SOY: Here, have another project of mine :3
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Rating: Mature for themes and later content.
Warnings:
Disclaimer: I don't own HomeStuck.
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Higher than Hope
Prologue
The swirling portal was bright and green, hovering a few inches from the ground, almost mesmerizing in its simplicity.
There was no ultimate building shaped like the SBURB logo, no floating universe to stare at while feeling like Gods –just a green portal, and yet it was everything they had been fighting for in the last three years.
This was it –their reward, achieved through combined effort and so many sacrifices.
For a moment, they all remained silent, glancing at each other in amazement; they had managed to keep it safe all the while, and now they were free to take a step inside it and finally cease to fight once for all.
The first to get to it was Jake. He carefully stepped around the portal, observing it from every side, squinting slightly, then his face lit up in a satisfied, happy smile, and his eyes searched for Dirk, sharing an unreadable glance with him.
"Well, I'd say something poignant, but I bet none of us truly want to hear my chit-chat," he cleared his throat then embarrassedly cracked his knuckles before moving away from the portal.
Instead of returning to Dirk's side, though, he moved to what was left of their opponent's body, and gingerly bent down, fingers lifting the discarded cloth that had once donned Lord English's frame.
The green coat was still fluttering between colours on its rim, but they looked washed out, their flashes almost ready to fade away.
Jake observed it for a while, then following a sudden impulse, he flung it above his own shoulders and snuggled into it; the cloth was far too big for his frame, the sleeves flapping large around his much thinner arms, but he didn't seem to care, simply rolling them up until his hands peeked from inside them.
"You're not going to bring that into the new universe, are you?" Jane looked slightly appalled at Jake's bad taste, and she wasn't the only one –Kanaya wrinkled her nose and politely looked away from the horrid insult to fashion.
Jake looked at her, cheeky smile her only answer, then turned again towards the portal. "See you fair adventurers on the other side," he called out.
With a curt wave and a tilt of his head, Jake stomped over to the portal and went through it, disappearing in a wavering flash of light.
Jane and Roxy shared a small glance, then looked over at Dirk; his face was carefully blank, and he didn't return their glances, his head shifting towards the beta group, gaze momentarily stopping on Dave. Their eyes, even if covered by shades, met briefly as they impassively stared at each other.
It lasted only a second, then Dirk offered Dave his fist in a symbolic brofist before turning around and following Jake into the portal, into their new world.
Roxy chuckled, offering Rose a thumbs up, then nudged Jane with her, hand curling around her elbow to tug her along, and Jane went with a small smile, feeling self-conscious as she allowed her best friend to lead her.
Neither turned around as the light washed around them.
Kanaya straightened her back, fingers seeking out Rose's hand, and when the human turned to look at her, she tilted her head towards the portal. "It might be time to test this new universe and see if we have done a good job with it," she stated.
Rose's lips twitched up in a small, warm smile, and nodded, her fingers curling around Kanaya's hand.
"I suppose you are right," she replied. Then she turned towards her other friends. "Once we're on the other side, we will be able to determine what kind of situation we're in for, as my seer powers don't quite work in a universe we're not part of".
Jade bounced over and hugged her, giggling happily, and Rose hugged her back with one arm before tracing the steps of the Alpha kids.
The couple disappeared into the portal, and Aradia followed them happily, bouncing a bit as her Godtier wings faded back into her body. Sollux seemed to hesitate as she offered him one hand, so she huffed, winked at him and stepped through, her lips mouthing a friendly encouragement for him to follow.
Sollux grimaced, shrugging when Karkat turned to look at him, eyebrows raised.
"I jutht don't think it'th a good idea to ruthh into thingth," he muttered, looking at the ground.
Karkat safely decided it would be better not to comment, and he stepped towards the portal, fighting the uneasiness welling up inside him.
Much like Jake had done, he circled the bright portal once, looking at it from every side. It looked pretty legit, but he still wasn't convinced, his paranoia getting the best of him.
