Memory
On one of the worlds, it was raining when the battle finally ended. Blood pouring from the fallen were swept away and poured into the stream, just washing away.
Dave's blood too, was taken away. You couldn't help but sniffle at that and grabbed his reddened body and held him in your arms. He had protected you, had loved you and yet you hadn't done the same for him. You hadn't been strong enough or fast enough to save him from the final blow that took him away. He had passed over before you could even say goodbye but you had avenged him and his killer's head had been cut clean off by your sickle. Fucking Jack Noir, the bastard.
"I'm sorry."
You carried him and were careful to not step on another corpse or stain your shoes with someone else's blood.
Dave had always been with you, always risking his own life to extend your own. That fucker. You were angry at him for it because you never asked for his affections, had never wanted them. It just hurt so much and you knew you wouldn't be able to forget him.
His stupid smirk that he always wore was burned into your head and his obnoxious raps. Damn hipster. Damn him to hell.
You came to the stream which wasn't tainted despite all the blood flowing into it. Slowly, you leaned down and placed him in the water but didn't let go. You didn't want to. He should be here, with you, sharing this moment. It was over. The game was fucking finally over.
Others had died in this battle too. John, Jane, Kanaya, Rose, Roxy, Dirk… Fuck this stupid game!
Lord English had been defeated by everyone else's combined efforts. The rest of you who had survived were the winners yet it didn't feel like a victory due to all the heroic sacrifices.
With one last glance over his peaceful face, you let him go and watched as his body slowly drifted down the stream.
Jade and the rest soon joined you and placed the rest of the dead into the stream. It seemed like the right thing to do.
"What now?" Jake asked, his eyes red from tears.
"We accept our reward." Jade murmured. "We go to the new universe."
"I think they will all be there. I have a feeling." Terezi replied and no one responded but what she said seemed to make everyone feel a little better.
"Yeah," You said after a while. "I think you're fucking right."
For Dave, you would believe it.
It was raining again. You didn't understand why it had rained everyday this past month but you didn't like it. Sometimes, when you looked at the rain for too long you felt like you were drowning. There had even been a dream where you were swept into a sea of red and couldn't swim. You swallowed it and woke up wanting to puke.
You missed the hot, sweaty weather and the blazing sun. Your brother, Dirk agreed with you when you told him about it.
Still, life went on and you continued working at a shitty bookstore. You didn't even like reading but hey, it was ironic as fuck. Your cousin, Rose happened to work there too. Well, she was the one who had offered you the job. Her mother owned the shop but Rose's sister had refused to work there. You had been meaning to ask Roxy where she worked these days but it always slipped your mind.
A lot of things had been slipping your mind lately. At first they were little things like where you put your wallet or keys but eventually entire moments left your mind. For example, you remember walking into a store but when you came out you couldn't really remember what you had bought or looked at inside.
You started seeing things in your head. Images flying too fast to focus on and voices that you weren't sure you recognised. It always made you stumble if you were walking and you would have to stay still until it was over. This happened regularly.
It was at the park when the rain had let up a little that you got your worst case of it. You had been sitting on a bench with an umbrella over your head, trying to take a spectacular selfie to reach your quota. You were distracted by footsteps on the pavement and of a strange sound of something falling. "Shit-biscuits."
What a weird swear. You looked to the direction of the culprit but when your eyes took in their face you felt as if a cold knife was being plunged into your head. Flashes of someone with nubby horns filled your mind and the sound of them talking. They always looked angry at the world but you saw some images of smiles.
Fuck, shit was getting weird.
It was over fast and you stood up and held your hand out to the guy to help. Fuck your mental shit, you were a decent human being who was going to help this guy up. He must have slipped over. How embarrassing.
They were wearing a hood over their head to shield them from the rain but you could see that their skin wasn't the same colour as in your 'vision'. It was dark olive and this guy definitely didn't have horns. Who the fuck even had horns anyway? You must be tired.
"Oh, th…" Their voice made you freeze. It was the same gravelly one as the horned guy… What. The. Hell. You must be tripping balls.
"D-Dave?!" They suddenly exclaimed, sounding surprised. "Is it really you or am I imagining things?"
