Karkat!

A voice.

Karkat!

Familiar yet unrecognizable.

Karkat please.

Please what? Who was calling you?

Don't do this to me again.

'What did I do?'

I'm sorry.

Why?

Get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, head to school. That was the daily weekday morning routine. You sighed at the ordinary day but it was a Friday so the weekend would arrive soon. All you had to do was survive lectures and then you were free. Well after John's attempts at taking you out somewhere to hang out and succeeding no matter how much you denied. You didn't really hate hanging out with him. You actually liked how he tried to befriend you when you were the new kid and making you join his little group of friends. You weren't used to the attention so you always tried to deny him although you didn't mean it. You were actually thankful for his persistence in making you say yes so you wouldn't have to be so secluded. You couldn't really complain. Life at the moment was pretty good. Average. You were just some high schooler living with your temperamental father and got by pretty well.

"Bye Dad going to school!" you shouted at the door.

"I better not get another fucking phone call from your stupid school you hear!?" he shouted back.

You just rolled your eyes and left.

You arrived at school and entered the classroom right at the bell as always. You found John and the other three crowded near your desk chatting away. John greeted you and you just gave him a silent wave before taking a seat in front of his best friend the annoying cool kid wannabe. Him and his stupid shades. You wondered how the boy ever got away with convincing the teachers to let him wear it. You had never seen that douchebag without that idiotic accessory so you had no idea what problem he could have possibly had to require wearing it 24/7. Everything about him just irritated you. The way he talked, the way he teased you, that stupid smirk that appeared to be always plastered on his face whenever you saw him, and the way you could feel him currently staring at the back of your head throughout lectures for some reason. You resisted the urge to turn around and snap at him in the middle of class or hit him just so he would stop. That stupid idiotic attractive asshole.

Instead you decided to give him a piece of your mind at lunch but by the time it came around he had absconded from the room with John. The two boys didn't even show up in the cafeteria so you ended up eating lunch alone with the two girls.

"So where the hell did those two buttmunchers go?" you asked as you devoured the food before you.

Jade shrugged, "Not sure. They didn't really say anything to us."

"Perhaps they are helping out a teacher and forgot to tell us," Rose made a reasonable assumption.

"Well they did mention about being busy at lunch but didn't tell us what," Jade continued. They then left it at that and you listened in on the new conversation they started. Barely paying attention your mind concentrated on what the hell the other two were doing to miss the entire lunch period.

You frowned at Strider once you all returned to class.

"Something on my face?" he raised an eyebrow at you.

"Where were you and John all lunch?" you questioned.

"Oh I forgot to tell you and the girls that we were helping the music teacher move stuff around all lunch. Old lady can't move pianos by herself you know," Rose's guess was spot on but something was off. John refused eye contact. He was lying.

"Didn't know we had to report everything to you mother. We're oh so sorry," he once again had that dumbass smirk on his face. You just glared at the two of them before turning around to pay attention to class.

You felt him staring at the back of your head again throughout the rest of the classes. You had forgotten to ask why. It was strange, was this to bug you or what? You never could guess what the guy was thinking with the way he dodged things and annoyed you for fun. You got irritated too quickly to try to figure out what he was really thinking.

Soon the bell rang and the students filed out. You followed John and Dave and decided to go along with it instead of wasting time having John harping you into a hang out, "So where are we going today?"

"Uh. I'm heading home. Got lots of homework and um I'm busy all weekend so gotta finish it all today," you looked at John and he avoided eye contact again. He lied again. Why?

"What? But you're always dragging me places on Fridays. Even when I'm busy," you then looked at Dave with a scowl, "And what's your excuse?"

"I'm always a busy man. Not like you're too keen on hanging out with me alone now are you?" he raised a brow at you again. Irritated you walked ahead of them.

"Fine whatever. See you two assholes on Monday," with one last glare you turned the corner and slipped into an empty classroom.

You heard the faint sounds of the girls talking to them for a bit before they passed by the room you were in. Unfortunately you were not able to catch a single thing they were saying. Soon you saw the boys pass by chatting about classes and you followed them to see what they were really up to. Keeping a fair distance you followed them to a café that was beside that one arcade John had wanted to take you to for a while. You wondered if those two assholes were going without you. If they didn't want you to come then they should have been upfront about it instead of beating around the bush. You knew they had been best friends since they were very young. They could have told you they just wanted a best bro hang out or something instead of lying to you. John usually wasn't a liar though and he didn't appear to be the type to leave people out of activities so it was odd.

What was odder was the fact that the two headed into the alley instead of going into the café or arcade. With a frown you carefully got closer and waited around the corner to listen in to what they were doing. You waited but heard nothing and after a minute you peeked in to find their bags on the ground leaning against the wall and the two boys nowhere in sight. Where the hell could they have gone? Placing your bag near theirs you carefully walked into the alley. Did they figure out you were following them and were hiding somewhere ready to jump at you? You checked the dumpsters and any other hiding spots you could see but could not find them. Walking further down the alley you began to see the walls distort a bit. You stopped moving but the walls didn't.

Panic settled in and you turned to run but the world morphed around you. The alley way disappeared and you found yourself in a dark and eerie environment. How you got there you had no idea. Cobwebs were literally everywhere. You looked all around you and it was clear you were not where you were before. Closing your eyes you took a deep breath, it was probably better to find a way out rather than sit and wonder where you were so after calming yourself down you trekked forward to find an exit.

The dancing spiders that had suddenly appeared had startled you at first but after seeing that they were just there and showed no signs of harming you, you ignored the fact that they were really big compared to a normal spider and kept going. As long as they didn't try to climb you or anything it was fine. It was probably best to stay away from spiders the size of your face. You really hoped they didn't get bigger. The 'sky' in this world was dark, the only source of light were the strange lamps lying around. There was some sort of a path so you followed it hoping it would lead you out of there. You turned the corner and found something large blocking your way. Looking up you found you had jinxed yourself. Standing before you was a spider about the size of a classroom looking at you with its many eyes. You swore its strange fang teeth things were grinning at you and next thing you knew your world went dark.

To be fair you think anyone would have fainted if they came face to face with a monster of that size. If you had arachnophobia you may have had a heart attack instead.

. . . Karkat!

You stirred. You swore you heard your name. You tried to move but something restricted your arms and legs. Forcing your eyes open you find yourself looking straight down a few hundred feet above the ground. Below you a group of large assed spiders like the one you met before were fighting against two people. Looking at yourself you found that you were bound in a spider's web. To your left you found the one you met earlier sitting in the middle of the web you were stuck to.

"John baseball shot!" you heard a familiar voice shout. Looking back down you watch as the one in the blue and green outfit somehow blow away the spiders to create room. The one in the red and white outfit hopped onto his weapon before getting spun around and shot up towards you. As the figure got closer you saw the trademark shades and couldn't believe it. What were Dave and John doing here and what the hell were they wearing?

The web bounced a bit and looking to your left you saw the spider that had captured you was moving towards you. You tried to wriggle free but the web was too strong so all you could do was watch as it got closer and closer. It looked like Dave was aiming towards you as well to get you out of there but it was hard to tell who would reach you first. At the last second Dave changed his target to the Spider and sliced through it along with the web. Your bonds fell loose once the main web broke and you soon found yourself falling towards the ground. Below you the other spiders shrieked in agony before dissipating into dust.

You watched as Dave was somehow able to turn around and lunge towards you before wrapping his arms around you. You couldn't even find any energy to scream as you clutched onto his shirt in fear. At that height and speed the two of you could die. But of course he had to just surprise you further with how softly he landed on the ground. He carefully helped you stand and let you go but you couldn't stop yourself from clinging onto him. Around you the strange dark realm disappeared and you found yourselves in the alley way again. The strange outfits on John and Dave suddenly disappeared and they were back in their normal clothes before John walked towards you.

"What the fuck just happened?" you asked a little quietly as you hesitantly let go of Dave's shirt and stood on your own.

"No the bigger question here is what the fuck are you doing here!?" Dave yelled at you. You flinched and backed away from him, startled by the sudden uncharacteristic outburst.

"You two were being all suspicious all fucking day so I followed you okay! I thought you two were being assholes and keeping me out of things and I didn't expect whatever the fuck just happened!" you shouted back in defense, "What even was all that!? What the hell is with your outfits!?"

"Hey man just calm down first," John placed a hand on your shoulder.

You whipped around and smacked John's hands away, "No I want a fucking explanation!"

"Well um," John grabbed his left arm with his right hand and looked down before swinging his hand in the air a bit to try to think of an answer, "We're sort of-"

"No, we don't need to explain a single fucking thing," Dave cut John off, anger seeping through his voice. You could even see his forehead slightly creasing in frustration. Wow he was mad, "Ever heard of mind your own business Karkat? You don't need to know because it's none of your business. See because you decided to snoop around you got caught and got in the way. From now on whenever we tell you we're busy you fuck off alright. Now go home and think about what you've done."

He turned and picked up his bag that was left by the entrance of the alley and walked away without another word.

"Whoa hey Dave! Wait up! Um sorry Karkat but you really should go home," John picked up something small on the ground before grabbing his bag and running after him, "Dave hey! Dude hold up!"

You watched as John disappeared around the corner before slowly falling to your knees and trying to comprehend what had just happened. You had followed them, disappeared into a dark place, got kidnapped by a giant spider, got saved by them while they were in super hero outfits, Dave got mad at you and then they just left you in the alley, all by yourself, when the sun was about to set. Quickly standing up and grabbing your bag you decided it was better to dwell on it at home rather than staying out in the open to danger. Who knew what you would run into if you continued to stay out there.

