All four of the beta kids are my main characters, each with their own story and paths to walk, none more important than another. To keep everyone equal, each of the kids will have their own bit in each chapter and because I'm so OCD about organization, it'll be kept on a pattern of Dave, Rose, John, Jade, with inserted bits from... someone that I will not spoil... where I need... I'll say 'them' to avoid narrowing the list of possibilities you'll try to come up with. You're welcome.

So a long time ago I decided that I wanted to write a Heinoustuck! fic but I had no idea what it would be about that wasn't repetitive and stories like that end up being forgotten in the mess of my head because since I don't have anything for it, it dies. But my cousin *cough*secondbestfriend*cough* Cari was really excited about it and kept asking me if I had any ideas which kept me spinning it around in my head and I eventually decided to make it a survival based story since I've also wanted to do that. Anyway, this is the product and I'm proud and excited about it. Especially the ending. *laughs manically*

The point is, thanks Cari for pestering me about this until I came up with something.

If you ever have any questions about this... world I guess or the logic behind it, just let me know and I'll explain to the best of my ability. Thanks and I hope you enjoy this so I can see you again!

~*Dave Strider*~

I stood in front of the gravestone before me with my hands stuffed deep into the pockets of my red zip up hoodie and a blank expression on my face. I still wore my black pajama pants and I hadn't bothered combing my blonde hair before I left the house this morning. I had literally just woken up, grabbed my phone, slipped into my shoes and jacket, and left to come here. But I did a once over myself and I looked fine as always, not like it mattered. Not today… not right now.

"I had another dream about you… about Alternia." I said to the gravestone as if it would answer me. "I failed everyone again. I let them down and they all left me because of it." I shook my head and bit my lip. "You always said you would be here for me…" I trailed off and didn't pick back up, not wanting to continue on that train of thought. After a long silence, I sighed and rubbed a little at my face. "I'm sorry, Gramps." I whispered as I walked a little closer to put my hand on top of his gravestone, kneeling down to rest my forehead on the cold stone. "It's been rough without you." I mumbled, wishing for the millionth time that this hadn't really happened. I know that he was old but… I guess a part of me just always thought he would never die. I always believed that he was invincible because nothing ever got that dude down. He was a fighter, just as he had taught me to be. I thought he would live forever… yet, here I was… kneeling before his grave. If we were in the Kingdom of Alternia, there would have been a huge ceremony for the lost king and the brave, strong knight would have led the funeral with a determined front. But instead, there was a small and dull funeral and the pathetic knight was blank and gone… lost. He didn't hear a single word that was said or see anything but the memory he now saw every time he closed his eyes. I couldn't see anything but the fresh memory of going to wake up my grandpa… but he wouldn't wake up and he never would again. It was so hard to accept.

I finally stood up, backed off, bowed to my king like the good knight I was, and turned to walk away. I had been here long enough and figured it was time to go home… home… the word seemed so foreign to me now. I suppose 'home' was currently the Lalonde Residence. For as long as I can remember, Rose Lalonde and I have been friends. Apparently our parents were close once upon a time so we were born friends and even after my parents took off, Gramps always said that they couldn't bear to see us separated because we were so close so he became friends with her parents just to give us an excuse to see each other. We were around each other so much we literally thought we were siblings; we thought that she was living with our parents and I was living with our grandpa. Imagine the shock we were in when we found out we weren't actually related. Even so, we've never stopped seeing the other as a sibling and to this day I call her my sister and she refers to me as her brother. She called my gramps Grandfather or Granddad up until his death, I still call her parents my parents, and we both still keep in contact with her dad even though he left a few years ago.

After Gramps died, Mom was kind enough to let me live with them. We had been a part of each other's family and households before all this so it really hasn't changed much, guess the only difference is there's no apartment to go back to and there's someone very important missing. Other than that, everything's the same. Well, I never used to just up and leave before but over the past few weeks this has somewhat become the norm for me. At random times, day or night, I would just leave without warning or informing anyone. But they knew where I was. They didn't have to ask… it was just obvious. At least it should be, I wasn't trying to be secretive about it or anything and Rose claimed to be so observant of everything. Neither Rose nor Mom has questioned me about it so I just figured they knew. They were smart girls; I wouldn't be related to them if they weren't.

I hadn't noticed it but my feet had started to carry me in the wrong direction and I was now only about three blocks from the apartment my grandpa and I had shared up until his death a few weeks ago. I hated even thinking those words 'his death' but Rose said it would help me get over it so I continued to allow those words to haunt my mind. I couldn't just turn around like I hadn't intended on coming this way, that'd be so uncool. So I played it off and headed to a nearby convenient store, man were these things named well. So convenient.

