Rose/Tavros

AT: hIIII, sO,
AT: yOU GET BOSSED AROUND BY THE KNIGHT, oK, gIVEN THAT, i HAVE A QUESTION,
TT: This isn't real.

"Oh. You figured that out quickly."

Rose looks over her shoulder at the dead troll standing behind her, an eyebrow raised. "It's not hard," she explains. "I've grown to expect entering a dream bubble whenever I'm asleep. It's the kind of thing one can prepare for." She stands, her white shirt and skirt giving way to her god tier robes. "Though I must say I am a little surprised by the memory – it certainly wasn't the one I'd been planning on. Is this your decision, then?"

He looks somewhat embarrassed. "Yes, it is. I just... like the way your land looks. The colors are pretty, and it kind of reminds me of fairy tales, in a way."

Rose smiles. "I see."

"Though I am sorry for interrupting you from whatever memory it is that you wanted to go to." He stops for a moment.

"It's quite alright, Mr. Toreador."

"Call me Tavros."

"Tavros." Rose repeats, weighing the name on her tongue. "Well, Tavros, I believe that the dreambubbles themselves have decided to keep me from my goal, so I would not blame my being here on your own desires. Now, you said you like fairy tales?"

"Y-yeah."

"Walk with me, and I'll share one with you."

Rose gently descends from the giant the two of them had been standing on, slowing until her feet are a mere centimeter above the glowing waters of her planet. Tavros follows, and she begins.

"Once upon a time," she starts, using the old cliche because it is the proper start to any fairy tale. "There were four friends, who were very close to one another. Though they were separated by land and sea, the four friends spoke with one another every day, sharing music and movies alike. One day, they decided to play a game."

Rose reaches the shore of the island her house is on. At this point in memory, it hasn't yet been built to the monolith it was to become; it is just as she remembers from childhood. Tavros follows dutifully. "Though the game started simply, with bathroom utilities misplaced, it held dire consequences both for the friends and everybody they loved. Over the course of this game, all four of them came into magnificient powers of breath, light, time, and space."

She stops at her front door for a moment and closes her eyes, trying to will the bubble to work the way she wants it to.

"This story just sounds like SGRUB," Tavros points out. "Or, what you called it in your universe, whatever that was."

"Irrelevant," Rose says, as she pushes open the door.

"But then, it's not really a fairy tale, is it?"

"All tales have a grain in truth in them. Some more so than others." She strolls into into her remembered home, glancing around. Items that were never there line the shelves, including some from trolls. She wonders if they are remnants of Tavros's memory, or if others have been exploring this memory of her home.

"They fought hard and lost a lot, but in the end their game was irreparable. The four friends were forced to leave, Time and Light by meteor, Space and Breath by ship. Though they were destined to meet again in three years time, they no longer had any method of communication, and the distance was suffocating." Rose slowly climbs the stairs to her room, and Tavros floats alongside her. "But they had access to a world of dreams, where anything could happen. They could meet a variety of fascinating characters, from a different universe, who had in fact died before they could have ever met." She gives a knowing glance to Tavros, who smiles weakly back at her. "So each night, Time and Light would fall asleep in hopes that the world of dreams could bring their friends to them."

Rose stops at her door, hand on the doorknob.

"Did it work?" Tavros asks.

She opens the door and peers inside. Everything is as it should be: the rocket pack through the wall, the pile of knitted items, the journals still on the floor, but the room is devoid of human life. Her brow furrows.

"Not yet."

Homestuck is property of Andrew Hussie.