You ran all the way home without a second glance at anything. The world was so different now, so frightening, so confusing. Nothing made sense anymore. Those you had thought were your friends were actually beings of great power. Were Rose and Jade like them too? How long had they had these powers? How long had they been fighting against these things? How long were they keeping all of this from you? How did they attain those powers? Where did those monsters come from? Why were they tasked in taking care of them? Dave looked as though he did not want to tell you for some reason. John looked like he was about to but was stopped and would probably avoid telling you with the way Dave insisted on not telling you. You had to talk to them about it. This confusion would be unsettling inside of you forever until you knew what was going on. Jade and Rose were reasonable people so hopefully they would tell you if you asked.

Arriving at your home you found that your father had not returned from work so after making sure all the windows were closed and the door was locked you hid in your room. Unable to concentrate on your homework for an hour, you stared at the chat client seeing Jade online and wondered if it was an acceptable time to ask her at the moment. Your mouse hovered over her chat handle but you didn't click. After a minute of just staring at it you just groaned and flopped onto your bed.

You almost fell out of it when your father slammed the door open soon after, "Karkat! I called you five bloody times! Dinner is ready!"

"I'm not hungry . . ."

"Not hungry? I even came home an hour early to make you your favourite!"

You sighed and rolled to your side to face away from your father, "I'll eat in a bit. I'm just not hungry now."

"Fine then," you easily imagined him rolling his eyes at you before leaving and closing the door.

You decided to take a nap until a notification went off at your computer. You should have shut it down. With a groan you got up and checked the message. Well turns out Jade had decided to talk to you instead of the other way around.

gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

GG: hey karkat!
CG: HEY.
GG: so . . .
CG: SO?
GG: john told me what happened today
CG: OKAY.
GG: tomorrow we're going to meet up at john's house to talk about it and i want to tell you everything
CG: DAVE DOESN'T WANT ME TO KNOW.
GG: i know john told me he yelled at you which was weird because dave just doesn't yell :S
GG: i guess he's just worried about you
CG: STRIDER IS WORRIED ABOUT ME?
GG: of course! you're our friend after all!
CG: I REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON THOUGH.
GG: yes i want to tell you too which is why you should come over to john's place early before dave arrives
GG: i'll convince him to let you know okay?
CG: ALRIGHT.
GG: sorry
GG: you probably have a lot of questions right now but we'll make sure to tell you everything tomorrow
CG: FINE. SO I GUESS THIS MEANS YOU AND ROSE REALLY ARE INVOVLED IN THIS TOO HUH.
GG: yeah
CG: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING THIS FROM ME?
GG: well before you became the new kid at school
CG: I SEE.
GG: okay everything else tomorrow! get some sleep and stay safe okay?
GG: have a nice night karkat
CG: YOU TOO I GUESS.

gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

You sat back with a sigh. She promised to tell you the next day so there was no problem. It was Jade Harley after all. No matter how much Dave put up a front he could never crack down on Jade. You believed she could get him to comply but you were still confused with why he had to yell at you like that. You would ask tomorrow.

"I said to come early!"

"I did."

"Not early enough Dave is almost here! Okay so just hide in John's closet and don't come out or say anything before we try to convince him," Jade then shoved you into the closet before you could reply and shut the door behind you. You grimaced getting squished up against John's clothes before carefully maneuvering around until you were comfortable and were able to see through the small openings on the door. Dave came in about a few seconds later. If Jade had not shoved you in he may have seen you and tried to kick you out before they started talking.

Mr. Egbert generously left a plate of cookies and drinks for the four of them right after Dave had entered and after stating that he'd just be down stairs if they needed him he left. Rose and Jade sat on John's bed, John sat on his computer chair backwards and Dave sat on the corner of his computer desk.

"So . . . I heard Karkat followed you guys and sort of found out," Jade broke the silence that had somehow started since Mr. Egbert had exited the room, "Dave did you really yell at him? That's not like you."

He looked down.

"John tells us you have something you need to say. Is it part of the reason why you've been acting odd and edgy?" Rose questioned.

"Yeah . . . but first. I don't think we should explain to Karkat what's going on. It's just too dangerous," he stated with determination. You frowned at that.

"Okay but I don't think you had to yell at him yesterday," John looked over to him.

"I just. Yes fine that was uncalled for but he shouldn't have followed us. I didn't think he was that kind of stupidly curious guy. What if we hadn't noticed him in the web and the thing ate him before we killed it?"

"But we did save him."

"Dave what's bothering you," Rose slightly frowned.

He sighed and crossed his arms, "Okay do you know about that great demon called Reagent English."

"That powerful one that has a tendency to level cities? Then yes . . . Don't tell me . . ."

"Yeah, our city's next on his list. At the end of the week too. It's going to be insane. More witches and demons will be coming throughout the week. It's going to be tough and it's going to be crazy unsafe. We're the only ones here that can take care of it and if we don't there goes the city."

"What's wrong with asking for help then? Why do you have to keep me out of it?" you couldn't take it anymore and exited the closet. If such a big powerful thing was coming then wouldn't it be smarter to ask for help rather than taking it on all by themselves?

He looked at you surprised as he stood up before glaring at John, "What the fuck is he doing here?"

He shook his head at him and looked towards the girls.

"I think we should tell him," Jade spoke up, "He should know what's going on because he's our friend but we won't let him join in with us. We have to let him know to at least understand why he shouldn't help us. I know you're concerned about what happened to me but I would've hated to not have known too. I wasn't careful when I followed you guys around, but we'll make sure Karkat knows the dangers so he doesn't do anything stupid like I did."

She gave Dave a pleading look. You watched as he just sat back down again with a grumble and looked away. A little ticked off at his actions you somewhat shouted again, "Yeah so please just explain to me what the hell is going on!"

"Calm down and come sit with us," Rose moved over and patted the spot between her and Jade. You blinked at her before walking over reluctantly. Any false moved could get you kicked out so you had to listen to them for now.

"Well to start off we have super powers!"

"John don't give him the silly explanation!" Jade rolled her eyes at him.

"What it's true."

"To be more specific we are magical children."

"The fuck does that mean," you frowned. Suddenly a flash of light enveloped Jade and Rose before strange outfits replaced the casual ones they were just wearing. They just smiled at you before smiling at each other.

"Magical children have special powers and weapons that can fight against demons and witches," Rose explained as she held her wands in front of her. Jade held up her intimidating rifle as well.

"Did you guys always have these powers and hid them from me all this time?" you asked a little hurt. After all those times they kept saying they were your friends too.

"We've only had them for about a year though. Jade half a year," John rested his chin on the back of his chair.

"We gained these powers through wishes and a contract with a certain creature," Rose leaned back and twirled one of her wands, "For any wish you desire you become a magical child and fight against witches and demons in return."

"What kind of wish would you make to have to do stupid dangerous stuff like that?"

"A year ago my mother along with John's father and Dave's older brother had gone together to go get some supplies they had forgotten when we went on a camping trip. We waved at them as the car was leaving the campsite onto the highway and . . ." she paused and placed her wand down.

"An idiotic speeding truck crushed their small sedan," Dave picked up where she left off, "A faceless cat creature came up to us a little bit too soon after. We made a contract with it to bring our guardians back."

You looked up mouth slightly hanging open at the sudden shock. You felt like you were going to say something but nothing came out. You promptly shut your mouth and waited. But that didn't explain Jade so you gave her a glance and she returned your look with a small sad smile.

"I soon found out about their powers since they kept sneaking away just by themselves. The only reason why I wasn't with them during that camping trip was because I was out of the country with my grandpa that summer," she then took a long breath in and out, "I liked joining them and watching as they fought against the demons and witches. I was like wow it's so cool to be friends with heroes secretly protecting the city!"

"But it was dangerous," John hid half his face behind his arms and looked away.

" . . . A demon distracted them and attacked me. On the verge of death Scratch appeared and I wished for my life. Oh Scratch is the faceless cat creature by the way."

"You . . . died?" he questioned hesitantly and unbelievingly.

"If Scratch didn't grant my wish then I probably would have."

"Not like we're really alive either . . ." you heard Dave mumble.

"What does that mean?" you furrowed your eyebrows at him completely confused.

"Okay who wants to do the demonstration?"

"I'll do it," John took something out of his pocket and held it out. It was some sort of small decorated sparkly blue egg sitting in a fancy hold of some sort. Rose waved at John and he tossed the blue egg like object towards her. She caught it, changed back to her normal outfit and left the room.

"What was that?" you looked at John's closed door where Rose had just left.

Jade changed back to her normal clothes as well and pulled out a small object just like Johns and placed it in your hands. The only difference was this one was green, "When we become a magical child each of us get this. It's called a soul gem. Without this we can't change into our cool hero outfits and fight against the demons. When we transform it turns into an accessory somewhere on our outfits. But the catch is . . ."

She paused and looked over to John. You looked over as well and watched as his eyes grew dim and his body slumped out of his chair. Dave quickly caught the lifeless body as your eyes widened. He shifted John so that he was easy to carry and pulled out his cell to text someone.

"Soul gem means our souls are placed in those crystals. If the gem is too far away from us then the body no longer functions. If the gem breaks then we die . . ."

You looked down at the crystal. You were holding Jade's soul in the palm of your hands. That fact alone made you panic and quickly give her soul gem back before looking at John with worry, "Is he . . ."

"Technically yes he is dead. It's a soulless body right now and if the gem stays away from the body for too long it will become useless for him to use it. Rose is coming back right now though so don't worry about it he will be fine," Dave explained, "So yeah if some freaky faceless white cat appears don't listen to a word it says no matter how much it sugar coats it. Whatever you wish for you'll be making a contract with the devil and trading your soul for it. So don't do it."

You gripped the bed sheets and looked down trying to process what you had just learned. Okay so due to some unfortunate events your friends have traded their soul for the life of their guardians except for Jade who traded her soul for her own life. Now they all have magical powers and have to fight against creatures because of a contract with some sort of faceless cat creature named Scratch. It was a lot to take in. Dave and Jade stayed silent to let you think until Rose returned and placed John's soul gem onto his chest. You watched intently as life returned to his eyes and he slowly sat up making his gem fall.

