Black shades hid my friends eyes as usual, but it was one of those rare occasions when his voice gave away the things he was thinking, and he wasn't too impressed with me, that of course was normal, just not to this level of it.

"So here's what I've got from what you've told me, and stop me if I get something wrong here man, cause I'm a little fuzzy on all this. You got tired of your friends being beat on so you started using your powers to become a hero. Turns out some troll suddenly gets it out for you, kinda normal I think. This guy almost kills you. So then when you find out it's the troll you've been crushin on forever, you ignore the fact that he has kicked your ass multiple times and bang him. Am I on track so far?" Nodding with a slight sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose and continued, his tone turning even more sour. "Then /you/, the hero, decide to back off, hoping he would too, but he doesn't, yet, you still don't turn this fucker in. Low and behold, some of your other friends, and Rose's girlfriend is in on it, and you still do nothing?" Again I nodded, and the sigh he let out just just made everything seem that much worse, and I'll admit it, hearing him say it all like this made me realize how wrong this whole situation was, and how ridiculous I was to ever think it would ever work out. "Egbert, you're in way over your head man."

"Well, that's why I called you, I'm hoping that the new training we've done will really help, plus... I was hoping you'd help me. I know it's asking a lot but-"

"No." He didn't even give me a chance to finish my sentence before he cut me off, Dave crossed his arms with a scowl, and I was sure that under his shades he was glaring daggers my way. "I told you I would never use my powers again! Wind powers is all fine and dandy, he'll sign me up for that anyway, but time is tricky! One wrong move and everything can become one huge pile of fuck." Sitting there in silence for a moment, I stared down at the floor then glanced up with a small sigh, ready to get down on my knees and beg for his help.

"Dave, I can't do this without you, and Gamzee can't be allowed to continue with all of this, he's starting to believe he's untouchable. He's even changed at school... Okay sure, I broke a kids nose from punching him, but In the three weeks of this round of training, he has broken three ribs, an arm and two wrists, all from four kids who tried to gang up on him. He hardly has a scratch on him! Dave please!?" He was silent, and I had no way to tell where he was looking, but I had the feeling he was looking everywhere but at me, I felt bad for asking all of this from him, but I really needed his help that much should have been apparent. "The only time I would ask you to use your power was if it was dire, just you fighting with me would help so much!"

"Fine, but I will only use my power once, so make sure you choose the right moment." Nodding happily, I slumped back in my chair just as my computer dinged. Switching the screen to PesterChum, I recognized the angry text instantly and read quickly, hoping everything was in motion.

CG: NOW LISTEN UP FUCKASS, CAUSE I AMONLY GOING TO SAY THIS ONCE. THIS BATCH OF CHEMICALS I GAVE GAMZEE ARE BAD. NOT AS IN THEY WILL RIP YOU A NEW NOOK KIND OF BAD, THESE FUCKERS ARE MESSED UP. WON'T WORK, THAT KIND OF BAD. SO IF THIS PLAN IS GOING TO WORK, YOU HAVE TO FIGHT HIM BEFORE HE USES THEM, WE TALKED LAST NIGHT AND HE PLANS ATTEMPT SOMETHING BIG TWO NIGHTS FROM NOW, SO YOU NOOKSNIFFERS BETTER BE READY.

EB: thanks a lot karkat!

CG: IF YOU TELL THAT MORON I DID THIS FOR YOU, I WILL PERSONALLY CULL YOU, GOT THAT EGBERT?! I DON'T LIKE THAT I'M BETRAYING MY MORAIL HERE!

EB: i know that's why i'm so thankful, but it's for his own good. better us than someone else.

Turning away from the computer, I looked over at Dave and forced a smile, which he raised an eyebrow at.

"Things are going as planned. Karkat messed up the chemicals so they won't work, now alone have to worry about is his clubs and the contortion tricks. We have two nights." He nodded then leaned back against the wall, a smirk stretching over his lips as he pushed his shades up.

