Hello, this is a first of a few things; my first HS fanfic and my first Strider fanfic so please excuse any OOC moments and such. This story has not been looked over by anyone and I don't normally go back and reread what I write so please forgive the typo's and spelling errors! Please enjoy and if you have any input, I am always up for some critic as long as it is kind and helpful.

Echo

Dave stood staring down at his Bro, sprawled out on the ground –bloodied and broken- his sword spearing his chest; no more breaths to lift and fall…just the stillness that was his body. The young Strider wasn't sure exactly what to do now; he and his Bro had always had a very strange relationship but deep down he had always cared about him. Dave had always looked up to him, chased after him and walked happily in his shadow, mimicking him in every way but now he is gone and all that is left is the cold corpse of the man he once admired so much.

Nothing could really calm the unsettling feeling that seemed to be eating away at him, slowly swallowing him up but Dave couldn't exactly figure out what it was. Standing there as he stared down at his brother his shades gave a low note, letting him know someone was pestering him. It was Terezi but Dave was still to unsettled at the moment to even enjoy talking with her, now aggravated he runs at the sword in a cool guy manor and ironically jumps at it, feet hitting the handle before it sprung him back and then hitting the ground with a hard thud.

Dave now lying flat on his face with his shades a short reach away just laid still. Suddenly it hit him what was wrong…Dave loved his brother more than he though, more than just admiring him and he couldn't stand the thought of not being able to Strife on the roof or tear out some wicked sick beats with him anymore…Dave wouldn't be Dave without Bro…so what could he do now? He dared so sneak a glance over at him, his dead eyes staring vacantly away towards him; Dave just couldn't think straight, nothing seemed right! He was so mad at everything!

He was mad at Jack for killing his brother, at Bro for even letting himself get killed, at himself for no damn reason! Everything just made him so mad an- wait…what is that?

Dave reached a hand up to his eyes and whipped at them, pulling it away to look at it…seeing what he now would assume to be tears. Striders don't cry. They can't. No, they don't. As much as he tried to tell him it was something else, hell it could be rain for all he cared, he knew on some level that it was tears...that he was mourning the loss of the one person he was really close to.

"Really Bro," He called over to him. "You choose now of all times to get yourself fucking killed?" His voice was quite but still it didn't weaver, he wouldn't go as far as to let anyone hear that. Dave had to find a way to just put this behind him but for now he wanted to stay where he was and be left alone; even though the blind troll girl repeatedly sent him messages, he would not answer them for the time being.

The world would be shut out until he could think of what to do and hopefully…that wouldn't take too long.

He hadn't noticed that he had let the world slip by for so long; when you are trapped in a twisted game like this, you tend to lose track of the time…or week for that matter. Finally he sat up, donning on his shades once again and pushed himself to stand up; Dave was finally ready to do something but was it really the best choice at this point in time? He gave an 'I don't give a fuck' smirk before and looked over at the dead man across from him.

"Don't worry Bro," He mused. "I won't let it go down like this…or at least, not how JACKass think's it will go." His statement ending with a small hiss of annoyance as he turned his back to the body; now ready to kick his plan into motion. He was just one Dave, there are so many running around and sometimes even he couldn't tell exactly which branch or timeline he came from…so what did it matter if he messed around some before going back to being serious and possibly dead?