"Oh oops," he picked it up and quickly pocketed it before sitting on his computer chair again, "So uh was that all we needed to explain?"

"Let's see. I think all that's left is to make sure Karkat understands and doesn't come with us when we take on witches and demons," Jade tapped her chin.

"It's okay. I get it now . . . sorry for being annoying and prying about it," you looked away again.

"It's okay Karkat. I understand how it is to hate not knowing what's going on and your friends keeping things from you," Jade placed a sympathetic hand on yours, "We're telling you now so we can protect you. We don't want you to question why we suddenly go places without you and then you following and getting hurt like with what happened yesterday."

"Sorry . . ."

"No need to be sorry Karkat. We're sorry you suddenly had to learn about us like this. It's quite frightening I know," Rose stated.

You moved forward making Jade let go of your hand. Putting your elbows on your knees and your head in your hands you summarized what they just told you, "You guys have been risking your lives for the past year and I only figure this out now. If I ever wanted to help you I'd have to trade my soul to a devil creature. Yeah sounds great. Holy shit . . ."

"As long as you understand and don't try to act heroic by trying to help us then things should be alright. Please don't think of us too differently. We just want to stay friends with you if that's alright."

"Yeah that's fine but how the hell can I just casually keep going when I know you're risking your lives out there like this."

"Our lives are already gone Karkat you don't have to worry about that. Just stay out of it trouble and you'll be fine. Right now we have to plan about how we're going to take on the Reagent. You're free to stay and listen if you want as long as you don't decide to jump in and help," Dave reiterated.

"No I think I'm going to go home now . . ." you looked up a bit to see John biting his bottom lip.

"You could help us plan?" he attempted to still include you in a way somehow.

"No I'll just get in the way. . . Good luck I guess. See you guys Monday . . ." you got up and without another word just left the room. You heard Jade sigh before you closed the door.

"Hey!" Dave called out to you when you were halfway down the stairs you looked up, "Sorry . . . for yelling at you yesterday."

"Sorry for yelling back at you. I understand now. You were just looking out for me."

"I'm serious though if you do see that cat thing don't listen to a word it says no matter how much it sugar coats this magical deal. It's a devil in disguise. Be careful."

You looked up at him, at his shades, where you were hoping you were looking at his eyes. You felt him look back along with a sense of concern. Something you had never felt from him before. He probably yelled at you yesterday because he was freaking out about how you almost got hurt and he wasn't sure what to do with the fact that you knew, "You be careful too. All of you."

You clenched you fists and looked down. You wanted to tell them that you wanted to help, that they could rely on you if they needed to but you couldn't. There was nothing you could do. The only way you could help was if you made a devil contract that they talked about but what would you even wish for? In the state you were now you would just get in everyone's way. With a small defeated sigh you turn and head down the stairs. At the door you look back up and see Dave waiting there and watching you. You couldn't think of anything else to say to him so you just left.

All you could do now was wait for them to defeat that great and powerful demon that they were talking about before. But then what? Even if they did defeat that thing that didn't mean they wouldn't stop being those weird magical children things. It didn't mean they had to stop fighting other monsters either. After they beat that thing it was obvious that they'd just go back to fighting other witches and demons like how they did before. You couldn't believe it took you this long to figure it out after hanging out with them since you were the new kid. Why did they even bother being friends with you if they wanted to keep such a thing away from you? It would have been better if they didn't even bother getting to know you so that they wouldn't have to worry about you getting in the way of their work.

But what if they didn't beat that 'Reagent' as they called it? What if they got hurt or worse? What would happen to them or the city if they didn't? They were the protectors right? But why did they have to take care of those witches and demons? Who took care of them before? Why them? Where did they even come from? What about that faceless cat creature? Did they question that thing? What would happen to them from now on? Do they still grow? Are they immortal unless killed? After a whole session of explanations everything still didn't make sense. You wouldn't have believed any of it if you had not witnessed their transformations and how John and Dave defeated that spider witch the other day. It was insane yet you had to believe it. Playing ignorant would help no one. It wasn't like you had to do anything so it was best not to dwell on it.

Back at your home you found a note on the fridge telling you that your father would be gone all day and mostly all night with his group so you could do whatever you wanted as long as it didn't involve destroying the house. You would have gone to hang out with your friends like any normal weekend but of course they were busy with more pressing matters. All days games it was then. A good distraction from the mess of what you could barely comprehend that day.

It was hard trying to find things to do to distract you. Whatever you did it kept on reminding you of what had happened the other day and about your friends. Fighting games brought back the image of Dave and John battling. Fantasy games brought up the magical outfits they wore. The little spider crawling across your desk brought up that thing that kidnapped you and you quickly squished it with a piece of paper before tossing it away. You became frustrated. You couldn't do anything but sit around and wait with the full knowledge that your friends were risking their lives every day to protect the city, their families and their friends. Strangely enough your frustration was what made the day go by quickly and soon it was night fall. Your father would not return until late into the night so you decided to head to bed early. You stretched in your chair and let out a yawn before swiveling around to find something sitting in the middle of the floor of your room. It looked like some sort of small animal, it was white, it was weird and foreign so you cried out and threw your dictionary at it.

The thing swiftly dodged and hopped onto your bed, "I apologize for startling you. I mean you no harm. There is no need for violence."

You blinked at the thing that spoke to you. It had no mouth but a voice was clearly coming from it. It appeared to be some sort of white cat with green markings here and there with strange long flaps that appeared to be its ears. It would have looked cute as well if it weren't for the fact that it had no facial features what so ever. Just white blank space where a face was supposed to be. The faceless cat creature. Your bewildered look turned into a glare. So this was the devilish creatures that had made your friends seal their souls into little gems.

"There is no need for hostility either. I am just here to speak with you."

"Well I don't want to talk to you so get out of my room you thing or whatever."

"That's quite rude to call me a thing. My name is Scratch."

"I don't care what your name is. In my eyes you're a thing because you're not like any creature on this planet and you have no fucking face now get out before I start throwing things at you again," you would not let it start speaking. They warned you about him to not speak to him so that was exactly what you were going to do.

"So you will not listen to a word I say? Not even if I can provide information on how you can help your friends? The least you could do is to hear what I have to say to be polite. I have come all this way after all."

"You came into my room without any warning. Here that's called trespassing, invasion, or breaking and entering. Take your pick. Now get the fuck out of my house. There's nothing I want to hear from you. I heard enough from the others today."

"So you will just continue living your life this way knowing full well how much danger your friends are in? An extra hand is always helpful in dealing with witches and demons. Do you like living peacefully knowing full well that your friends could die any day?"

"There's nothing else I can do . . ." you picked up your textbook and held it up behind your head ready to throw it, "THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO SO SHUT UP AND GET OUT!"

"But you can join them. You can go and fight with them. I'd be granting you a wish along the way so there shouldn't be any problem. You gain all the benefits."

"Benefit of what? I'd be sticking my soul into a tiny crystal."

"It's to protect your soul. As long as that crystal is intact then you could theoretically live forever. It's better than those meager human bodies you possess."

"That's . . . That's just insane!"

"Why? You'd become more powerful. You're greatest wish would be granted. You would be able to help your friends. It would be most beneficial to you. I do not understand what the problem is here."

"That's just. That's not human. Being like that, doing that and having your life put into something. That's not natural!"

"But isn't it human nature to wish to be stronger? To have power? To protect others? Is that not what you want? I can grant you any wish and you would have the power to fight. Why are you so against it?"

"It's not- I just-"

"You would be so powerful beyond belief. You could protect them. They wouldn't have to worry about you. Is it not better this way? I can grant you any wish you desire as well. Fame, fortune, power, anything at all."

"NO JUST STOP! SHUT UP! STOP TALKING! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" with a scream you chucked the textbook at the thing. It dodged once more before hopping over to your window.

"Perhaps I should let you think about it for a while. You have obviously taken in too much information for the day and you require some time to process it all. I will come again another day."

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE! I DON'T WANT TO FUCKING SEE YOU EVER AGAIN!" you swore you heard it let out some sort of breath of amusement before turning and leaving. If it could smirk that would have probably what have been on its face. That's what you sensed from it anyways.

You panted trying to regain your breath from screaming at the no faced creature. Staring at the ground you felt your head begin to pound. It was all just too much. After all that information what were you expected to do? No you already knew. It was insane. It wasn't worth it. It was what your friends were trying to prevent so you would listen. Dave, the one who appeared to barely care, was the one who insisted on it the most so it was probably a big deal for him to show so much emotion. You did as he said and did not heed the words of the creature. If it ever tried to come around again then you would just stop it somehow before it started to speak again. That was it, a simple and easy solution. There was no need to dwell on it further.

After shaking your head you decided it was best to leave it at that so you headed to bed without another thought. It took a lot of energy just gaining all of that information. Processing could wait another day.

"Karkat! Hey wait up! Slow down!"

You stopped and turned around before Jade collided into you causing the two of you to fall over. You yelped in surprise before groaning in slight pain.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I didn't expect you to just stop!" she quickly got off of you and helped you up, "I said slow down not stop."

"Yeah well it seemed easier to just wait for you. Didn't know you were coming after me like a speeding bullet," you grimaced.

"Sorry," she gave you an apologetic smile, "How are you?"

You brushed yourself off and avoided eye contact, "Aside from the fact that I was knocked to the ground, I'm okay I guess."

She crossed her arms and moved so that she was up close to your face and looking straight at you, "Are you sure you're okay?"

With a frown you stepped back, "Never better. Aren't you busy? You shouldn't be wasting your time talking to me. You should go before the others start looking for you."

"I just wanted to see how you were doing . . ."

"Well you see now right? I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me. I'll stay out of your way. See you later I guess," and with that you left without giving her another look. She didn't appear to know what else to say to you so she didn't call out to you again.

You were glad because you may have just yelled at her before running away. There was no point in you trying to talk to them now when they were busy preparing for a big upcoming battle. Since you couldn't do anything it was best to stay out of their way.