You blinked. What.
"Errr… My name is Dave if that helps. Not sure who you are though." Because telling them something like, 'hey, a weird looking dude from my visions sounds like you' would class you as a crazy person.
"But you should be…" He trailed off and shook his head. He took your hand and you helped him to his feet before letting go. "Nevermind. You could be a look alike…"
With a heavy sigh, he turned and one word formed in your head that your mind was screaming out. "Karkat!" You didn't mean to say it but you blurted it before you could stop yourself.
The guy jumped and swiftly spun back to face you. His mouth was wide open and he flipped back his hood to give you a better view of his face.
His eyes were the same grey as the vision-guy's and so was the structure of his face. His hair was a darker black but was shaped the exact same. "You don't really remember everything, do you?" He asked but he sounded oddly happy as if this was the greatest day of his life.
"I…" Should you confess? Your heart told you that yes, it was the right thing to do. "This is going to sound really strange but I assure you I'm not high." Much wow, much cool. Damn, memes were starting to rule your life.
'Karkat' rolled his eyes and grabbed your wrist before pulling you over to the bench where you both sat down. It was still raining and his hair was getting wet so you allowed your umbrella to shield you both from the enemy of perfect hair.
"Yes, just spit out what you have to say and trust me, I'm going to believe you even if you are a shit-sponge."
"Rude! Anyway. So this shit sounds crazy as fuck but I've been having these weird visions of someone like you. He had nubby horns and crap though but-"
"Yes, that's because he is me."
What. "What?" Exactly.
With an irritated sigh, Karkat rubbed his face with his hands and then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, if I try to explain everything then we would be here for a while and you would be confused as fuck. Basically, you were in this shitty game and so was I but shit went down and here we are. I am now human instead of a troll because the others and I agreed that it would make things here simpler instead of having wars about blood castes."
You were stunned silent and had more questions than answers.
"Oh, and you died but I obviously having died is irrelevant to the game. Guess that means everyone else is alive too which will be great news for everyone who lived which was hardly anyone."
You stopped breathing and when you realized, you quickly took in some breaths. You died, well shit. That was a blow to your pride. Why did you die? How did you die? Why hadn't this guy died too? He didn't look that capable… Ok, you had a feeling that this guy was secretly a badass trapped in the body of a short and grumpy-looking dude.
"I think that everyone who died have trouble remembering the game since the rest of us can recall the past perfectly. Hell, we all came to this universe at the same spot and we all live in this big-ass house on Jade's island. It was fucking chaos at first because all of us were still trying to recover from what happened. Terezi, Gamzee, Jake, Jade and me… Ha, can't wait to tell them the good news."
It was quiet and the cogs in your mind were starting to turn as everything processed. Shit was too confusing but you felt as if you could trust the guy. You had seen images of him after-all and had randomly picked up his name out of the blue.
"I think my brain is fried." You stated.
"Yeah, I thought that would happen. It's a lot to take in. I'm curious about something though."
"Shoot."
"Do you know anyone called Dirk, Rose or Roxy?"
You raised an eyebrow. "Ugh, yeah. They're my relatives."
"I'm glad to hear that. How about Kanaya?"
"Rose's girlfriend."
"Jane?"
"Dirk and Roxy's friend."
"John?"
"Hmm… Nope."
"I'm sure he'll turn up eventually. He's probably found some of the others who died but like you, he might not remember anything. But, I have a theory that people with close past ties have a better chance of finding each-other so one day, he's going to show up into your life before you know it."
You wanted to lie down somewhere because this was all too much in such a short time.
Karkat didn't say anything more after that and you enjoyed the silence. He wasn't looking at you but he seemed to have this small smile on his face and you felt warm. It was strange but your heart was doing this funny thing where it was beating too fast. A part of you seemed to remember him but your mind was still clueless. If your heart was all high-school girl crazy about him then what did that mean?
"Karkat?"
"Yeah?" He still wasn't looking at you and sounded distant, lost in thought.
"Were we a thing back in this game or…"
Now he was looking at you. "'A thing'? Oh, you mean matesprits."
"Mate-what?"