Gamzee had been standing a bit away from the others, body still covered in bloody clothes he hadn't bothered to change and eyes lost in the distance, but when he noticed Karkat moving, he seemed to blink back to attention. He hesitantly made his way forwards, not noticing that Terezi had done the same until they were both in front of the portal, in front of Karkat.
Dave watched from the side, feeling eerily alone but not allowing the feeling to show on his face, refusing to let himself be dragged in troll matters. His fingers twitched slightly as he fought the urge to step close to the three, but he stood his ground.
Terezi licked her lips and glanced at Karkat, smiling at him –a small, somewhat sad smile– then turned around, sending a bigger grin towards Dave before her tongue rolled out of her mouth, tasting the air around the portal.
It tasted electric and minty.
Her steps didn't waver as she walked past the other trolls and into the portal.
Gamzee observed her go, eyes sharp, then glanced back at Karkat. His expression, with smudged paint and scratched prominent across his face, looked lost as he slowly, hesitantly, reached out for Karkat with one hand.
Karkat refused to look at him, lips trembling in the effort not to give in and face his wretched moirail, and Gamzee's hand fell limp.
He followed Terezi with a defeated slump, his clubs abandoned on the ground next to the portal.
When he disappeared within the flash, Karkat's shoulders fell, and he studiously refused to look at the others still there, though his eyes flickered briefly towards Dave, who closed his eyes behind his shades and refused to let himself think.
John's lips twitched into a small, confused frown, then he moved towards Karkat, poked him into the arm, and smiled cheekily at him, then at Jade, Dave and Sollux. "Come on, it's getting boring here, let's have a look at our reward!"
He playfully shoved Karkat away from the portal and promptly went through.
With only four of them left, Dave finally decided to move, and casually stepped towards the portal, watching as Karkat stared at him, waiting.
"Girls first," Dave stated, pointing at the portal.
Karkat grunted but moved away, freeing the path for Jade as she moved closer. "Yes, what the moron said," he muttered, looking to the side.
"I was actually talking about you, Karkat," Dave commented.
The troll growled at him, eyes narrowed in anger, and Jade giggled at them, dog ears twitching on top of her head.
"Shove it where it hurts," Karkat muttered, glaring at Sollux and daring him to comment.
Still the comment seemed to have a positive effect on him, and the tense air seemed to dissipate.
Jade stepped towards the portal, grinning.
Bec Noir chose that moment to attack.
Red tendrils flared to life everywhere around them, surrounding the four and separating them from the portal, and Dave was the first to locate where the attack was coming from, the incoming figure hovering above them.
Bec Noir wasn't stupid. He could recognise a lost battle when he faced one, and going against Lord English would obviously result into a loss on his part. So, he'd kept his profile low, waiting for someone else to get rid of the threat, completely forgotten by the kids he hated, but now that their main opponent had bitten the dust, the carapace had reappeared to exact his revenge.
He'd waited a bit too long, allowing a few of the kids to go through that portal, but he wasn't in a hurry –he would get rid of the ones still there, then chase the remaining ones in the new universe, just like he'd done before.
And then he would enjoy destroying that, too.
Sword ready in hand, Bec Noir rushed downwards, directing the red miles to surround his enemies to prevent their escape.
With a small gasp, Jade lifted both hands and pointed them at some of the red tendrils, but Dave grabbed her wrist and tugged her harshly away from them.
"Don't touch those," he warned, fingers tightly clenched around the handle of his sword. "It seems we've got one last unfinished business left before we can go".
Sollux stumbled towards them, momentarily forgetting that he still didn't have any psionic power left, and Karkat placed himself in front of his friend, sickles ready to strike.
"Can you get to the portal?" he called out, throat underlining his words with a low growl.
"I am… no, not at thith point," Sollux glanced back at the red strands keeping the portal blocked, and looked down at his hands, feeling utterly useless.
Part of him suddenly missed his psionics, even with all the hassle and death cries that came with them.