It had been a few days since they revealed to you what they were. You had been thinking about what they said and what Scratch had as well. Sure you wanted to help them but it would have been too risky. Even with some sort of power would you even be able to help? What if you just got in the way or made things worse? You were no expert in fighting let alone fighting monsters. What could you even wish for? What kind of wish would be worth trading your soul for? You thought about the wishes of the others. They were all for a life of either theirs or another's. You didn't think any wish you could make could equal something of that high value. Fame, fortune? It wasn't worth it. Not for your soul. Your life that was perfectly healthy at the moment. Anything you could think of was meaningless so in the end it was best to leave the others to take care of it.

John and Jade tried to talk to you from time to time but you quickly brushed them off and went home right away. You noticed Dave and Rose looked at you from time to time but they never said anything. The rest of the days were unfortunately spent worrying about them. The frightening day was nearing.

"Karkat! Hey let's go hang out."

You frowned at John who had suddenly approached you as soon as classes ended on Friday, "Aren't you busy? Shouldn't you be scouting town like usual or whatever?"

"It's okay the girls and Dave have it covered! Dave was on night duty last night which was why he was absent. He was just sleeping at home but he'll be scouting with the girls today so let's hang out!"

You looked at the empty desk that was behind yours. So that was where he was, "Are you sure? Shouldn't you go with them?"

"Hey they're strong and if they do need any help then they can just call me. They'll be fine. Come on give me like a moral boost before our big upcoming battle please?" he pleaded.

You looked over to the girls. They just smiled at you and Jade patted your back, "We're stronger than we look Karkat we'll be fine! Just go have fun."

"We have taken care of most of the demons and witches during the past week so today may just be a casual day for us as well. There is no need to worry," Rose reassured. You were going to roll your eyes at her but then saw the bandages wrapped around her neck. Something must have happened when they were going around yesterday because you definitely did not see that in class before they had left. You would have questioned it but you had a feeling she would have dodge the question.

"Fine I guess . . ." you begrudgingly accepted.

"Sweet! Okay just call me if you need anything okay see ya!" John waved to the girls as he dragged you outside. The two just giggled and waved back.

"Christ Egbert I can walk on my own you know!" though you feigned annoyance you were actually glad he wanted to spend time with you like this. He was ever the optimist as always and hated leaving anyone out of anything. This was probably an attempt to make up for the fact that you couldn't' do anything for them and how they had kept that secret from you all this time, "So where are we going?"

He let go of you and walked ahead with a little skip in his step, "Let's head to the park on the east side of town! They have a sweet swing set there."

"What are you 10?"

"Hey swing sets are always fun no matter what age you are!"

"Yeah yeah whatever. Lead the way," you rolled your eyes but smiled anyways. You couldn't remember the last time you went on swings.

On the way there John started a casual conversation about school, games, people, anything that didn't have to do with the magical bullshit they were dealing with. It was comforting just like how things used to be before you had discovered their secret. But of course the topic still hung on your mind no matter how much John tried to distract you from it the facts were still there.

"Hey is it alright if I ask about your wish?" you tentatively asked when you reached the park.

John went silent and sat on a swing but then gave you a small smile afterwards, "Sure it's no problem."

You sat in the swing beside him, "Did your dad or any of the other guardians remember about the car accident?"

"No. They were confused about the smashed car and us crying and hugging them but we explained it as the car brake not working and it just happened to roll into the road when a truck zoomed by. Took us a while to get home but we did enjoy our camping trip," John began to swing, "Dave is right. You should be careful and not listen to Scratch no matter what. He likes to appear at the most convenient of desperate times like he did with Jade and the rest of us. It's strange how he appeared in front of us in those sort of situations. We brought Jade's fate upon her though . . . we don't want to do the same with you."

"But then why is it trying to get me to comply to making a contract with it? I don't have a significant wish right now. I just happened to discover you guys that's all."

"Maybe it's because you found out. Like it would be more convenient if you became one rather than waiting around and there is the possibility that you could tell other people."

"I wouldn't do that!"

"I know I'm just saying maybe that's what Scratch is worrying about. I don't know. He also said something about you possibly being a very powerful magical child I think."

"He did say that . . ." you looked down and pushed yourself lightly making you swing a tiny bit. John swung far and high and you watched as something seemed to push him making him able to go over the top bar and swinging down hard again with childish laughter. When the boy swung up again he jumped off instead of swinging over the bar again.

"There's no need for you to be a magical kid. We can take care of it and we'll protect you. After we're done with this phony Reagent everything will go back to the way it was where we relaxed and hung out and our only worries would be about school," John gave you a big wide grin. You couldn't help but smile back.

The smiles disappeared as John suddenly turned around and then faced you again with a concerned look. He quickly ran up to you and then pulled you off the swing before picking up his bag. You picked up your own and then he started to run while pulling you along.

"What's wrong?"

"A demon's presence is nearby. I have to get you out of here. For some reason it's getting closer and closer and really fast," he bit his lip as he ran towards a building and then into an alley way. He then stopped with his back against the wall. You were pushed up against the wall beside him and his arm was over your front. The two of you then waited with baited breath. After a minute or two of your heartbeat pounding in your ears, John let out a breath and chuckled, "I think we lost it."

You let out a breath of relief as well. The two of you relaxed and you turned to face John about to ask him if it would be best to wait a little longer before heading out but something shifted behind him and morphed before sucking him in. You cried out to him and outstretched your hand where he had disappeared only to get sucked in yourself. With a cry you fell through and soon found yourself in a dark realm.

"Crap the thing snuck up on us," John grimaced as he got up and looked around. Broken buildings and debris were scattered about. Fire, ruin, destruction. That was all that place screamed. You got up and dusted yourself off. It was okay. You were with John and he could take care of the demon, no big deal. Beside you John had already switched into his magical outfit and held his hammer over his shoulder.

"Do witches and demons usually come to you guys?"

". . . Not really," John's words concerned you. He noticed and quickly added another explanation, "But with the Reagent's arrival they're all been stranger than normal so this could be the case as well."

"Right . . ."

"Okay stay close to me. Never know what's going to jump out at us. I'll defeat this thing quickly and get you out of here," John began walking and you followed.

"Should we call the others?"

"Nah I should be able to handle it. I understand looks are deceiving but I am pretty strong if I do say so myself."

"Alright I get it," you smiled at John's carefree attitude. It helped in unnerving situations, "Let's hurry and get out of here this place is too creepy."

John nodded and the two of you carefully trekked towards the center of the realm. The only sounds were your footsteps and the crackle of fire from the ruins. It was too dreary like a war zone. No something worse. A massacre, homicide, genocide. One of those or all of the above. Danger was all you could sense from that place. You would have asked if there was another way out or if they could leave but John made no action to try those methods. You knew he would have left if he could with you because you weren't a magical child so your safety was his top priority. It appeared like the only way to leave a witch's or demon's realm was to defeat it. Everything would be alright. You would hide and John would defeat the demon and that was that.

You walked for a couple of minutes in caution until you found that the rubble and broken buildings began increasing around you. Up ahead there was one tall building. It was broken as well but it was the tallest they had seen compared to all the ones they had passed previously. At the base of the building stood something. A black figure with wings, it turned around and snarled revealing its dog like head, it had only one arm, and a sword stuck through its torso. John held his hammer in front of him as you took a step back and shifted behind him. That thing was emanating a very powerful killing intent making you want to turn and run but that would have been a lot more dangerous.

"Hey when I go to attack it you go find a place to hide okay. You have to make sure it has its full attention on me before you go," John whispered to you.

With a gulp you replied, "Yeah okay."

"Alright good."

"Be careful."

"Thanks I will."

The dog demon pulled the sword out from its torso and pointed it towards the two of you with a snarl. John suddenly lunged forward and you felt wind blow you back. You quickly took the chance to run to the side and duck behind a pile of debris. The first clash echoed through the air behind you. John let out a battle cry as the demon growled and the clashes continued. The battle went on. Figuring you were in a pretty safe spot you peeked up over the pile you were hiding behind to watch. Carefully looking over you found John and the demon jumping back and forth with great speed trying to land hits on each other. They looked pretty even. You began to wonder if John really could take him on.

Looking up was a mistake. The demon glanced at you and grinned. He bared his razor sharp canine teeth at John before shoving the boy away and then flying towards you.

"Karkat no!" John cried out as he flew after the monster.

The dark creature flew over the rubble and landed in front of you. Horror struck and kept you in place. Your mind told you to run but you were paralyzed with fear. The demon was definitely grinning as it held its blade up high. You just stared back at it. Was this where you were going to die? Would your life just end like this?

"NO!" John's cried before he shoved you out of the way.

The demon struck. You fell to the ground but quickly looked up to see the monster's blade tear through John's front and creating a long cut across his chest. The sword barely missed his soul gem. It held its blade up again as John sunk to his knees. You immediately got up and tackled the beast away. John recovered quickly and retaliated with an attack but it was easily blocked. The demon kicked him in the stomach and he flew far off to the side.

"JOHN!" you cried as you tried to run towards the boy. Something grabbed your right ankle and you fell forward. Shaking away the pain you looked down at your foot and found that it had somehow become completely immersed into the ground thus trapping you. A dark chuckle was heard behind you before the demon moved to your side and walked past you towards John. It was going to kill him and it was making you watch. Tears fell as you called out to your friend, "No. NO! STOP! JOHN GET UP! GET UP AND RUN! GET OUT OF HERE. LEAVE ME."

The boy clad in blue and green pushed himself up weakly. Once he was standing he let out a cry and attacked the monster once more. The demon easily dodged and made a shallow cut at the boy's leg. John cried out in pain but attacked again. Over and over again John attacks were dodged and more wounds appeared over his body. Bruises and cuts. Blood fell. At this rate he really would die. You tried to pull against your trap but you couldn't budge. All you could do was watch in horror as your friend slowly died before you. Was this how they felt when they watched Jade die?