"Do I have to wear some lame ass outfit?" Rolling my eyes, I glanced over at the unopened box in the corner of my room, it had arrived two days ago, and the name said that Rose sent it, but a note that came with it said to wait for Dave, so somehow she knew that we would need it.

"Actually, Rose sent something for you." Motioning toward the box, he pushed off the wall and grabbed it, ripping the tape off he reached in and pulled out a bundle of folded red and black fabric. For a while he just stared at it, then turned his head to me.

"Can I use you're bathroom then?" As I nodded he walked out of the room, leaving me to my own mind, then an idea popped into my head, grabbing a piece of paper, I started writing, finishing just as Dave walked back in. "Well?" Turning back, I couldn't help but smile. He head black slacks on, a red button up shirt that he had rolled the sleeves up to his elbows, and a black and white hourglass sat on his left shoulder. Covering his mouth and nose was a red mask sort of thing, that with his shades hid his identity. "Do I look slick or what? Oh yeah, these were in the pockets." He held out his hand, where two earbuds with small wires sat in his palm. "I think they're mics, so we can communicate."

"Wow, she's really outdone herself this time." He nodded, then headed back out of the room to change again. "So there's no going back now..." I glanced over at the letter I had written, then quickly folded it up and stuffed it into and envelope. "If I ever needed to be a hero, it's now..."

xxx

Pressing the mic in my ear, I had to speak loud over the wind that was keeping me up in the air.

"You see anything yet?" Scanning the area one more time, I moved on to a new portion of the city keeping an eye out for any kind of trouble, so far everything had been quiet, but that just kept me more on edge, jumping at every noise, and every nearby movement.

"Not yet," Dave's voice came through the earpiece clearly, and I caught a quick glimpse of his figure below and he darted through the alleys, being only a shadowy blur as he used microscopic amounts of his power to make him move about quicker. "everything seems pretty dead man, think he changed his mind?"

"No, he's stubborn. He wouldn't change his mind for anything." Going a bit closer to the ground, I slowly flew over the city, continuously scanning for any sign of Gamzee, but still there was none. Moving to go down and follow Dave, I shook my head thinking about how bothersome this whole situation had become, though I had no one to blame but myself.

"Wait, I think I've found him." Finally, after freezing hours of patrolling the city, we might have something! "Holy shit man, he's going for the largest bank in the damn city!" I don't understand though, why is he going after the banks? He's never cared about money before, and now this is the second bank he's going for? Something's off about this...

"I'm on my way." Changing directions, I rushed to the bank, and settled on a roof just across the street, where Dave quickly joined me, pulling the mask off of his mouth as he panted, his breaths clouding the air. "You sure you saw him?" I didn't see a trace of him anywhere, of course, he could've already moved inside of something.

"Yeah, guy had the belt with the spheres and clubs in his hands, that's what ya told me right?" Nodding, I watched the bank for any kind of unnatural movement, but there wasn't any, the only indication that something was wrong was the now blaring sirens that we're now flying down the street toward the bank.

"Something's not right about this..." Staring down at the bank as the cops surrounded the building, one of the workers ran out, and started saying something about the alarm tripping itself, that someone had hacked into it to make it go off. Oh shit, he wasn't in there...

"Got that right motherfucker," That wasn't Dave's voice, turning quickly, the familiar figure of Voodoo towered over where we were knelt down. "I see something wrong right now." Both Dave and I dove to either side as the troll lunged forward with clubs in his hands, but he wasn't even surprised, he just laughed shifted his eyes between the two of us. "Replace me already bro? That wasn't long." Watching as he grabbed a sphere from the belt around his hips, he tossed it up and caught it with a malicious grin before spinning suddenly and throwing it at the bank across the street. Glancing over at Dave, he nodded, then pulled a sword from the sheath on his back and slowly crept forward, he was just about to swing at the villain, when he froze in the exact moment my blood ran cold as an explosion rang out and rubble from the back came raining down on us.

