Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

John didn’t mind being doomed. He just wished he didn’t have to do it alone.

Contrary to popular opinion (Rose’s), a doomed timeline doesn’t disappear instantly the moment its Time player travels away from it. It persists, slowly fading, like a candle flickering as the darkness slowly encompasses it.

The first things to go are the dreams. Skaia ceases to exist, as it no longer has any purpose, nothing more to see or know. With it goes Prospit, fading from existence, the yellow city vanishing into the non-being that permeates everything about the remainder of the session. Derse, no longer tethered by Skaia’s impossible gravity, drifts off into the domain of the horrorterrors, then, like its counterpart, it disappears, and with it goes any hope of escape, as the Furthest Ring has gone from here too. Or, rather, here has gone from it.

The planets and the veil remain in their illogical orbits, waiting for the encroaching darkness slowly filling this pocket of reality to consume them. Most game constructs, like the sprites, underlings, consorts, and carapacians, have already faded from the lands, and while the denizens have not gone, they are resigned from this timeline, focused on ones more worth their while.

John knew that last bit because he had been to see Typheus just moments ago. It wasn’t exactly a riveting conversation. John wasn’t entirely sure what it was, to be honest. He had stood there, in his clothes that Vriska had made him make not half an hour earlier. He had tried to ask Typheus what he was meant to do, now that everyone was gone, but the monstrous serpent hadn’t even noticed he was in the room. He was awake, sure, just... sort of not there. John remembered once seeing a snake on TV, hypnotised by the sound coming from a charmer’s flute. But there was no music here. The organ remained plugged with oil. John had tried playing his favourite haunting refrain on a keyboard he had passed earlier, but all it had elicited from the pipes was some half-hearted squelches.

Chapter Text

John sits on his balcony, looking out into the darkness. It’s not his balcony, really. It’s just a duplicate Rose made earlier, part of the “great swaths of the structure” she had “copied and pasted with little architectural consideration.”

That was one of the last things she had said to him.

Rose had told him their goal was no longer to win. It was “to do as much damage to the game as possible. To rip its stitches and pry answers from the seams.” Well, the game was broken now. John doubts this was exactly what she had meant.

He thinks about what had happened. He had been finishing talking with Vriska (not that he knew her name then) when she had just. Stopped. Then Dave messaged him and told him Rose was dead.

The Veil was gone now. All the meteors that hadn’t already been sent Skaia-ward had been obliterated, one by one, as if they had never been to begin with. John wonders which ones had still been there. The one he had been on as a baby? The one he had been on earlier. He guesses he had been on that one as a baby too. All of them had. Nanna, Dave, Dave’s bro, Jade and her grandpa, Rose’s mom, and, of course, Rose.

Chapter Text

TG: shes dead dude
EB: what?
TG: dead
TG: croaked
TG: bit the dust
TG: kicked the bucket
EB: the what?
TG: the bucket
TG: dont tell me youve been talking to more trolls
EB: yes.
EB: the one i was messaging stopped replying randomly though just now.
TG: yeah that happens
TG: none of them can talk to us now
TG: this is a doomed timeline
TG: from vriskas point of view she kept talking to you
TG: but its not you you
TG: its a different you
TG: the you from the alpha timeline
EB: oh.
EB: is rose really dead?
TG: yeah
TG: jack whacked her
TG: im gonna go and try and draw him off
TG: get him to go to lohac instead of lolar
TG: bros waiting there to fight him in the alpha
EB: but if he sees you?
EB: won’t he kill you too?
TG: i mean
TG: yeah
TG: if he gets me he gets me
TG: as long as the alpha me and you and her all get through fine its worth it
EB: so what will happen to me?
EB: and jade?
EB: should i help her enter now?
TG: no
TG: or yes
TG: doesnt really matter
TG: davesprite told me that he and his rose figured everything in the timeline would cease to exist once i left
TG: so i guess it doesnt matter what you do
TG: sorry dude

-- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] --

Chapter Text

Dave had been wrong, of course, and now John was stuck here, waiting for the end. Jade hadn’t even answered him when he tried to message her, so that was a bust. He had wondered if she was dreaming, and if so, how, since she didn’t have a dream self anymore. He had tried to remember what the last thing they had talked about was. Which led to John scrolling through the last conversation he had had with everyone. Karkat (heheh. car cat) was telling him about how Jack Noir was going to mess everything up (check), Terezi was tricking him into going to Rose’s land, and Jade was, of course, being all cryptic and psychic-y. He had also gone through the old messages he got from some of the other trolls, back when he thought they were only regular assholes, instead of space assholes. He had previously counted about 6 of them in total, although Jade had said there were 12 overall. There was the annoying role-play one who John had pawned off on Dave by telling her he was a furry as a joke, although she didn’t seem to fully understand, there was one who kept ranting about blasphemy and dolls and puppets and clowns, who he had ignored, and then...

Hang on. That’s strange.

Dave told him that he couldn’t contact any of the trolls, and they couldn’t contact him either.

Then why was this guy still online?

John remembers him. He was the one with the gross screen name who kept asking about what colour John’s blood was.

Well, it’s better to talk to someone than no-one.

Chapter Text

-- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering centaursTesticle [CT] --

EB: hello?
CT: D --> Who is this
CT: D --> Vriska is that you
EB: um.
EB: no.
EB: i’m not vriska.
EB: don’t you remember messaging me?
CT: D --> What
CT: D --> Whoever you are cease this f001ishness at once and answer me
CT: D --> Who are you
EB: uh...
EB: hi.
EB: i’m john.
CT: D --> What type of a name is John
EB: i think it’s a pretty normal one?
EB: i’m pretty sure i’ve heard of some actor called john.
EB: what’s your name?
CT: D --> I am Equius Zahhak
EB: hahahahaha!
EB: you trolls all have silly names.
CT: D --> It is not silly
CT: D --> It is an e%tremely distinguished name
EB: it sounds like you’re a horse called zack.
EB: hahaha.
CT: D --> What is a horse
EB: oh man, how do you not know what a horse is?
EB: ok it’s like
EB: a big animal with four legs and hooves
EB: and it has all this hair and a tail and a long face.
CT: D --> You mean a hoofbeast
CT: D --> Or perhaps a neighbeast
EB: i guess if that’s what you call them?
CT: D --> Then in that case it would not be silly to sound like one
CT: D --> It would be an honor
EB: i still think it’s silly.
CT: D --> No
EB: yes
CT: D --> No
EB: yes
CT: D --> No
EB: yes
CT: D --> No
CT: D --> You will stop this f001ishness at once John
CT: D --> You are the one with the ridic001us name
EB: no my name’s cool.
EB: you could even say it’s
EB: c001.
EB: B)
CT: D --> How dare you
EB: um
EB: sorry horse guy.
CT: D --> You are right to apologise
CT: D --> That is my quirk and it is e%tremely rude of you to copy it
EB: john cusack!
CT: D --> E%cuse me
EB: that’s who i was thinking of.
EB: the actor called john.
EB: he was in con air.
EB: and karkat said he was serendipity too.
CT: D --> I have not heard of these movies
CT: D --> And if Karkat enjoys them then they must be those created for the lower castes, and unbefitting for one of mine or your b100 b100d
EB: my blood’s not bloo.
EB: i mean, blue.
CT: D --> What
EB: i told you last time.
EB: or i guess maybe since you don’t remember it happens in your future?
EB: humans all have red blood.
EB: back then i thought you were just being a weird troll, but i guess aliens can have different blood colors.
CT: D --> I
CT: D --> E%cuse me
CT: D --> What is a human
EB: oh boy.