Jade. Jade and the others. That was right you had to call them, you had to let them know so they could come before this thing killed John. Fumbling through your pocket you quickly pulled out your phone and dialed up the first name you recognized which happened to be Dave's number. The dial tone and ringer echoed in your ear. It sounded so slow to you as you continued to watch John attempt to fight back. Your heart probably beat ten times in between each ring and then finally there was a click.

"Hello Dave Strider extraordinaire spea-"

"Dave help holy shit John is fighting something all by himself and it's really strong. I don't think he's going to win. This thing keeps landing hits on him so fucking easily and I think John actually would have been dead by now if it wasn't just playing around. Dave this thing is over powering him please help oh my god," you blurt out everything as fast as you could hoping he could understand. You feared that if you stopped to speak carefully then you would have choked on your words.

"I need you to calm down long enough to tell me where you are," his voice on the other end sounded dead but calm.

"East side of town. That one park by that waterfall looking fountain. Hurry please hurry Dave he's bleeding a lot Dave."

"I'm on my way with Rose and Jade right now. Are you hiding in a safe place right now?"

"My leg got trapped into the ground I think he's making me wait to play with me later after he's killed John. Fuck Dave hurry John's going to die at this rate," you told him desperately. In front of you John attempted to attack the demon again. He ran at the creature with his hammer but it just smirked before blocking the attack and then hitting him hard in the stomach with the end of its sword. John flew across the area and slammed into a wall of some sort. John stood there leaning against the wall and held his hammer up in front of him again. If that wall wasn't there John probably wouldn't have been able to stand. The demon walked towards him ignoring your cries, "STOP IT! GET AWAY FROM HIM. JOHN!"

"I'll be there soon!" a voice shouted from your phone.

The demon raised its blade once it was in front of the boy you screamed some more but it was fruitless. John kept his hammer in front of him hoping he could block somehow and all you could do was watch.

You weren't sure how it happened but one second you were trapped and then the next you were free in a completely different spot than you were in before and John collapsed beside you. Pushing confusion aside you looked over John who was breathing heavily and looked like he was in immense pain. What were you supposed to do? What could you do? You practically just got in the way. John could have taken care of the monster if you weren't there to distract him. He was trying to protect you which was why he took that big hit and it weakened him making him an easier target for the beast.

The sounds of swords clashing caught your attention and you looked up to find Dave struggling to hold the attack from the demon. He did say he would come soon but you didn't know that it would have been that fast. You should have called earlier, right from when you two had entered the realm. John wouldn't have been that badly wounded if you did. You continued to watch as Dave dodged and parried the attacks with great speed. The demon appeared to be extremely angry. Probably from the loss of the toy he was playing with earlier. You looked back down at John who was trying to sit up.

"What are you doing!? Stop just stop and rest. The others will be here soon you don't have to fight any more."

"I-It's too s-strong. Where are th-the girls?"

"They're on their way."

"H-he needs help n-now. DAVE!" John suddenly shouted out. You looked back at the battle and found that Dave was caught in the demon's grasp. A vine coming from its side was holding up the blonde by his neck. You cried out towards him too as John attempted to get up. Dave looked like he was in pain as he sliced at the vine holding him. He landed on his feet and the demon cried out before dashing for its sword that had been knocked away earlier.

"John stay back!" he shouted towards the two of you as he stood ready for another attack. The demon picked up its sword and flew at him again. He held his ground to prepare for a block but it flew past him and flew towards John instead.

"No!" Dave called out. You held onto John and pulled him back. You blinked. Suddenly you were in a new position again. Far ahead of you the demon howled in pain. It had somehow flown into a large rock in midair. It must have been Dave's power.

The demon snarled and flew towards the boy again. Beside him two figures appeared and aimed their weapons at the creature and fired blasts at it point blank. As it flew across the area into that tall building Jade ran over to you while Rose stood in a ready position with Dave.

"Oh my god John!" she knelt down beside John's broken body.

"Just a scratch," he said breathlessly and smiled at her.

"What happened!? Why didn't you call us before taking this thing on?" she looked at him hopelessly, afraid that if she tried to touch him he would break.

"The realm just over took us suddenly . . . I didn't even feel it sneaking up on me . . . and it dragged Karkat in it too. I was trying to protect him," he responded weakly.

"I'm sorry I called so late. I'm so sorry. He said he could handle it but we didn't realize how strong this monster actually was," you almost choked on your own words. Within seconds the demon burst out from where it fell and stood tall. Its growls echoed throughout the realm. It looked in your direction and Jade stood up in front of you with her rifle ready.

The demon then looked at Dave and Rose who were ready as well before it let out an animalistic cry towards the sky. It stabbed it's sword into itself, seeing it had no other arm and that was the only place to put it. Raising its one arm into the air something red like blood spread over its hand before red tendrils grew above him branching out higher and higher into what appeared to be a tree made out of blood. The demon threw its hand forward and the tendrils flew everywhere, into walls, into the ground, straight at Dave and Rose, but it spread far across the realm. They dodged and watched the mayhem ensue. The attack was tearing the place apart and it kept coming after everyone like it was alive.

Jade shot at the things but they just absorbed every bullet she fired so she desperately tried to pull you and John away back to the entrance of the realm to get the two of you out of the way. A pile of rubble almost falling on the three of you stopped you in your tracks. You were holding on to John and fell back with him when the rubble almost hit you. You turned back to watch the demon appearing to laugh. There was no escape. Dave and Rose attempted to get closer for an attack but the blood tendrils kept pushing them back.

The red branches snaked all around you. John could barely move on his own so you had to pull him away every time the thing tried to strike. Jade still shot at it even though it appeared to be useless. Nothing affected it. All you could do was try to dodge the incoming attacks. One of the tendrils got too close so you shoved John to the side and fell back with the thing barely brushing past you. You shifted to your knees ready to get up again but suddenly another one was aimed right at you. The point then lurched forward. You stared in horror as someone stood in front of you and takes the hit. The tendril stabbed straight through John's chest breaking his soul gem as well. You screamed.

You faintly recall Jade screaming John's name. The tendril disappeared as John's body unceremoniously fell to the ground with his magical outfit disappearing. Strangely enough no blood spilled from the large gaping hole in his body. It was just there and it made you want to puke. Jade cried out and fired as many attacks as she could at the tendrils that continued to come. You scooted a little closer to John and said his name over and over in slight hopes that it wasn't real. He couldn't be dead. He would get up the hole wouldn't be there and he would be fine. The sound of a shattering crystal made you look up. A branch had sped past Jade's chest and pieces of her green gem floated in the air. She stared at you with wide eyes full of fear, regret and pain. The bright green colour faded, her hat and rifle disappeared, her clothes reverted back to normal and the body fell beside the other.

Your throat hurt. You were screaming again. Hands on your head, tears falling, heart aching. You didn't notice the red tendrils retreating. You just continued to call out their names over and over again. You had just watched two of your best friends die in front of you. How could this happen? If this demon was that powerful then how strong would this Reagent be? A loud cry of anguish tore through the realm this time. It wasn't from the demon or you this time so you looked up and found Rose surrounded by some sort of dark energy facing the demon alone. Dave was calling out to her, telling her to stop but she wouldn't listen. He was far off to the side in a different position from before. He winced in pain as he tried to get up still shouting at Rose. His shades were gone. Were they knocked off in the battle?

A second later he disappeared. A howl of pain roared through the realm and you looked up to see Dave had pierced his sword through the demon's neck and then promptly split its head in half. The energy that was surrounding Rose dispersed once the demon was defeated and she began to fall. Dave fell towards her and caught her before hitting the ground. The demon faded away revealing a small little metal ornament before hitting the ground and bouncing away. You looked back at the other two and Dave wass speaking to Rose. Without his shades you were able to see his expression clearly. He was panicked, afraid, desperate. Rose the girl you never thought you would see cry ever was sitting there openly crying and looked devastated. You barely caught her lips moving and saying sorry to him before hearing the faint sound of something cracking. The ground shook, the realm cracked and dark power overflowed from her. Dave was blasted away as the realm changed into a much darker one.

The ground under you shook and shifted. Something shot out and picked up John and Jade. A lid sealed their encasement and you saw that they were coffins. Shouting out to them you ran to one of them seeing if you could open it but another coffin came out of the ground and trapped you as well. A transparent lid blocked your escape before it dragged you back underground. Darkness surrounded you for a few seconds. When you were brought back to the surface you found yourself facing Dave who had your back to you. Hitting at the lid desperately you called out to him as he slowly turned around.

Without those shades you saw how vulnerable he was. His face showed horror and fear. You also saw why he constantly wore those sunglasses and why his soul gem was bright red.

Above you something gave out a high pitched shriek. Looking up you saw you were right in front of a witch that had no face or hands. It looked like an empty robe with a floating wizard hat over it. You were so confused and afraid. Where did this witch come from? Where was Rose? Did this thing overtake the demon's realm when it was defeated? Would Dave be able to defeat it on his own? It moved its arm towards Dave who took a ready stance but no form of attack came from it. Instead mutated cat creatures rose from the ground, an army was soon formed and they immediately attack the boy. Dave appeared to have snapped out of a trance when the creatures jumped at him. Determination was written on his face once he began slashing at the monsters and heading towards you. It wasn't too long before he made it to your encasement.

"I'm getting you out right now," he raised his sword and stopped when you both heard a strange sound. Both of you looked down and found that darkness was slowly creeping over the coffin lids, the same were happening to John's and Jade's coffins. You hit the cover frantically indicating that he should hurry up since you weren't sure if he could hear you. Who knew what would happen if the darkness covered you completely. His mind worked quickly as he thought of an idea, "Lie back and don't move!"