"But... How..." Purple eyes turned to me with an amused shine to them, and he walked closer to me leaving me to scramble back, Dave moved again now too, he rushed forward with his sword drawn and swiped at the troll, but he saw it coming and ducked to the side just in time to miss any serious damage, though he did nick the others arm a little, where a small amount of purple blood oozed out.

"I'm not as screwed in the thinkpan as all you motherfuckers think, I knew that moment that Karkat snapped at me about the explosion near his house that I'd have to be careful about trusting him. So of course I haven't used any new chemicals, I've been stocking up on the old ones!" And this whole fight just got about ten times harder. Seeing him lunge forward again, I jumped back, an air current lifting me up onto my feet and back away from his attack, and with that move I was able to gain his attention while Dave appeared behind him, slashed his sword at the trolls back, and was gone before he even whipped around. When he wasn't facing me anymore, I ran forward and landed kick right on the newly made gash, and the force of it knocking him forward against the roof.

"I'm giving you one last chance Gamzee. Give up being Voodoo, or you will regret it." Without a reply, he pushed himself up, and just by chance I saw light shining off the sphere in his hand before he threw it at Dave, and I was able to get over to my friend in time and lift him off the roof as acid spilled from inside its container. Setting his down further away from the chemicals, Gam had taken the time I was distracted to get back up on his feet, but Dave was quicker. Before my feet even touched the roof the figure beside me was gone, and a yelp of surprise and pain had come from the troll behind me, and as I turned around, I saw him doubled over, and purples blood was dripping onto the ground. I didn't even have a chance to say anything before Dave appeared in front of him once more and kicked him hard, while he was stumbling back, I sent a large blast if wind his way. But it was to string for him in his current state, because it threw him off the roof completely, rushing forward I tried to catch him with another current, but he was falling to fast, and the drop to short for it to even slow his decent.

"Oh shit man..." Dave and I looked at each other as an agonized, and ferocious, scream ripped through the air, and as I looked down again, I noticed the large portion of horn laying about five feet away from the fallen troll, and even with the force of impact, his hand was clasped around the bleeding broken stub sticking out of his mask.

The cops stood there, to stunned to do anything, but as his cries started to fade and he started struggling to his feet once more, eyes glued on us, they trained their guns on him, bringing my heart to a heavy pounding. They all stood there, ready to shoot at a moments notice, and I got ready to rush down at the first sign of a trigger being pulled, yet even with the treat of being shot, Gamzee started toward the building on which we perched.

"Dave, stop time! Dave!" The blonde beside me just kept staring down, seemed frozen by the whole scene. "Dave! Stop time! Now!" As his head turned to me, I heard the sound I was dreading, a shot was fired, then another, and another. Whipping my head around to see what had happened, Gamzee was now laying on the sidewalk once more, a large puddle of blood forming underneath him as he seemed to be struggling for air. Turning back to Dave, tears threatened my eyes as I grabbed the front of his shirt. "Reverse this! Now! NOW!" He quickly pushed me away, then nodded shakily, a bright red light forming around the two of us, as everything below started to rewind.

"You won't have much time, just a few seconds, but that's the best I can do, and you only have one chance, I won't be a blue to do this again." Giving him a curt nod, I set to rush down to the troll and waiting for the light to fade, slowly things started moving forward again and I dropped down, the wind pushing me faster than I had ever gone before, hardly stoping by Gamzee as the first shot was fired, I grabbed under his arms and struggled to quickly change the direction of the wind as the second shot went out, followed quickly by the third. Rushing back up to the roof, I put Gamzee down, where he curled up and groaned. Dave quickly moved to his side now that he seemed not much of a threat, his shoulders relaxing as he sighed. "Damn man, you made it in time." Strangely, I felt numb about it, and I couldn't stop shaking from the adrenaline from the whole thing "what are you gonna- Shit!" He turned to me with his mask down and a smile on his lips, but it quickly faded as he cut off his sentence and ran over to me. "John!" Confused by his actions, I glanced down where red was starting to seep through the over shirt, in that second my mind finally registered the pain and my knees buckled under me.