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CT: D --> So if I am correct
CT: D --> What you are saying is this
CT: D --> You are a member of an alien species who not only have the same b100d color as all other members of your species, but no horns, and a variety of different skin and hair tones
CT: D --> You have played a similar game to me and my compatriots, destroying your planet and travelling to several others as part of it
CT: D --> You have been assisted by many members of my group after they finish the game
CT: D --> And now, like myself, you have been stranded as the only survivor in a slowly unravelling doomed timeline
CT: D --> Is that right
EB: yeah!
EB: wait, what was that last bit?
CT: D --> Your current situation is surprisingly similar to the one I currently find myself in
CT: D --> Various disastrous occurrences led to the remainder of my team to be unable to enter the game successfully
CT: D --> All four of them must have been killed, either by the meteors or the Vast Glub
EB: vast what?
CT: D --> Shush
CT: D --> I am talking and it is rude to interrupt
EB: sorry.
CT: D --> As I was saying
CT: D --> Vriska’s unfortunate demise due to a rockslide moments before my entry also caused half of her team to be unable to join
CT: D --> I aided Aradia by supplying her the robotic body we had agreed upon in e%change for %%ing Vriska
CT: D --> By which I mean
CT: D --> Double crossing
CT: D --> But we found that upon learning that the crippled lowb100d had perished
CT: D --> Gamzee had snapped
CT: D --> Terezi and Karkat both fell at his hands, and I attempted to confront him
CT: D --> It was not my STRONGEST hour, to say the least
CT: D --> If not for Aradia’s timely intervention
CT: D --> Ha
CT: D --> Time
CT: D --> If not for her aid
CT: D --> I would have been rendered rather void of all breath by my own bowstring
CT: D --> She defeated him, however, and flew me to my quest cocoon, where I ascended into my new form
CT: D --> She then returned to the alpha timeline, to prevent the events leading up to the dreadful deaths and murders from ever occurring
CT: D --> And left me to die out here in the darkness
EB: wow.

Chapter Text

EB: i have a couple of questions.
CT: D --> Shoot
EB: heh.
EB: what did you mean, ascended?
CT: D --> That is simple
CT: D --> I have ascended to the God Tiers
CT: D --> I am now the fully realised Heir of Void
CT: D --> Not that it does me much good
EB: hey, i’m an heir too!
CT: D --> Oh
EB: not a god tier one though.
EB: the salamanders kept calling me the heir of breath.
CT: D --> Breath
CT: D --> That was Tavros’s aspect
EB: i’ve not met a void player before.
EB: we only have
EB: i guess ‘had’
EB: time, space, and light.
CT: D --> We had those also
CT: D --> Vriska would have been Light
CT: D --> Kanaya was to be Space
CT: D --> And Aradia was our Time player
EB: i thought so.
CT: D --> To be honest
CT: D --> I’m not quite sure why she saved me
CT: D --> I don’t really understand the difference between dying at the hands of a psychotic clown or a fading session

John looks out into the sky. Everything’s gone. LoLaR and LoHaC, both once shining brightly in the sky, had vanished from existence. Only Wind and Shade remained, and the darkness was closing in.

EB: i think...
EB: i think she wanted you to be happy.
EB: i mean, at the end.
CT: D --> E%cuse me?
EB: you said you loved her, right?
CT: D --> Yes
EB: and your
EB: um
EB: noirail...
CT: D --> Moirail
EB: thanks.
EB: you loved each other too, in whatever weird troll romance way that was.
CT: D --> Yes
CT: D --> Very much
CT: D --> Nepeta was
CT: D --> Perfect
EB: and you were losing them both.
EB: you’d lost everyone.
EB: so maybe she just thought

John looks again. The fireflies are gone. So are the clouds. The giant pipe organ he had been in a while ago, and had spotted in the distance while Equius was explaining the difference between Pitch and Flushed crushes (he still didn’t quite get that), was now obscured, encompassed, even, by the oncoming darkness. He can’t even see the top of his house. There’s not long left for him.

EB: maybe she wanted you to have someone.
EB: someone to talk to.
CT: D --> ...
CT: D --> Yes
CT: D --> Maybe that was it
EB: haha
CT: D --> What
EB: i guess in a sense we’re both the heir of void.
EB: inheriting this darkness.
CT: D --> I believe we are
CT: D --> It was nice to meet you, John
EB: you too, equius.
CT: D --> I wish we could have had more

And then they were gone.