Exiting with my newly purchased box of delicious as fuck apple juice, I now made my way back to the Lalonde Residence. Mom and Rose kept trying to tease me that I was a Lalonde now. Dave Lalonde. How about, no. I liked to call it the Stri-Londe Residence. Now that's smooth.

I sucked down my juice quickly regardless that I somehow wasn't all that interested in it. I tossed it into a garbage bin as I passed it and kept walking with my hands in my pockets and my head held up like I didn't have any problems to weigh me down to the ground. It was pretty nice to be me, having the awesome essence of irony laced into my every word and the pure power of cool dripping off of my very being. Yeah, I've got the sweetest of lives. No one dares to approach me because they're all too busy either swooning over me or wishing they were me. I'm the most desired piece of ass in this universe and the next. What idiotic bullshit. Uh… where was I going with this? Shit, I forgot. Whatever, I was almost back to the house so I better figure out what I'm going to do for the remainder of the day so I'm not bored out of my mind. Today's kind of a TV, videogame, and ignore everybody day. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.

I took a breath as I opened the front door and stepped in to be greeted by the usual smell of faint alcohol and cleaning supplies that was typically found wherever Mom went.

~*Rose Lalonde*~

Flipping the page of my book, I quickly turned my eyes to the clock hung on the wall opposite of me. It's been two and a half hours. I wasn't sure how much longer he would be gone for, just the other day he had left shortly after noon and didn't return until ten at night. I was hoping he wouldn't be gone that long again because I was worried about him. Sure we knew he was only leaving to visit Grandfather's grave and not to do whatever people think typical teenagers do these days but that didn't mean it was any better. Actually he would probably be better off with the drugs and whores than with the pent up emotions he's not dealing with.

Dave Strider had lost who might as well have been his only relative just weeks ago and he was still really torn up about it even if he didn't show or admit it. His parents hadn't wanted him as they only cared about going off and doing those same things people think all teenagers do so they pawned Dave off on his grandfather when he was an infant. He has still never met his parents, they didn't even show up for their own father's funeral, and I believe he's grown to resent them though whenever I try to talk to him about it or anything about the inner workings of his mind, he just changes the subject. Regardless of his silence, he remains to be my favorite subject of study and observation.

Speaking of subjects, here comes another. I lifted my head ever so slightly when I heard my mother descending the stairs. She was a wreck just as she was every other morning with her shoulder length blonde hair a mess, yesterday's makeup still smudged on her face, and what little clothing she wore in disarray. She looked at me before looking around the room and even craning her neck instead of just turning around to peer into the kitchen.

"Did Davey leave?" she asked and I sighed but nodded, returning to my book. I was already sick of talking to her. She may not be drunk, though I give that an hour at most, but she had an obvious hangover and while that was a bit better, she was still annoying.

"Yes. I was going to go with him but he was already gone before I woke up so I figured he wanted some time alone." I explained and barely caught my mother's nod as she rubbed at her face. She was hung-over so no doubt she had a headache that she thought wouldn't go away until she started drinking again. Well she knew it would go away on its own; she just wasn't willing to wait for that. She turned to walk into her bar room and I sighed heavily, rolling my eyes at her before going back to my book once more. I hated her drinking; I really wish she would just stop. I had long since given up on trying to help her quit because she's just not willing to quit. It wasn't always like this, I can still remember when she had begun drinking though it's not a memory I can say I highly enjoy recalling.

I was ten when my grandparents, my mother's parents, passed away. I didn't really know them so I didn't exactly care but my mother was a wreck. She started to drown herself in alcohol and having been so young, I didn't understand what was happening to her so I strived to find out. That was what lit the fire of passion I now hold for psychology. Eventually her drinking had caused my father to leave us… and while I honestly can relate more to my father and enjoy his company better, I chose to stay with my mother because I believe that she needs me more. My father understood and let me stay with her instead of fighting for custody over me. We keep in touch but rarely visit since he lives out of state. I don't mind, I'm very independent so I don't see it as not having a father rather than he's just a long distance friend that I'll see when I can.

My head shot up when the front door was opened to allow a very familiar someone into the house.

"Welcome back Dave, how was your trip?" I asked before he was able to retreat upstairs to his bedroom. He sighed but turned to answer me.

"Fine." I nodded slightly at his lack of an actual explanation as I lowered my book and crossed my legs to show him that I was listening. He shifted his weight from leg to leg and leaned back slightly as he folded his arms over his chest defiantly. "Don't give me that look." he almost pouted.

