Excellent timing for the fanart. I was just about to post this thing I wrote. Now it can thankfully be drowned in the fanart comments.
Years into the future. But not many.
Those were the vague words on John Egbert's mind as he looked out upon the starry, colorful mountains. The second sun had just set, but the night had already begun. His black hair (longer, now, than before) swayed in the faint, unfamiliar wind. It was finally over. He was Home.
That is what he and his three best friends called the new world. "Home". It seemed fitting, given the fact the portal to the planet was vaguely house-shaped. But he wouldn't ever have to see that portal again. He wouldn't have to see the Black King, or Skaia, or even Prospit ever again. He wouldn't have to see Jack Noir.
Jack Noir...
Jade was the first to start remembering. After the Scratch, they played SBURB again. That was fated to happen, after all. But to them, the destined four, it wasn't "again". At the time, they were just playing the newest beta version of that game that came on two discs. They slew imps, frolicked around, built houses, and ascended their respective Echeladders. Dave even got his God Tier outfit. But, see, that's when it started changing.
About the time Dave reached God Tier, Jade's world collapsed. Not literally, of course. Her planet and Prospit were both fine. But she was wracked with horrible memories from another world. Another time. She remembered the slaughter of every living pawn. Her own half-death. She remembered Jadesprite's breakdown, and the accidental murder of Dave Strider. It was too much for her. By the time she had completed her silly frog quest, she was an emotional trainwreck.
Rose took it surprisingly well. Being a Seer, she used her new memories to orchestrate the careful slaughter of pre-ascension Jack Noir. John had tried her understand why she suddenly became so vague and detached, but only with limited success. By the time he regained his own memories, he had already realized that Rose Lalonde was the main reason they won SBURB.
In the middle of the windswept oil fields, John had collapsed from depression. He acquired his memories of the original session much more forcefully than the others. That's what he felt like afterwards, at least. He had no idea what really had been going on inside his friends' heads. As he was lying on the ground on his planet, waiting to fall prey to some crude ogre, Dave Strider arrived to help him to his feet.
Dave Strider never even hinted to John that he had regained his memories. He just played the game like normal. It was obvious he was in cahoots about the nature of the previous session with Rose as John was questing merrily, though. That was Dave's nature, after all. He kept to himself, except around his sister. She understood him.
There was no fanfare when they reached the Black King on the circle arena far above Skaia. There was no fear, no joy, no new friendship or bonding. They were just going through the motions. They did what it took to get to Home. Quicker than it had begun, the Black King was defeated, and the portal was open.
Three years had passed since John and his friends stepped through the portal. He and Rose became a couple, and similarly, so did Dave and Jade. But their love was empty compared to the guilt they felt. Guilt that they couldn't bring their funny-horned troll friends with them. Guilt that they were the only survivors from Earth. And, most importantly, guilt that they had let the first session even happen.
But, over time, the four friends had learned to put that behind them. They learned to survive on the not-so-harsh Home. They built real homes from the alien wood and strange, thick surface dirt. John even designed his house like his old house on Earth. It's what Dad would have wanted, had he not faced John's denizen too early.
John walked back across the lone hill he lived on, and up the two rickety, purple, wooden steps that lead into his house. Rose was on the living room couch, resting, if a couch that hard and flat could be rested on. He could tell that she was crying, but trying to hide it.
Rose never cried. Not even when she remembered the first session. After these few years on Home, though, the exhilaration of winning SBURB, and having a fantastic amount of responsibility, had finally worn off. She became more attached to John. She had loved him all along.
"don't cry, rose! i'm here!"
"You know, John..."
"yes?"
"I think, somewhere, above the boundless heavens... outside of our universe-frog... the trolls are still alive and well."
John frowned at the change of subject.
"well... maybe! but what makes you think that?"
"Think about it. Karkat's slip-ups in the first pair of sessions caused the entire thing to go downhill. Maybe, right now, they're out there, in their own Home. Maybe they succeeded. We'll never know, since they didn't contact us. But maybe that just means that they had no problems."
"yeah, i guess you're probably right."
Rose's thin lips curved into a devious smile.
"Guess? Probably? We're a couple now, John. You need to pretend to believe my exquisitely unorthodox theories sometimes."
John backtracked.
"hehe! you're right, rose."
Somehow, eventually, at the end of the day... Rose Lalonde was always right.
~~~
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Topic: MSPA Homestuck (Read 5207912 times)