You nodded and obeyed before he stabbed his blade into the side of the coffin and attempted to pry the cover off. The cat mutants began to close in behind Dave so you shouted out and hit the lid trying to warn him. They grabbed at him before he could turn around and pulled him away from you. He pulled his sword out to attack them but as he did your coffin along with the others suddenly shot up into the air and stopped above the witch. You cried out in horror as the darkness continued to creep over your coffin. There was no way Dave could reach you from there. It looked as if the only way to free you was to defeat the witch. Looking down at the lone fighter you saw that he was getting tired. At this rate both of you would die as well.

And then he shouted out Rose's name. At the witch. Was this witch actually Rose? What was going on? How could this have happened? Yet at the same time it made sense. Witches and demons had to come from somewhere. No matter how much Dave yelled at it there was no positive response. It just screamed at him again as something dark began to escape the robe's sleeve and black lighting struck the ground aiming at Dave. He dodged as it hit one of the cat creatures. You thought it would hurt it but of course it was the witch's realm. It made it grow stronger instead and it tried to attack Dave but missed and cracked the ground. No matter how many he cut down more would just come. The situation appeared to be completely hopeless.

You watched as Dave fought through the creatures trying to get closer again but then his movements slowed and then he just suddenly stopped. The cats circled around him as he just stared straight ahead as if under a spell. You kicked and hit at your cover and pushed at it hoping that it would help a little. The area where Dave had broken from earlier only budged a little but it looked like it was enough room for your voice to clearly escape. You stuck your arm through for good measure and tried to open it a little more. The cats were too close so it was now or never.

"STRIDER!" you screamed at the top of your lungs. He visibly snapped back to reality and jumped just in time to avoid the oncoming attacks. He looked up at you and you tried to let it show on your face that you wanted out of there right away. The darkness had already crept up over half of the lid and the cover refused to move any further. It was as if the darkness was sealing it. You were shocked when he began to run away. He wasn't thinking of leaving you was he? You couldn't blame him though. Fighting two monsters right after another seemed to be too much for even Dave Strider. A part of you was relieved when you saw him climbing something and looking at you. You watched him and waited. That was all you could do now.

At the top of whatever he was climbing he stepped back and gripped his sword. Would he make it from that distance? It was worth a shot anyways. He threw away all hesitation as he ran and jumped, aiming straight for the middle of the robed witch. The witch didn't even fight back, it just kept its arms open wide as Dave's blade sunk into its core. It wallowed in agony as the minions around it screamed before turning into dust. You looked around as the world shook and broke. Looking down at Dave you saw a faint figure of Rose hugging him. Suddenly the coffin around you disappeared and you found yourself falling. You called out Dave's name, he looked up at you with tears in his eyes before letting go of his sword and holding his arms out. You immediately flung your arms around him and held onto him desperately as the realm collapsed around you.

At some point the world stopped shaking and you were no longer falling. The only sounds were the peaceful chirps from birds here and there but otherwise it was quiet. You were still in Dave's arms. They were warm around you and you felt safe. You felt him shift and hold on to you a little closer. He was slightly shaking and you felt the tears fall onto your head. You didn't mind. You were crying as well and you stayed that way for about ten minutes before he moved, probably to wipe his face, and then slowly separated the hug.

"Is it over?" you asked feeling the strain in your voice from your earlier shouting. He nodded, "What happened? Why? Why did Rose turn into a witch?"

"When a magical child uses their powers too much their soul gem darkens. If grief over comes them then they turn into a witch or a demon," he explained with no emotion in his voice. He got up and walked behind you to pick something up. Soon he sat back in front of you and pulled out his soul gem. Two strange small metal ornaments sat in his hands. The one with the flower design on it he put into his pocket, the one with the sword pattern he tapped onto his darkened gem and you watched as the little ornament absorbed the darkness making your gem bright again, "We use these seeds dropped by witches and demons to remove the grief but if the seed absorbs too much it could turn into a monster again."

"And Rose . . . Her gem was already dark when she started fighting," he explained as you clenched your fists and dared not to turn around. Something in his voice made it sound like he had seen something like this before.

"And the deaths of John and Jade only furthered her grief," you flinched when he said the word 'death'. Dave put the seed and gem into his pocket before placing his hands onto your shoulders and looking straight into your eyes, "Tomorrow people will begin evacuating because of tremors and unknown sources of attacks. They'll call it some sort of terrorism. You have to go with everyone."

Your eyes widened, "D-Don't tell me you're going to fight that demon all by yourself. Didn't Rose say it was like the king of all demons? Are you crazy? You can't take it on a-alone!"

"He's right. But perhaps if you had a little more help you could take it down. Karkat has great potential. Far greater than the rest of you. He has the highest chance of taking down the Reagent himself," a familiar and unsettling calm voice suggested behind you. Dave's movements were too fast for you to catch but you saw the burning anger in his eyes as you heard a sound of a sword stabbing through something behind you. Turning around was a mistake as you saw the sword pierced threw Scratch's head and the dead bodies of your friends just lying there. You felt sick and your hands quickly went over your mouth.

"GO AWAY. I TOLD YOU TO NEVER APPEAR IN FRONT OF HIM. I CAN TAKE CARE OF IT ON MY OWN," he shouted with ferocity. This was insane. Dave was barely able to defeat the demon and that witch so how could he take on that great ultimate demon on his own?

You turned back to face him, "Dave but if there's a chance that I cou-"

"NO," you learned you didn't like him yelling like this and you flinched again. This wasn't like him, "I told you do not listen to a single fucking word that monster says. Just leave."

"I can't just leave you like this all alone! Let me-"

The last you saw on his face was anger, frustration and tears. The next second you found yourself sitting at the front door of your home. You looked around frantically wondering what had happened and hoped to see if Dave was nearby but he wasn't. His power was too convenient for him. You couldn't believe it. He left you just like that without even bothering to try to hear a single word of what you wanted to say. You tightened your fist and found something was in your hand. A note.

Tomorrow an evacuation notice will be announced. Please go. This is the last thing I will ask of you. I'll be fine. When I'm done I'll go look for you okay? There's no reason for you to be in danger any more. Please stay safe.

It was from Dave of course who else could it have been from.

You crunched up the paper in your hands and the tears openly fell. You didn't know what to do anymore. You wanted to help but you had no power to do anything. All you did was get in the way and watched as your friends died. Dave was right to send you away. If you intervened you may have just led him straight to his death as well.

"What the hell are you doing here sitting at the front step kid?" you looked up still crying . He probably just came home from work. He was set back by your tears and knelt down in front of you, "Hey what happened?"

You couldn't even produce any words and just hiccupped before throwing your arms around him and continued bawling your eyes out. Seeing your genuine distress he didn't ask any questions right there and brought you into the house. The man wasn't quite sure what to do in the situation but he let you cry until you passed out and when you woke a nice warm meal was waiting for you. Your father didn't ask you anything even though you expected him to.

"One of your friends' guardians contacted me. He told me what happened," your father spoke once you sat down across from him, "I'm sorry about what happened to those three."

You could only assume that it was Dave's brother who had contacted him. Dave probably gave some sort of sensible story to cover their actual deaths. You weren't sure what it was but it didn't matter. It wouldn't change the fact that they were dead. You felt sorry for their families, the guardians that they had traded their souls for their new lives. What would become of them?

"Just take it easy and rest alright? You don't have to go to school for a while."

"Okay . . ."

"You know you can talk to me right? Like about any kind of troubles. I'll listen or whatever."

You blinked at your father. He was the type of man that told you that you were old enough to get by on your own and that none of your problems should be his problem as well. You had to fend for yourself and not bother him. That was the rule for you to stay under that roof until you were finished school. You had no idea he had any plan on acting like an actual father at any point.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind," it was sort of awkward having a family meal like that with him but in a way it was nice. The two of you ate quietly.

The silence lasted through nightfall.

"Jesus fucking Christ what the hell was that?" was the first thing you heard once you woke up aside from the nice mini earthquake that shook you out of bed. You left your room and found your father looking outside for the source of the quake, "Fucking crazy assed kids."

That's what he assumed but you knew what it really was. He was coming. That great demon Reagent English. He was on his way. The fated day was tomorrow after all. And the only one to confront him would be Dave Strider. The lone idiot. Why did he have to go and take on the thing by himself? The rest were gone so the only logical thing would be to run away with everyone else right? They couldn't have been the only magical children in the world so someone else could take care of it later. Some other stronger group perhaps. Why did Dave have to make it like it was his burden?

The rest of the day was spent quietly aside from a tremor every now and then. Since it was a Saturday your father had the day off and cursed at every shake. He tried to go out at one point to see what it was but couldn't find the source. By evening the television and the radios all gave out emergency broadcasts about the city evacuation that was to be effective immediately. Just like Dave had predicted. But how did he know? He seemed to know a lot for some reason.

You thought it over in your head as you packed for the trip out of there. Behind you were the murmurs of curse words and phrases wondering 'what the hell was going on' and 'why the hell weren't they giving an actual reason for the evacuation'. Nothing was really said between you and your dad as you got into the car and he started driving away. The only thing on your mind was Dave. Why was he so concerned about you? How did he know everything? Why did you care so much about it?

Well he was your friend right? You were friends which was why he didn't want what happened to Jade to happen to you. That's why he frantically tried to protect you and John during that demon attack. Just friends. Your mind wandered over to how Dave's movements were so quick. How in a blink of an eye he could have gotten to you or moved you away or brining you home and disappearing. It was as I he somehow had all the time in the world.

Time.

That was it! That was his power! He could stop time and do everything or move anything while time was stopped. That explained his far too sudden movements. But if he could stop time could he go back in time as well? That would explain how he would know the exact date of the Reagent's arrival and the evacuation notice. He knew. He went back to try to fix things but what had happened the first time? He appeared to be so desperate to make sure you weren't a magical child so something may have happened in a different time which made him go back. But why didn't he go back already? It was already completely messed up so he should go back and try again right? Going alone like that would have been like a suicide mission.

Maybe that was the point.

"STOP!"

"Stop what!? We're stuck in traffic right outside the city I can barely move!"