"What look?" I questioned with a puzzled expression. Of course I knew what look he was talking about, I was aware that I had a certain posture or 'look' when I was trying to get into someone's mind. While I wasn't always aware when and if I was doing it, I was aware that I did do it. But if I were to drop the case, Dave would get away from me just like that so it was helpful to play dumb.

"That look." he waved a hand to gesture at me. "That therapist look when you cross your legs and hold your head in your hand and you look at me like I'm a subject ready for dissection."

"Oh yes, that look. You've mentioned it to me on numerous occasions." I smiled reassuringly at him. "My apologies, Sir Subject." he stared at me blankly before shaking his head and turning away from me only to be faced with Mother.

"There you are, I was looking for you." she cooed as she collected the boy into her arms. I noticed the slight sag to his shoulders at having been caught and I smiled a bit smugly as I reopened my book to pick up on my reading.

"I wasn't gone that long."

"Oh I don't care, I wanted to hug you and you weren't here so it felt like a long time." I rolled my eyes at my mother's words, thinking about how it was most likely just her hangover that was causing her confusion in time. She had only been awake mere minutes.

"Alright, alright, mind letting me go now Mom? I've got shit to do." I peeked up from my book to watch as my mother pouted and released him. Shit to do, huh? Perhaps I could wreck said shit.

"Alright, go on then." with that, my brother went for the stairs and my eyes moved back down to the words on the page of the book in my hands. I would give him a few minutes to get started on whatever it was he had planned before going to pester him. Hopefully this time Mother wouldn't intrude upon our tentacle therapy session of dissection.

~*John Egbert*~

I snickered as a heard a key in the lock of the front door and rushed into the hallway to peek out so I could see the door but the person that walked in wouldn't be able to see me too easily. I covered my mouth with my hands to keep from laughing too loudly as the door was opened, pushing on the bottom of the bucket brilliantly hung above the door which caused the top to tip onto the person walking in. I watched as the green slime I had made earlier this morning poured down onto the teenaged girl with long black, curly hair which was now soaked in green. She jumped and shrieked in surprise, already trying to wipe the slime off of her body.

"John!" she screamed and I really wanted to bust up laughing my ass off but I managed to hold it in though I giggled loudly into my hands. I took a few very deep breaths and made my way over to her, failing at keeping all of my laughter back. "What the hell?" the look on her face was priceless! It was a huge combination of anger, surprise, fear, 'what the hell is this stuff', and 'never mind I really don't want to know'. It was simply too much! I exploded into a fit of laughter that hurt my stomach and left me breathless! I hunched over and held my arms over my stomach as I tried to answer her but I was laughing way too hard to even breathe! "You're cleaning this up." the tone she had used was lighter than before and I guessed that she looked at herself in the mirror that hung on the wall to assess the damage and understood why I found it so fucking hilarious.

"Green's… a great… color- for you… Jade!" I managed to get out and she chuckled with a roll of her vibrant green eyes shielded by large rounded glasses.

"Seriously, you're cleaning this up." she repeated, continuing to wipe the goo off of herself. I nodded and folded onto myself, quickly falling forward when I leaned forward too far but I took the floor like a man, my laughter never ceasing.

… … …

"Geez you have a lot of hair." I groaned as I ran my hands through the thick black mess in front of me. Jade was leaned over the bathtub where we had the water running so we could wash the green slime out of her hair. I was just going to leave her to it so I could go clean up the floor and the bucket but she forced me to help her with her hair and now I understood why; it was a pain in the ass to maintain. I don't know how she did it on a daily basis.

"Well it's your fault that we're in this situation, John." she shot back and I smiled in satisfaction.

"Yeah but it was so worth it." I chuckled and she shook her head at me.

"Just get it all out." she mumbled, her own hands moving to help spread the shampoo through her dark locks. I sighed and continued to wash away the sticky green goo.

"I've never washed someone else's hair before let alone someone with so much of the stuff as you so give me a break." I tried to pull my fingers out of the dark swarms of hair that seemed to eat up my hands only to have knots hold them back and make it difficult.

"Gee thanks. When people used to wash my hair they would usually just say that it was pretty and move on."

"Those were girls, I'm a guy." I reminded her and she laughed. "And as a guy, and your brother, it's my job to tell you what a mess your hair is and complain about doing this every few seconds." she laughed harder and I joined her. "But you do have very pretty hair." I added and she thanked me. I slowed down and took more time, using a bit of strategy to untangle my fingers from Jade's hair before combing my digits through the soaked silk to smooth out each strand of the large mass of black. So pretty. I thought about how nice it would actually be to do this every now and then but she was actually usually very strict about people touching her hair. I didn't really blame her either.