"D-Dave...?" He knelt down in front of me and quickly ripped the mask over his head and pressed it to my chest where the blood just wouldn't stop. His hands were shaking as he wrapped an arm under both of mine, still holding the fabric against the wound.

"John don't talk, just, keep your eyes open and d-don't talk..." Letting my head roll to the side and rest against his arm, my arms and legs started to feel numb and even more cold than before, and even though he had told me to keep my eyes open, it was to hard, and Dave' voice faded away as my eyelids fell like heavy curtains over my eyes...

Extra: Gamzee

For the past two hours I had be conscious, my thinkpan struggled to wrap around what had been told to me once I woke up. The blonde kid that had helped John was there waiting in the hospital room when I woke up, he still had the damn shades covering his eyes, but I had noticed the tear stains on his cheeks right away. His voice held all sorts of tones of motherfuckin hate, but he made no move to strike me again, instead, he said one line.

"Be pretty damn happy, John took a fucking bullet for you..." Before tossing an envelope onto the bed and quickly leaving. Now, I still hadn't worked up the courage to open the letter, but I knew I should, so carefully taking it into my hands, I tore open the envelope and retracted the letter, finding John's unmistakable handwriting.

Gam,

I guess if you're reading this, things haven't gone exactly as plan and something has happened to me, but I want you to know, I don't hold you responsible for anything that's happened. I started all of this by trying to play hero when I'm nothing more than a stupid kid with power. So, I'm sorry. Sorry for not telling how I felt earlier, for trying to be something I wasn't, and for everything I've done wrong. In the end, all I wanted was to protect you, Karkat, and Nepeta.

Also, I've pulled a lot of strings to keep you out of prison, thankfully, because of the soper addiction, and having a deadbeat Lusus, they agreed that if you turn yourself in, at most you would just have to go to a sort of rehab, where they'll help with keeping you off soper, and working with you to maintain your rage. I'm sorry, but you can be terrifying when your pissed, and hell, it keeps you free, right?

So again, I'm sorry, and I hope you don't hate me for what I've done, but I've done everything I can to make up for it. I just wish a relationship between is would have worked in the end...

John

I don't know when I started crying, but at some point during the letter I did, and as I tried to wipe the tears away they just kept falling. As I kept trying to wipe them away, a doctor entered the room with a group of three cops behind him, he noticed my tears and moved over to the side of the bed, seeming worried.

"Are you in pain? Where does it hurt?" Shaking my head, I folded the letter up and looked up at him, more tears streaming down my cheeks, before I could speak, a small smile formed in his lips. "Don't worry, he's still alive. We won't know if he'll make it until he wakes up, but he's alive." Now one of the cops came over to the foot of the bed, his eyes cold as he looked down on me.

"Gamzee Makara, do you deny that you are Voodoo?" Dropping my head to my chest, I stared down at the folded piece of paper in my hands for a while, before shaking my head.

"No, I am Voodoo..." He nodded, then the three of them left the room without another word, leaving only the doctor and myself, and even though there was a silence, it wasn't uncomfortable at least, but the silence was broken by a loud voice over an intercom in the hallways.

"Code blue! Doctors needed in room 396. Code blue!" Glancing to the side, I noticed that the man looking at charts just to my side had become tense, and he glanced back at me nervously, then sighed.

"I'm sure he's alright..." His voice sounded confident, but his eyes were doubting leaving my heart pounding in my chest, as I waiting for any more news on John...

Just like the doctor said, they didn't know if John would survive until he woke up.

But in the end, he never did...

A/N: AHHHHHH IM SO SORRY IF YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS GOING TO HAVE A HAPPY ENDING! DX I seem to be unable to make happy stories. Anyway, thank you all so much for reading this, and for all of you who review it makes me so happy to see each and every response so. I heart all of you! Please don't hate me for this, trust me this was very hard to write! ~ Imoto over and out!