"Fuck, I forgot that wasn't a human term. I'm still trying to adjust to this way of life. What I meant to say was; do you mean boyfriends?"
"Yeah…"
"Then no."
You couldn't help but feel let down at hearing that. "Oh…"
But, Karkat wasn't finished talking. "Because you never confessed or anything until we were getting ready for the last battle because you were an insufferable douchebag. Do you know what you did? You fucking said some cheesy as fuck line quoted out of some previous film we had watched together and you kissed me on the lips. Everyone saw and you didn't even explain yourself. I mean, I had suspicions prior to that but still!"
You suddenly felt very proud of yourself.
"Hey! Stop smirking damn-it! Then you went all heroic on me and shielded me from a lethal blow like the corny trash you are. I was so angry like you wouldn't believe and I fucking chopped Jack Noir's head off because of it. Oh, and he was the one who killed you by the way."
Jack Noir sounded like a guy straight out of a mafia movie. His name screamed, 'oh shit, we got a badass over here'.
"Huuuh… I wish that I could remember all that. Sounded like a blast."
Karkat patted you on the shoulder reassuringly. "Sure, the whole game was just a huge and crazy ass party that went out of fucking control. You're still recovering from it so of course your memory is blank. You got drunk off of your human silly juice… Urm, I mean alcohol or whatever other weird beverage."
"Silly juice?"
"Shut-up! I'm still trying to learn how to talk like a human. It's really fucking difficult by the way."
You smiled and laughed while Karkat glared. He was so much like an old, mean cat which was ironic as fuck.
When your laughter died down, he was checking his watch and swore. "Oh shit, I'm so fucking late!" He exclaimed but didn't get up from the bench.
"Late for what?" You couldn't help but ask.
"I have to go pick up a delivery. This is why I'm even in this town in the first place! Jake ordered some shit and because of the fact that it was weapons the package couldn't be sent out to the island. I think he ordered it from some shady site or something…"
You were the reason why he was late so you felt a little bit guilty. "Umm, guess we could catch-up again sometime?" You asked.
"Fuck yeah. What's your address anyway? I'll just rock up there once I've got the package if that's ok."
"Sure, it's-"
So you told him where you lived and soon you were parting ways. You would have offered him your umbrella but you had a feeling that he would just turn it down due to pride or some shit.
"See ya Karkitty!"
"Bye you Insufferable Prick!"
What a charmer.
So, waiting anxiously in your apartment it was. You were glued to the couch and didn't even stir when Dirk offered to strife with you to pass the time. All you told him was that a friend of yours was coming over and left it at that.
You were lost in thought when there was a knock at the door and it made you jump. With a deep breath, you got up and answered the door. Being around Karkat made you a little nervous. It was like he could see into your soul and it felt strange.
"Hey, Ass-munch."
"Hello there, Kitten."
He was carrying a small wooden crate on one shoulder and wow, he was a lot stronger than he looked unless if the crate was empty… Hmm.
Anyway, he brushed past you and didn't even ask for an invite inside. Wow, rude!
With a grunt, he placed the crate on the table near the couch. "There. Now I'm going to be sore in the morning. Fuuuuuck."
You closed the door and made your way over to him. "Just how strong are you?"
"Stronger than a thousand men and women." He replied in a perfect monotone. "Fuck, I'm not thaaat strong. I bet Jade's way stronger than me."
Because you were the best host, you got him a drink of the holy beverage that you worshipped, AJ. You came back to find Dirk having a conversation with him and hell to the no! He had his arm around your bae's shoulders! Bahaha, joking. Dirk was gay as fuck but wasn't very experienced when it came to romance. Poor guy was still single.
"I have a friend who you might like to meet." Karkat was saying. "He's obsessed with shitty movies and has some kind of fetish for adventure. The damn guy wears short-shorts like, what the actual fuck. He pulls it off somehow though."
You found it funny that your friend was hooking your brother up with somebody.
Dirk looked calm but you knew that he was interested.
"And I guess he's decent looking but hey, everybody has different tastes!"
You placed the drinks on the table and decided to interrupt. "Hey, you're hogging my waifu."
Dirk let go of Karkat and shrugged. "Oh? I wasn't aware. I do apologise." He was being sarcastic.