"Dad I'm going to go back," you opened the door.

He grabbed your arm, "Back for what? An evacuation means there's something dangerous in the city so you can't just go back."

"I have to go back. I . . . I forgot something."

"Is it that important that you have to run back into danger in the middle of the night?"

You turned back to look at him, "Yes."

His hold on you loosened as he gave you a confused look. You answered pretty quickly with conviction so that was probably what had startled him.

"You'll come back as soon as you take care of whatever you've forgotten?"

"Yes."

He let go, "Okay. Fine. Be careful."

The breath was knocked out of him when you suddenly hugged him. It took him a while but he did eventually hug back, "Thanks Dad. I'll come looking for you and I'll be careful. Don't worry."

"You've grown pretty fast. Probably should have looked over you better though."

"You did fine," you let go and leave the car. When you close the door you give your father one last wave and run back into the city. You were done with just sitting around and waiting.

It took a few hours before you got back to the city. Walking took too long but it would have been too dangerous to ask your father to drive you back. You didn't want to lose him as well. Dawn was breaking by the time you found yourself in a couple of familiar streets. It looked and felt so empty as you carefully walked through. You had to find Dave. You had to talk him out of it and have him run away with you. That was what seemed to be best at the moment. After running away you could talk to him and ask him properly if he really did go back in time. A roar echoed through the grey skies. Something felt odd about the city as you walked further. It wasn't because it was empty, it was something else, familiar and foreboding. It was as if you were inside a demon's realm.

You froze. Did this thing just drag the entire city into its realm? You broke out into a sprint. You had to find Dave soon. You ran towards the place you believed you heard the roar from. He would most likely be found there trying to fight the demon on his own. Five minutes barely passed before you heard many other footsteps from around you. More witches and demons? Quickly ducking behind a building you cautiously peeked out to see how many there were.

Instead of seeing monsters pass by you saw Dave run by. And then another Dave. One jumped from street lamp to street lamp. One jumped over you to the next building. Many others ran down the street. Where did all of these guys come from? How could more than one Dave be in all in one place like that? After they passed by you cautiously followed. They went pretty fast so there was no risk in being caught by them. They led you to the center of the city and there towering over even the tallest buildings stood a large muscular green demon. Like the hulk didn't have anything on this guy. He was insanely huge and was pretty much going on a rampage destroying everything in sight. You also saw all the Daves attacking it. How would you be able to find yours in this mess?

"Dave!" you decided to just run out towards them and call out until you found the right one, "Dave!"

"What the hell are you doing here? Go back! Are you an idiot!?" one of them confronted you.

"Why are there more than one of you? What's going on?" you asked him.

"It doesn't matter . . ." he stopped talking as if in a loss of what to say. This was definitely not your Dave.

"You're not my Dave. Where did you come from? Where did all of you come from?" you backed away a bit and another Dave jumped in. He nodded at the other one and the fake jumped away before this one without sunglasses faced you.

"What the hell are you doing here!? You were supposed to evacuate with the rest of the citizens!" he shouted at you.

"I couldn't just leave you here by yourself!" you countered. This one appeared to know more than the other one did and judging from the look in his eyes you felt that this was the right one. He looked like he was absolutely furious with you while the other one was just confused and slightly upset.

"What can you do then!? As you can see I have the situation under control now get out of here!" he turned you around and tried to push you in the direction from where you came from. A roar and cries of panic and pain made him stop to turn around.

Green humanoid figures had appeared out of nowhere to fight the Daves one on one and the Reagent controlled them to distract them enough to blast them away or crush them. He crushed the green humanoids along with but they slowly morphed back into their original form after being hit. Your Dave began to push you away more fervently.

"I told you there was no chance. Even if there are thousands of you against him, you just don't have enough power," that eerily calm voice spoke from beside you. He appeared out of nowhere as usual.

"I do have enough power! Just shut up! Watch me!" Dave just yelled at Scratch before jumping away to join battle with the others.

"Dave no wait!" you called out to him but he didn't listen and just kept going.

"He will die at this rate. All of them will. Reagent English is just too powerful," Scratch continued to speak.

"Why? Why would he go through all of this? This can't be the first time he's gone back. How many times has he tried to alter this timeline?"

"So you knew," Scratch watches the slaughter with you, "Who knows how many times it has been. Something great must be motivating him though so why else would he go back numerous times?"

"But at this rate he won't be able to go back again. Not if he dies."

"It appears so. Either that or he'll turn into a powerful demon by the time he fails and if he still lives. It's fine either way."

"Fine!? How the hell is this fine!?"

"The emotions brought out by you human children are just a power source for my planet after all. The more power they exert and the more powerful demon they become means more energy for my people."

Your eyes widened at the shocking revelation. This was the truth behind the magical children. The truth behind how witches and demons were created. It was all this freak's fault. Not Dave's or John's Or Jade's or Rose's. Just this god damn alien.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," you mumbled under your breath.

"Hm?" the cat creature tilted its head at you.

"I'M NOT GOING TO LET DAVE DIE OR TURN INTO A DEMON. AS LONG AS I'M LIVING I'LL NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN!"

It sounded like the thing let out a small laugh, "You can't do anything in your current weak state."

"Watch me," and with that you ran into the fray.

The dead bodies of the other Daves were scattered all over the area as you tried to get closer to your Dave. The one that was from your timeline. You were thankful he was easy to differentiate from the others because of his lack of glasses so you knew he was still alive even if your heart seemed to beat faster from the sight of the other dead Daves that had lost their sunglasses. By the time you got close enough you saw that he was the last one standing. But that was all he was doing. Just standing there and staring as the demon charged up a beam attack from its mouth before closing his eyes as if accepting defeat. Did he decide that everything was pointless and that it was over? You wouldn't let that happen.

"DAVE!" you cried out to him as you ran. His eyes opened once more and looked at you with fear. Before he could say anything you tackled him to the side hard and the two of you slide out of the range of fire. You held his head in your arms and shut your eyes as the blast barely missed the two of you and obliterated the ground where he once stood. A ridiculously sized crater now in its place.

The two of you scrambled to get up to run. Before you could even take a step Dave quickly held onto you and turned you around. The first thing in your line of vision was a large green hand swinging towards you. The hand made impact as Dave tightened his hold on you before the hit sent you two flying. The two of you spun and flew through trees and a building before you came to a stop. Slight pain spread across your back once you finally stopped moving and hit the ground. With a groan you slowly pushed yourself. The scene before you made your heart rate go up again. Dave was pale and badly wounded. Blood trickled from the side of his mouth and his eyes appeared to be phasing out. Panic settled in.

"Dave? Dave. Don't you fucking die on me too now. Fuck no Dave keep your eyes open. L-Look at me. Dave Strider I swear if you fucking die on me . . ." you choked on a sob as you felt tears run down your face. His eyes lids kept flickering. You could see that he barely had any energy left and it was taking all his strength to just stay conscious.

"Dave please don't leave me," you whispered as you rested your head onto his chest and clutched at his shirt. You couldn't bear losing the last of your friends. Not like this when they had all fought so far just to try to take this thing down. The Reagent roared in the distance once more.

"S . . . orry," he barely managed to let out. You had never heard or seen him so weak, so broken. A small laugh escaped him before he was coughing and lurched to the side to vomit up blood. All you could do was watch in horror.

"SCRATCH! SCRATCH WHERE ARE YOU? I HAVE A WISH! SCRATCH!" you shouted at the top of your lungs.

Dave grasped your shoulder and tried to push himself up, "N-No. No. Y-You can't. Don't d-do it. K-Karkat s-stop."

His body shook and it was obvious that he was in pain but he ignored all of that to try to convince you to not do what you both knew you were about to do. With a pitiful look on your face you hugged him.

"You called?" the creature appeared in front of you patiently waiting. You felt Dave shakily clutch onto the back of your shirt.

"I have a wish . . ." you tightened your hold on him.

"St . . . op," he whispers to you. Carefully you let go of him before getting up and walking towards the devil creature. From behind you could hear Dave forcing himself to shift and turn to watch.

"These demons and witches all used to be magical children didn't they," you glared at it.

"Yes they were and through their grief they turned into what you have seen."

"Then my wish is that when a magical child is overcome by grief they don't turn into a witch or demon. To make sure they don't ever have to go through that kind of pain," you declared.

"What but that's impossible," if the creature could frown that was probably what would be on its face at that moment.

"You said you could grant every wish right!? Then do it!" you screamed at the creature. Any wish it said. This was a wish and it had no choice but to grant it.

"KARKAT STOP!" you could practically hear the strain in Dave's voice as the boy cried out at you.

The devil's faceless form said nothing more as light began to envelope you.

"NO!"

A bright red soul gem appeared before you. It turned into a small light and moved towards you until blending in with the rest of the light. Soon the light dissipated and showed your ordinary outfit was replaced with a knight's armour. This was it. The contract was complete. Your wish was fulfilled and you had become a magical child. You turned to face Dave who was watching you with wide eyes. Tears were falling down his face and his expression showed regret. You knew then that his main goal was to prevent this all along but it was the only way. After walking over to him you knelt down and rested a hand on his head.

"You've fought for a very long time. It's okay. You're done. You don't have to fight anymore Dave. Thank you."

Agony spread across his face as his eyes finally closed and you caught his broken form that fell over from exhaustion. It was over now. He went through so much suffering and it was over now. Now he could rest. Light covered the two of you and soon your consciousness faded as well.

Darkness.

That was what you found yourself in when you came to. Were you unconscious in the first place? You couldn't remember. You didn't like that darkness so you began to think of light. Stars and planets appeared all around and you soon found yourself looking down at the earth. You looked at your hands and tentatively moved them, watching as if it was the most fascinating thin in the world to you.

And then the memories rushed in.

You froze and slowly lowered your hands.

You became the most powerful magical child in existence and made a wish to make the kids not turn into witches or demons when their soul gems clouded over too much. You went back to the past and confronted all those kids who were dying and on the verge of turning. You stopped it. You took away their pain. They would just disappear instead of turning into a monster. It was better that way.

