaphysical first?” Rose asks, moving forward.

“We’d need The Seer to explain the process first,” Eridan says, “But we know it enters through the metaphysical – so it makes sense it would find its gaps in an aspect and through emotions – and exits through the physical.”

Roxy laughs. “Hal says you spent a lot of time building theories and told no one, huh?”

Eridan actually looks sheepish, which makes Rose blink, since she hadn’t imagined him to be like this at all. “I didn’t exactly have time to share them,” he says, “Since the time I spent building them wasn’t really all that nice.”

“Are you sure you’re not infected?” Tony asks suddenly. “Considering...”

Eridan runs a hand over his face. “I’m actually considering it, since – I don’t know, I’ve had weird thoughts here and there, although I’ve had time to get myself out the dirt.”

“Lately, though,” Davesprite says.

Eridan clenches his jaw. “Don’t jinx it.”

“What’s your theory?” Jade asks, although she glances at Karkat briefly, who’s only just begun to relax.

“Okay, well, Blood as the aspect covers the whole thing,” Eridan says, motioning his hand in a circle. “So the theory has to do with Karkat also being able to remember what happened before we were dropped here.”

“He can remember?” Rose asks.

Karkat turns to her briefly to nod.

“I...” he starts, hesitates, and tries again. “I think it has something to do with me.”

Rose doesn’t press, and instead waits. So does everyone else.  

Still, Karkat closes his eyes, shoulders hunching, like he’s scared, like he’s terrified, before he just lets out a breath, giving up, absolutely exhausted.

“I think it’s because I’m a mutant,” he says, wiping away the red tears from the corner of his eyes. “I can remember because I’m a mutant.”

“In Alternia, blood color is a spectrum,” Kanaya says, at Tony and Steve’s shared, confused looks. “The higher you are on the spectrum, the higher your status in society is. The lower you are, the lower your status in society is. Every group shade is known for certain traits, and every group shade is treated a certain way.”  

She motions to Eridan. “Eridan here is a violetblood. He’s the second closest to the shade we consider royalty.”

“Your blood is violet?” Tony asks. “How does that work?”

“Insect biology?” Rose turns to Jade. “Jade?”

“Maybe later when we’re not pressed for time,” she says, ears flicking back apologetically.  

“That would be for the best,” Eridan says, curling his fingers around the edge of his chair as a way to fidget. “But yeah, in Alternia, I’m considered near-royalty. Our princess was Fef.”

“Feferi Peixes,” Steve says.

“You know her?” Jade asks.

“S.H.I.E.L.D. has her,” Tony says.

Eridan nearly crushes one edge of his chair at that. Karkat looks concerned.

Jade starts picking at the ends of her sleeves. “How many of us are here…”  

“We’re not sure,” Steve says, “But we do know that we’re getting somewhere. After we get the bloodleech out of Cecil and Dave, we’re going to help Feferi.”

“Can you?” Kevin leans over his brother’s bed, hands splayed out on it as support, so he can face Karkat properly. “Can you help them?”

Kevin’s eyes are determined but desperate, and Rose sees Karkat faltering under the pressure.

He’s just a boy, she thinks. He’s just like the rest of them. Young and inexperienced with this, and he just wants to rest.

But he stands, and nods, approaching Cecil’s bed.

“I don’t know what the fuck I have to do since this didn’t come with an instruction manual,” he says, “But I can try.”

“You can find a way,” Eridan says. “Your mutation is the key to getting the leech out, if we’re on the right track.”

“From the metaphysical to the physical,” Rose says, “Since that’s how it goes out.”

Cecil starts clapping.

Rose frowns, turning to attention to him just along with everyone else. The kid has his head bowed, and on his lap, Khoshekh gets to his feet, his hair standing on end. Rose hears Winston growl from the other side of Cecil’s bed.

Mr. G, standing by him the closest, slowly grabs Kevin’s arm in an attempt to make him back away with him and Mrs. H, but the kid is stubbornly staying, even as horror dawns on his face as he watches blood dribble out from his brother’s lips, and drip down his chin.  

And then he starts laughing, and Rose can see something dark in his mouth, resting right where his missing tongue should be.

Blood?

“Bravo,” ‘Cecil’ says, actually speaking, even though he’s speaking very slowly, like having semi-solid blood for a tongue isn’t very easy, and Rose isn’t surprised to see his eyes in pure darkness again. “I have to say, that’s a very good theory, Mr. Ampora. Did you know it applies to your Sufferer too?”

‘Cecil’ suddenly snaps his hands out, and Rose feels herself slam into the wall behind her, even if that’s a close distance to cover. All around the room, everyone else gets pinned – to the wall, to the ceiling – everyone except Khoshekh and Kevin.  

Khoshekh just hisses and Kevin stands this time, slowly backing away from his brother’s bed.

“The Sufferer, or as official historical archives used for government study only still call him, The Signless, was a mutant, like his dear descendant Karkat,” ‘Cecil’ says. He slides off his bed and proceeds to violently rip the needles from his arm, leaving wounds as he does. “And because he was a mutant, and not only that, the post-scratch version of himself who was once a player of SBURB, he was able to remember his life in Beforus.”

He smiles. “Because Blood as the aspect – because all aspects – consider everything as a whole, and with him being a mutant, it was just poetic perfection for him to be a Hero of Blood.”

Rose hears the door handle of the room jiggle, and she tries to turn to it, but her neck won’t move. She can’t move any of her limbs, and she closes her eyes, trying to reach down, reach deep, mentally screaming help to any horrorterror out there that is listening.

She feels a pulse. Something angry and hot, even when it’s faint.  

They’re listening.  

She lets out a shriek as she’s suddenly forced to slide upwards until her head hits the ceiling. She sees Kanaya beside her, grunting at the sudden impact as she too is slammed up.

“Thank you so much for gathering everyone in a place so unwarded, though,” ‘Cecil’ says, “Although I guess you really just panicked when you heard, Oh, please save wittle Cecil.”

Rose can’t even grit her teeth.  

Please, she thinks. It’s here. He’s here.

He looks nearly comical as he waltzes over to the door, arm bleeding, shoving Kevin away so his back hits the wall. Khoshekh bounds over to the kid, hissing again towards ‘Cecil’, as he turns the door handle and the lock pops open.  

She feels her skin burning.

Dave walks inside, John slung over his shoulder in a fireman carry, unconscious.

The speed of which the heat escapes Rose’s bones makes her shiver, and like he knows, ‘Cecil’ turns to her and smiles.

There’s faint, rapid footsteps outside, like there’s a lot of people running their way, but Rose just stares at her brother in horror, his eyes the same dark spots as Cecil’s, and he doesn’t seem to care that one of his best friends is bleeding from his head.  

“Dave!”  

That’s Karkat. He’s on the ceiling.

“Try again during work hours.” That’s Dave’s voice, but even the way he talks is nothing like her brother.  

“Let him go, you fucking bastard.”

“Oh, Karkat,” ‘Dave’ says, looking up and smiling as he walks further into the room. ‘Cecil’ closes the door behind him gently, locking it. He just leans back on it and smiles, even as the footsteps from outside – help? - get closer, and Rose can hear yelling.

“Didn’t you know?” ‘Dave’s still smiling, and he actually looks serene. “Every universe I touch will always fall to me.”

And he drops, collapsing onto the floor at the same time ‘Cecil’ does, and at the same time that the pressure pinning Rose and everyone else to the walls and the ceiling release, making them all come crashing down -

Just as the door is kicked open for S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to storm in.