"Fuck you! I'm no-one's… errr… what was that funny word you said?"
"Waifu."
"Yeah! I'm not whatever the fuck that is!"
Despite your interruption, they were soon back to their conversation. Karkat gave you a wink which you didn't understand before he said to Dirk, "I'll send you a picture of him."
So he texted Dirk the photo and… Ohhhh. He was trying to get your brother to remember the guy. Maybe seeing him would help trigger something.
And soon enough…
"…Jake…" There it was! You didn't know who Jake was either but considering it was one of Karkat's friends then he must have been the game.
Dirk dropped his phone and was clutching his head. In other words, 'he was losing his shit'.
It turns out that after that, he passed out. Totally uncool, dawg. You should have filmed it as blackmail because he was an asshole to you sometimes. But, you and Karkat carried his body to the couch and left him there.
You both weren't sure what to do but with a shrug, you both decided to play video games in your room to pass the time. Dirk would probably want Karkat to explain a few things.
After a session of playing Borderlands 2, Dirk came barging into your room and as you both predicted, demanded answers. He sounded calm but you picked up on the unease and confliction in his voice.
So Karkat explained things about the game and about how you and he died along with Rose, Roxy and Jane. You had heard all this already but you were still getting your head wrapped around it. Then he started saying how Jake was a friend of your brother's and of some relationship shit that happened. You were amazed that Karkat knew so much. He was a fountain of strange information.
Oddly enough, Dirk took all of this in well.
"I remember most of what happened in the game but some pieces are missing…"
"Hmm, I think that would be because of Jake. You, Roxy and Jane should go see him in person then I'm sure that everything will come back to you."
That wasn't fair, you couldn't remember much.
"I think that everyone who died has to meet who they were close to in person in order to regain their memories but it's just a theory." Karkat said.
So, it was decided that you and Dirk were going to head to this 'island' place with Karkat. Fuck it, you both needed a holiday anyway. All the details were blurry as of the trip there but you remember bantering with Karkat and then all three of you having to jump out of a plane and parachute down to your destination. Karkat looked calm as fuck through the entire thing so obviously he was used to it plus the crate was in his arms.
Upon landing you got tangled in the parachute and tackled Dirk so he would stop filming. Karkat just laughed and made no move to help out.
Karkat led the way to Jade's house which looked like a sciencey sort of place. Both you and Dirk lagged behind a little, both a little anxious but keeping a calm face.
With a kick, your friend opened the door and barged inside like he owned the place.
"Jade and whoever the fuck! I brought gifts!"
So then all hell broke loose and you found your cheek slobbered on by some chick wearing red shades and then being glomped by a girl with round glasses.
"Coolkid!"
"Dave!"
"Never thought I would see the motherfucker again."
You had no idea what was going on but the room felt like it was spinning. Now someone in blue was hugging you. "They told me I had to hug you. No homo, dude." Ugh, too many cuddles.
"…Dirk? DIRK!"
Your brother was probably having his own problems too but you didn't get to see this mystery Jake person because you passed the fuck out.
It was like you were floating which felt really really strange. There was no gravity and damn was it warm. Chimes of old grandfather clocks echoed throughout the area but you could only see inky blackness.
"Hey."
Someone who looked like you only with golden-orange feathers appeared. They looked half bird, half human and like you always did, wore shades.
"Sup?" You asked because hey, you felt that this was the most normal thing in the world to ask.
"Not much. Just been drifting here waiting for you to remember shit."
"Oh, ok."
"I'm kinda you, by the way. Well, I'm more like a different version. Anyway, I'm gonna merge with you now so everything comes back to you. It's going to really fucking hurt."
He didn't sound sympathetic.
"Ok. What will happen to you though?"
He shrugged. "Pfft, I dunno. Be cleaned from existence? I'm Davesprite by the way. Caw, caw motherfucker and all that crap."
With a deep but shaky breath, he advanced and as soon as he made contact with your skin you felt your body burn as if it were on fire. Your very being felt like it was being torn and taken out piece by piece before rearranging and being shoved back together with glue. It hurt but your mind was as clear as day. Things were coming back to you now and you were overwhelmed by all your emotions.