But with this sudden power came gratuitous amounts of knowledge. Just because you got rid of witches and demons it did not mean there were no longer threats to the world or no need for magical children any longer. Other creatures would still haunt the world but it would no longer be the souls of lost children. All you could do now was watch over the world. In your state you weren't sure if you could exist on earth anymore. That meant you couldn't be with your friends or even Dave.

Dave.

As you went back in time you also saw those timelines Dave kept going back to over and over again. You watched as he desperately tried to keep you alive. Watched as he went through the pain of watching you die over and over again before going back again to prevent it. But why did he do that? Why would he go through all that trouble and suffering? A presence appeared behind you and a soft sound of irregular breath made you turn around. There you found the boy in your thoughts standing before you.

"Hey," was his greeting.

"Hey."

"So uh. Space pretty big and nice huh," he attempted conversation staring off farther into the stars.

"Yeah . . ."

"How'd we get here?"

"I brought you here . . . somehow."

"I see."

"So, I remember everything now," you decided to tell him, "Well not really remember but I know what um happened in all those other timelines and everything you did."

" . . . Okay."

A silence hung above you. You tried to look at him but it looked like his gaze was elsewhere. He looked unsure.

"Why?" you asked with barely a whisper.

"Why what?"

"Why did you go through all that just for me? All that pain, that misery struggling to keep me alive."

"What? Are you seriously asking me that? After seeing all those timelines and what I've been through you're asking me?" he swallowed, "It's because I love you."

Your heart skipped a beat. Those were the words you were expecting right? That's what you wanted since that was the way you felt towards him as well . . . right? But then you remembered your wish. The one you made when you first became a magical child. He tried to lean in to kiss you but you quickly pushed him away with panic and stepped back with a hand over your mouth, "God. Fuck. God no I'm so sorry . . . Shit I'm so sorry."

"Wh . . . what are you talking about? Why are you sorry? Of course I would go through that for the one I love. Why are you apologizing?"

"Because you don't love me and you shouldn't have gone through all that," you looked away horrified at yourself. This was all fake. His feelings for you were fake and it was all because of you.

"What do you mean of course I love you. If I wasn't then I wouldn't have gone through all that trouble trying to keep you alive in every timeline that you died."

"NO YOU DON'T. YOU DON'T LOVE ME AND YOU NEVER HAVE," you yelled at him when he tried to step towards you.

"WHAT THE HELL MAKES YOU RIGHT TO JUDGE AND CLAIM THAT I DON'T!?" surprisingly he yelled back at you. He was quite agitated.

You had to tell him. It wasn't right deluding him like that after everything he had done for you. He had the right to know. But it would still hurt you in doing so. Shutting your eyes you fell down to your knees as the tears fell. Holding your head you braced yourself for what was to come, "My first wish . . . from the very first timeline. From the timeline you started to go back in time to try to keep me alive. My wish is why you went through all that. It shouldn't have. If I didn't make that dumb ass wish you wouldn't have had to go through all that."

". . . What did you wish for?" you heard the slight shake in his words.

"For you to love me," you answered in a voice that was barely a whisper.

It took him a moment before he could respond, "N-No . . . that's impossible. I fell in love with you on my own accord. Some dumb wish can't do that. I . . ."

"ANY AND ALL WISHES COULD BE GRANTED EVEN SOMETHING LIKE THAT," you couldn't take it anymore, "THAT'S WHAT I WANTED AND THEN TA DA WISH FUCKING GRANTED. I . . . I didn't expect it to work actually . . . I just started to do that magical shit and didn't think it worked because of your attitude towards me the next day. Just normal, cold, cool wannabe, teasing. I saw no difference until I accidentally laughed at one of John's jokes and saw your face go a little red and I couldn't believe it. It actually worked."

You sobbed waiting for what would come next. Would he be revolted? Would he be angry at you? Would he just walk away? Perhaps it was better that way. There appeared to be no way for you two to be together.

He came closer to you and you flinched. Perhaps he was going to hit you, "Hey-"

"I TOLD YOU, YOU DON'T REALLY LOVE ME SO BACK OFF. IT WAS THROUGH THE FUCKING WISH."

"HEY," he shouted again and you shut your mouth startled. He held the side of your arms and moved so that he was looking straight into your eyes, "What did that cat freak say to you when you told him your wish?"

You frowned wondering where he was going with this, "He . . . he said it was an easy wish to fulfill."

"That fucking asshole," he abruptly hugged you. Out of instinct you tried to push him away but he just held you tighter, "You were scammed you know why? You traded your soul for fucking nothing. I was in love with you long before you made a fake contract with that fucker. You only realized it after you made the deal because you started paying a lot closer attention to me to see if the wish was granted but I've loved you way before that."

"Wh-what?" you held onto the back of his shirt feeling the need to hold onto something in fear of falling away. Could it be true?

"I told you I was in love with you before you became a magical being . . . Long before."

"But . . . You still had to go through all that. You still did all of that. Went through all that pain because of me," you held on tighter to him.

"I would go through all of that over and over again just to keep you alive and find a timeline where you wouldn't have to go through pain."

"BUT WHAT ABOUT YOUR PAIN!?" pushing him away you cried out as the tears continued to flow. Shakily you placed your hands on the sides of his face, "What about you? Why do you have to just think about me? You already did it over and over again. You shouldn't have. Not for someone like me."

He puts his hands over yours gently, "It's fine. It's over now. Please don't dwell on it any longer."

"But-"

"People do crazy things when they're in love."

"Oh my god did you really just use that quote," you wanted to let out a small laugh but it came out with half a sob.

"I did because it's true and that was a pretty good movie okay."

You looked at him feeling slightly relieved. He really did love you. It wasn't fake, it wasn't because of that dumbass wish, he genuinely loved you with all of his heart. Up close you could see his eyes from behind the shades and you knew from the look in his eyes that it was true.

With eyes closed he leaned into you until your lips met. You reciprocated with a sob. You couldn't believe it. This was finally happening. You were kissing the one you loved. He held you close and kissed you like it was his last.

"It's over. We can be together now," he pulled back and held your face in his hands with a smile. It disappeared when you looked down sorrowfully.

"I can't be with you," you whispered again.

You heard him take in a breath as if he was trying not to just suddenly burst out yelling again, "What do you mean? It's over now. We can-"

"I don't exist on earth anymore," you closed your eyes and ignored the pain in your chest, "I've become an omniscient being that went back to all those magical children when they were overcome with grief and made sure they didn't turn into a demon or witch. Because of you going back so many times I've become something so powerful that I can't exist in the mortal world anymore."

"What?" he let out an exasperated laugh, "No . . . no you can't just. You can't."

You looked back up at him and pulled away. If you kept him here any longer he would cease to exist as well. He didn't deserve that. You had to take him back.

"ARE YOU TELLING ME I DID ALL OF THAT FOR NOTHING!?" you flinched at the scream you saw coming, "Omniscient that's like a god right? Can't you just make yourself exist? This can't be happening. You have to come back with me."

"I . . . I don't know. I," you looked down and got up, "Right now I have to make sure you make it back. Staying here too long won't be good for you."

"Then let me stay," he takes your hand in his as he gets up as well, "If that means I can be with you then let me stay. Please."

You shook your head refusing to make eye contact, "I'm sorry. I can't keep you here. You have to go back. Don't be so hard on yourself please. You've done so much you don't even know. You've protected the rest of your friends. They will be there waiting for you. You don't need me."

"Yes I do," he stated with determination and gripped your hand when you tried to pull away, "You can't please. I did this all for you. You can't just. Karkat please I can't live without you."

"No. You're free now. Without me you will no longer be imprisoned to living that week over and over again. It's okay," you slipped your hand out of his before holding his face in your hands. You were happy he reciprocated your feelings and as much as you wanted to be with him from now on you knew that you couldn't, "Thank you for loving me. Goodbye Dave."

You gave him one last chaste kiss before turning around and walking away. You didn't turn around when he called your name and asked you to stop over and over again. You stopped and closed your eyes when you heard him scream behind you. By the time you turned around again he was gone. He would be safe now. He would no longer have to suffer for your cause. He would be able to live with his friends and not worry about you. It was fine this way. It was better this way.

A being watches as time passes.

A bell has rung indicating the beginning of classes. Students either quickly rush to their classes or stay with their group of friends chatting and taking their time without a worry of being late. Someone bumps into the shoulder of a boy with blonde hair. Without a single word or apology the boy continues walking and the blonde becomes irritated. After fixing his sunglasses he stops walking with his friends and turns to teach the stranger some manners but stops when he sees the familiar figure.

You turn around and watch as the sunglasses slide a tiny bit down his face and revealing his wide and shocked eyes.

You smile.

He runs up and wraps his arms around you. You return the hug for a second before he suddenly pulls back to inspect your face as if to check if you're real. You just let out an amused breath before kissing him right then and there completely ignoring the looks and whispers from those around you. He is surprised at first but then holds your head and deepens the kiss. A sob escapes from him and you pull back to see tears escaping from his eyes.

"Hey you said I was like a god right so I tried it out. Took a while but I managed to bring myself back. Bonus points I can be a magical kid with you and the rest again too but this time there's no big ass Reagent Demon to defeat. But if there's anything else like that again then I can take care of it easy with these kind of powers," you wiped away a tear from the right side of his face and he kisses you again. Kisses you as if it's the end of the world. As if you are the last two people on earth. As if there was nothing else after this.

He pulls back again and up close you can see his eyes. How relieved he is, how that shattered hole inside him was now fixed. And it was because of you.

Arms wrap around you once more and he shakes. He fears of letting you ago again and you disappearing, "I'm never letting you go ever again. You ever try to fucking disappear again then I'm going with you no ifs ands or buts."

"Sounds good to me."

This was it. Now you could finally be together. Forever until the end.