"Don't you dare fucking die on me, grubmunching idiot, or I'm not leaving this shitty place until I have your rotten soul following me," Karkat called out, then shoved one of his sickles into Sollux's hands.
"KK, I–"
"Shut up and fucking protect your useless self".
Sollux's lips turned into a thin line but he nodded. Sickles weren't his weapon of choice –to be honest, he didn't have a weapon of choice, he'd only ever used his own powers to fight– but he would make do.
Dave sprung to action the moment Bec Noir was at a striking distance, their swords clashing together once, then twice before the human had to back away, leaving enough space for Karkat to join in, sickles flashing towards the carapace's neck.
Bec Noir blocked the attack and Karkat had to jump to avoid an incoming wave of red, momentarily busy trying not to have the red miles touch any part of his body.
Dave attacked again, eyes narrowed as he tried to read his opponent's moves as they fought, and saw Jade cover his back with her powers, opening smaller portals and sending the red miles flying away.
Wave after wave of red zoomed in on them, attacking from every side, and as they were tired from their fight with LE already, their movements lacked energy.
Jade shrunk an incoming strand to the size of a sewing thread, then gasped out in pain when it rushed past her, barely grazing her arm and leaving behind a red trail on her skin.
"I can't shrink them or I won't be able to control them!" she cried out, trying to concentrate.
To work her powers she had to take time, but the miles were not allowing her much of that.
Dave flicked one finger back, focusing so that he could send some of his power ticking towards the wall of red hovering around them, but Bec Noir pressed on, disrupting his concentration and making him stumble backwards.
Karkat jumped forwards again, and this time Sollux followed him, brandishing the sickle unsteadily as they both forced Bec Noir away from Dave.
He didn't waste time thanking them and turned around, arms flashing to his sides, calling up his time-tables to aid himself, and spun them, sending a wave of time ticking towards the red waves.
The incoming streams of red faltered and seemed to slow down, and he gritted his teeth, forcing more power out.
Jade smiled at him, and closed her eyes.
Window-sized portals opened up around the red miles, teleporting the as far from them as Jade could make them go.
Dave flung himself back at Bec Noir, blocking an attack meant for Sollux and engaging the carapace to a one-on-one fight again.
"Go, now!" he called out.
Sollux hesitated –he didn't want to leave them there with no backup, not if that meant it would be just them against that creature– but he reasoned that he would just get himself hurt, so he dashed towards the portal, only turning for a moment to launch the sickle back at Karkat.
"Get the fuck into thith thing alive, or I'll be the one theeking your loud thoulth back from hell!" he yelled.
Then he was gone, the portal flashing to signal he'd been taken to the next universe.
Karkat straightened his back, eyes set on the enemy.
"How the fuck do we stop that shit from coming with us," he asked.
Jade ran to his side, panting slightly, and they watched for a moment as Dave held his own against Bec Noir.
"I think…" Jade's eyes narrowed. "We need to take away his ring. Without it, he'll go back to his normal self. Then, we can take the ring with us, since it doesn't work on humans… or trolls," she added hastily. "And I think I can…" she made a complicated motion with her hands, and scrambled for words. "I can bring the portal itself with us," she ended up saying. "So he won't follow us either".
Karkat groaned. "What a fucking pain in the ass, it's just my luck we're the only ones left to fend that fucker off".
"Come on, if we compare him to Lord English, he's nothing but a wimpy dog!" Jade tried to reassure him, smiling, but her smile's edge was tense.
They were tired, and they needed a plan.
"Dave!" she called out.
Dave's shoulder twitched, but otherwise he didn't show any outer sign that he'd heard her, still keeping on slashing at Bec Noir.
"Bring him down!" she called out again.
While Dave could float thanks to his Godtier powers, and Jade herself could do that too, Karkat couldn't, and they needed all the advantages they could manage.