God Tier, the Meteor, Lord English, Jack Noir, all your friends, Time, always with the Time, dead Daves, crushing on Karkat, dying to save him… Everything was being pieced together bit by bit.
It was all back, the puzzle was complete. You were Dave Strider and you were-
-awake.
Your eyes were open and why was everything such a blinding white? Fucking ouch, your eyes were burning. Someone slid shades over your eyes and you sighed in relief. Something fluffy was close to one of your ears and you flinched at the sudden voice, "Caw, caw motherfucker."
With a groan, you rolled over a little to find a small, golden bird with red eyes looking at you, head tilted to the side. "Sup?" You asked.
"Not much except I am now a feathery asshole."
"Cool." You replied with a chuckle.
Davesprite deserved to live even if he couldn't have a human body for whatever reason. He didn't sound too upset though. The poor guy had been through so much shit in the game and your current situations could have been switched. You could have been in his position right now.
He looked kind of like a chick but bigger and less cute. With a few flaps of his wings, he landed on your head and you sat up while he didn't lose his grip.
There was a snicker and you saw that Karkat was sitting on a chair near the couch you were on.
"I remember everything." You told him, not even beating around the bush.
He looked surprised but then happy. "That's good news. I thought you passed the fuck out to show everyone how uncool you actually are. And John remembers too by the way. He woke up a few minutes ago actually. Apparently Jade found him, located Rose, showed him to Rose then brought him back here kicking and screaming. Sounded fucking hilarious when they both told the epic tale of kidnapping."
"Fucking rad." Davesprite replied for you. Oh, you forgot he was still on your head.
Karkat looked from you to the bird and rolled his eyes. "Great, another- the fuck?!"
You had flash-stepped and were now embracing him in your arms. You weren't big on cuddling but damn, you were still recovering from your memories. You had died and had left him behind. He could have died too. There was a chance that neither of you could have found each-other in this new world. You didn't like to think about it…
The weight on you head was gone and you heard a flutter of wings fading. Davesprite probably didn't want to intrude on this moment.
"It's ok… err… Don't cry."
Wait, were you…? With one hand, you felt your cheeks and yep, they were damp. Well fuck, when did that happen? Whoops.
When you finally let go, Karkat scrunched his nose and then swiped at your cheeks with the sleeves of his clothing. "There, now calm down you shit-muncher."
"Hahaha, your insults are incredible!"
Soon, you were back to normal but you were still a little overwhelmed. With a sigh, he grabbed your hand and huffed. "Fucking hell, we'll face them together. Jeez…"
Yeah, that made you feel more confident and you felt as if you could take-down any bad-guy, as cliché as it sounded. Wow, you really were corny as fuck.
"Never knew you could be so much of a gentlemen, Karkitty."
"Fucking shut-up!"
So out the door you two went and faced the group of teenagers only to find them being their usual selves. They didn't notice you two descend the stairs since everyone seemed fixed on watching Davesprite tug at Dirk's hair with his beak.
Oh yeah, you remembered that Davesprite fought Jack Noir with Bro and he probably saw him die too.
"That's for being a douche to me when you were my guardian." Davesprite said before landing on Dirk's left shoulder.
"Yeah? Well you and Dave were a pretty shitty guardian too."
With a sigh, Karkat interrupted their banter and the onlookers. "Hey, assholes! Guess who's awake?"
They turned and looked glad to see your recovery. There was some raised eyebrows at the hand-holding but no comments. You swear that Dirk winked behind his shades though, the sneaky bastard.
You're glad that the game ended, glad that everyone got another chance to live in this new world. Still, you would be lying if you said that you didn't miss playing. Messing with Time had been fun and so had fighting all the weird monsters.
There was a huge conversation about the past and apparently Dirk remembered everything because of seeing Jake. He didn't pass out though. Jade said that Rose remembered because of meeting John but was keeping it secret and that Kanaya was clueless. So, it was planned to have a massive get-together to get Kanaya, Jane and Roxy up to speed.
"Then, we should go find the others. I'm really curious about all the other trolls." John said and you were sure he mostly meant Vriska. "It would be cool to see how they look as humans!"