Dave spun in the air and flew around Bec Noir, hands dropping his sword for a moment to call forth his time-tables. He only had a split second and it was rather dangerous, but he needed all the power he could.
A giant gear surrounded Bec Noir, slowing him down, then forcing him into a standstill. Dave felt the strain in the back of his mind, the small waver that came with using too much of his power, but ignored it, and pushed his body forwards, hitting Bec Noir and sending him plummeting down.
The spell broke while the carapace was still falling, and he halted himself, but had no time to go back up because Karkat was on him instantly, and a few seconds later, Dave joined him again.
Jade concentrated her attention to his finger, but the enemy was moving too fast, swinging his arm around, and she had no way to lock on the small ring and use her powers to get it away from him.
Besides, as an object with power internal to the game, she was probably not supposed to be able to use her space powers like that.
Dave and Karkat shared a look, and both attacked at the same time from two sides, forcing Bec Noir to fly closer to Jade, who used her powers to levitate a rock, resize it, and send it flying against his head.
The rock hit the side where his arm was missing, leaving behind a trail of blood pooling down, but that only seemed to make Bec Noir even angrier at them, his pacific instincts towards her –remnant of Bec's influence inside him– vanishing in a strong wave of anger.
He charged towards her, but she opened a portal right in front of his face, sending him straight into Dave's path.
Dave swung his sword, but Bec Noir avoided it, although only by a fraction of an inch, then flew towards Karkat, snarling in anger.
It was clear his plan to kill them was going to take more time than he wanted to waste, and Bec Noir glanced towards the portal, wondering if it wouldn't be more fun to go there first and bring some destruction for them to find when they followed him, instead.
He headed towards the portal, flying past the three pests despite their attempts to block him, and dove towards the green spot, grinning to himself–
Jade hastily opened a window and teleported him away, once again towards Dave and Karkat, but Bec Noir quickly shoved them away, returning his attention to his new goal.
Jade let out a small squeal and once again shoved him away, but her fatigue was getting stronger, and it took her a couple more seconds to make a window big enough, so he got too close to the portal, almost getting inside.
"This isn't going to work," Karkat landed at her side, hand hovering on her shoulder but not touching her. "He's going to get past us if we don't take off that fucking ring".
Dave landed at Karkat's other side, panting slightly, and Karkat glared at him. "Get yourself back together, we don't need your corpse, Strider," he grunted.
He sprinted towards the enemy, effectively keeping him busy for a moment, while Dave tried to get his breath back.
"He's right, Jade, this isn't going to work. Can you teleport me in front of the portal?" Dave looked at Bec Noir, then at the portal, then glanced at Jade.
She swallowed and bit on her lower lip, ears twitching on top of her head. "Yes. Why?"
"If you teleport him, he's going to know and he can evade my attack. But if you teleport me, he won't have enough time to get out of the way, and I can try to land a blow on that doghead".
Jade didn't look convinced, but Dave gripped his sword tightly in his hand and nudged her arm.
"Come on, we have to try, and this isn't going anywhere," he coaxed her, voice slightly warmer. "It's not like you can keep on using your windows forever either".
With a deep sigh, she nodded. "Ok, ok, I can do that," she nodded. "Karkat! Stand back!"
Dave flash-stepped towards the enemy, joining back the fight while Karkat slowed down, moving back towards Jade, who quickly explained what they were about to do.
He nodded tersely, and sprung back into action, joining the other teen once more.
Bec Noir slashed at them over and over, growing angrier the more they kept avoiding his blows; still, they were growing wearier, while he'd been fully rested and itching for a good fight, so he knew he would win in the end.
With one shove, both Karkat and Dave fell away from him long enough that he could fly towards the portal again. The girl –loved master, part of him tried to say, but he stomped viciously on it– lifted her hands, but he didn't see a window appear in front of him, so Bec Noir smirked, flying faster towards the portal.
Jade concentrated; this would be their last chance, because after that, she wasn't sure she'd have enough power to keep opening portals, and the red miles would also come back at some point.
She needed to trust Dave.
She allowed her powers to build up inside her, eyes focused on Bec Noir, and how close he was getting to the portal.
Closer…
Closer still…
Now.
With a small bark slipping past her lips, Jade snapped her arms apart.
Dave felt space shift around him, the weird feeling of being shoved somewhere else, and in the blink of an eye he found himself standing between Bec Noir and the portal.
He could feel the soft pull from behind him, the heat coming from the portal, attracting him, but he ignored it.
The window closed and he had a split second to react to Bec Noir flying full speed towards him.
Gritting his teeth, he arched his arms above his head and slashed.
Bec Noir growled at the sudden appearance of the red kid right in front of him and reacted quickly, slamming his sword forwards.
The delightful feeling of metal digging into skin made him snarl in joy, shoving the hilt of his sword forwards even more, the pained gasp coming from the kid's lips a beautiful sound.
He hadn't expected the sudden, sharp pain of metal cutting through his hand from the side, though, Dave's sword penetrating through two of his fingers, cutting them neatly away from him.
He hissed and retreated his arm in a flash, but even then he could feel something was wrong–
He was growing smaller.
The arm he'd long since lost to the ring's power regrew anew, and he felt his strength diminish instantly, the wings and canine features morphing back into his old body, one he hadn't felt his own since he'd put the ring on.
Bec Noir, returned to being simply Jack Noir, stared in hatred at his finger falling away from him, together with the ring still on it.
He made an attempt to grab it, hand slippery with blood, but the finger disappeared before he could reach it, and it didn't take much to realise who'd made a grab at it before he could.
He stumbled backwards, wary and knowing exactly well where he stood in terms of strength, and the only thing that left him enough satisfaction was to stare at the gasping wretch that was the red kid panting for air in front of the portal.
With the attention of the remaining two focused on the wounded red one, Jack Noir swallowed his fury and his useless resurfaced weakness, turned around and sprinted away.
Dave had known that he was opening himself up to be attacked –there was no other way to get the sword to cut the right way unless he sacrificed some of his defence– but he hadn't expected the pain flaring up his side.
It burnt –it took away his breath and turned his lungs into fire as pain spread quickly from his lower side where the sword had penetrated deep into his body.
He stumbled and let go of his sword, fingers lax as he couldn't apply any strength to them, but not before he saw he'd managed to cut off the finger with the ring attached to it.
Ok, that was fine, then.
Tears pooled into his eyes without his will, pain washing through him as he landed on his feet, and he doubled over and coughed, bile making its way up his throat and out from his lips, tinged red with his blood.
He was choking, and it hurt –and he hadn't expected it to hurt like that.
He tilted his head to the side, glancing at Jade and Karkat, sight swimming and turning blurry, and saw Jade clutch both hands to her chest, her lips moving soundlessly, but he couldn't hear her cries above the sound of his blood rushing through his ears.
Everything hurt, and the world dulled over, the sounds coming from afar.
Karkat was running towards him, arm stretched, and Dave didn't understand why until he realised he was falling backwards, attracted by the portal's magnetic attraction.
No time left, amusing for someone who was Knight of Time. Dave's eyes widened behind his shades.
For a split second he was hit with a strong wave of fear –he couldn't explain why, but he was suddenly frightened. He gasped and winced, forcing his body to move, but it wouldn't respond. He didn't want to go, not now, he had to–
He had to tell Karkat–
He swallowed –and even that small twitch hurt– and locked eyes with the troll, reading the panic and the anger and the pain in his face and being unable to do anything about it, because in the end it was also his fault… for not confronting him, for not telling… things sooner, for getting hurt, and now–
His lips parted to say something, anything, but he couldn't breathe…
Karkat was screaming
Jade was also running towards him
Dave closed his eyes and fell through the portal.
Light flashed behind his closed eyelids, then the feeling of being stretched, the pain in his side flaring up, then darkness.
Dave welcomed it.