You still couldn't get over the fact that Terezi's hair was a bright orange. It looked odd but strangely suited her. She was still blind but you knew that she preferred it that way.
Later that night, you and Karkat were chilling outside on the grass. You were both lying on your backs and looking at the stars. Man, it was so clear out here on the island since the city lights were nowhere to be seen.
Karkat had been explaining how the quadrant thing had been dropped and didn't exist in this universe. "I remember how fucking weird you used to find it on the meteor and a point you said was very true about how you didn't like dating multiple people at a time… So, Terezi and Gamzee agreed with me that we and the other trolls would just have to adapt to human dating. It seems a little simpler, though I hate to admit it." He sounded so calm and relaxed. "And we dropped being trolls to get rid of being judged by blood caste. Still, it sucks that you humans are racist as well. Not all but some narrow-minded ones."
That was true. You remember Jade complaining about it years ago, before the game. You yourself felt angry whenever there was racism on TV.
"I understand that shit. Maybe we should form a group to change things in this world." You said. "We could fight for equality and all that other good shit. It would make life more interesting."
Karkat 'hmmed' and nodded but didn't say anymore on the subject. You had a feeling he was putting it on a 'to do list' in his head.
Breathing in the scent of fresh grass was nice and feeling the cool air on your face. You could sleep out here.
Like the hands of a clock, things were ticking around in your head until you had to blurt, "Let's be boyfriends." Shit, you and your damn blurting. It was a habit that you absolutely hated.
He turned over to fully face you and raised an eyebrow. "I thought we already were after that first kiss." Humour was evident in his voice and damn, you were a dork and he knew it.
"Oh, ok. I was just checkin'."
"Right, right."
"…Umm-"
"No." He instantly replied but then started laughing. "You were going to ask if you could kiss me again, right? You're an open book, Strider."
Karkat caught you out. He was just too damn good.
"Nope, wrong."
"Bull-fucking-shit!"
You had this feeling deep inside that you and he were going to spend the rest of this new life together and boy were you glad. So glad that you had fallen for someone who understood you.
At first, you had both hated each-other to the point that you would strife but eventually you both came to terms with the fact that you were alike in a way that no one else was. Both Knights with problems holding stable relationships without fucking up. Both freaks cursed with the colour red being your downfall… When you discovered his blood colour, you showed him your eyes in turn to show him that he wasn't alone. From there, you both built up from being rivals, to friends and now this. You both bickered but in doing so got things off of both of your chests. What you both had was unique in a way you couldn't quite describe.
You could be a dork around him and lower your cool façade and he wouldn't call you out for it while he could be a softie and you would comfort him.
"I'm glad that you found me in that park."
"Dave, I fucking slipped, fell on my ass, and you went over to help. I think, as disgustingly corny as it sounds, we found each-other."
"I bet whatever God is watching us played a part in this. They love all the yaois."
He laughed and flicked your nose. "Pretty sure it's pronounced 'yaoi' not 'yaois'."
"Eh, you're not my real mother. I can say whatever I damn please without being lectured."
What would have happened if you never remembered? It was a scary thought so you decided that in this life, you wouldn't mess anything up. No alternative Daves could save your ass (except maybe Davesprite), and you couldn't mess around with Time anymore.
Here, no mistakes were going to be made.
"And any- mmmrph… Don't kiss me when I'm trying to talk, that's fucking cheating! You owe me a fucking date now and you're paying."
"Aww, Karkitty! I married you for your money, not mine!"
"Shit-muffin, who ever said anything about marriage?"
You hoped that you and everyone else would live long and happy lives… Pfft, screw that! Happy and exciting lives sounded much better filled with explosions like a Michael Bay movie! Step one though, find everyone else and then have a massive party. From there… Well, you would decide what to do when you got there.
"Love you, Krabbykatty."
"Hate you, Stri-mac-Douche."
A/N: (Yeah, this story was rushed if you couldn't tell :P)
I felt dead inside after playing a fangame for Davekat called 'Shooting for the Moon' (Google it, brah). It was pretty damn sad so… I wrote this to recover (the game was good quality though and rather short). I love happy endings and am weak to sad ones.