When Jade was six, she was in a car accident… her entire family was killed, she was the sole survivor. Her grandpa once told me a little about it when I was staying the night with them until Jade caught us talking about it and started screaming about how it wasn't any of my business to know and about how it was wrong of her grandpa to tell me so I don't know any details, in fact everything I know is extremely vague. But apparently they were all out for a drive when her parents got into some sort of fight and crashed. She had a sister a few years older than her who was said to be like a mother to her and would always do her hair which is why she doesn't let anyone touch it now. I don't know why but the last thing her grandpa said about it was that she blames herself for the crash. That's about all I know. Told ya, vague.

It drove me nuts not knowing but Jade doesn't talk about it, ever- I don't even think she thinks about it; she just hates the very subject so much. If anyone tries to bring it up, she gets really pissy and shuts everything out. Even after eleven years, she won't open up to anyone about it. Not even me, not even her grandpa. Sometimes I would hear her mumbling about how she didn't know and from the way she said it and the depressed look on her face that could kill puppies, it was obvious that she was talking about her lost family and I understood that more than she would like to hear about.

I too had trouble with not knowing things about my family. I asked my dad about her at least a thousand times, no exaggeration there, but he always came up with a new story and it didn't help that he always had to make them so unrealistic it was unbearable. When I was younger, I became afraid of paranormal things such as ghosts, sprites, trolls, and magic because Dad would say things like she was abducted by them or she was on a secret mission to save their species or something like that. But then I took a heavy fascination in them and learned as much as I could so that I could one day save her. Until I grew old enough to realize what a huge load of shit all that was. Nevertheless, I still have an interest in the paranormal because that stuff is awesome.

I have foggy memories of visiting a hospital when I was very little and though I've asked my dad about that too, he just laughs it off and tells another one of his ridiculous stories. I then tried my hand at hacking, hoping I could find some trace of her but I'm shit at hacking and it's a frustrating learning process that I don't have the patience for so I quickly gave up. Since my dad tells more of his stories about her when I ask about the hospital, I've deduced that the two are related in some way. My best theory is that she was sick and died in the hospital where Dad used to take me to visit but he doesn't have the heart to tell me.

All I know is that I don't have a mother.

"Are you done yet? This is a really uncomfortable position." Jade whined and I sighed, having just begun to have fun doing this. I leaned a bit closer to investigate for any traces of green left in the black.

"Yeah, it looks like it's all out." I nodded as I pulled away from my sister to grab a towel for her to dry her hair with.

"Sweet, thank you." she chimed as she sat up more to squeeze all the access water from her hair and then turning a bit to take the blue towel from me before rubbing it over her head.

"Anytime." I said, hoping that she would take me up on that offer sometime. "I'm gonna go clean the floor and such now." I called to her as I stood up to leave. She just said that she would meet me out there soon so I left to do my cleaning.

~*Jade Harley*~

I stared into the bathroom mirror as I wrapped my impossible hair tightly up in the towel John had lent me. Once I finally had it all up, I put my glasses back on and adjusted them to where they felt comfortable. Ever since I moved in with my grandpa eleven years ago, I've been wearing these silly big glasses and I still fidgeted with them as if they were uncomfortable though they weren't. Maybe it was just because they were the same style as my sister's that I felt a touch odd in them. My hands clenched into fists and I sighed heavily in frustration. Why was I even thinking about this stuff? Before I could start thinking of anymore depressing or angering things, which my mind seemed to rather enjoy doing whenever it had the chance, I turned and exited the bathroom to step into the living room, watching as John continued cleaning his homemade slime off of the ground which seemed to be coming out of the white carpet very well. For his sake, I was glad. Wouldn't want his dad getting mad at him for a prank he worked so hard on. I think it was punishment enough just having to clean it all up. Still, I was so going to get him back for pranking me.

I thought about calling out to my claimed brother but I decided not to. Instead I watched him intently as I thought of many pranks in which I could play on him, trying to find the best to pull. There were so many- I couldn't decide! Maybe I could get Dave and Rose in on it too and we could all think of something. Yeah! That sounded like fun!

Speak of the devils; someone's trying to get my attention. I retrieved my vibrating phone from my skirt pocket to see that Dave was pestering me which came as a rather big surprised. After his grandfather passed away, he asked us to give him some space and said he would contact us when he was ready. Since then, we haven't heard from him though Rose has been keeping us informed of his mental state so that we wouldn't worry too much about him. I guess this meant that he was ready.

- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] -

TG: save me harley
TG: my sister is crazy
GG: whats she doing now?
TG: shes trying to get into my head again
TG: please jade save me
GG: shes probably just worried about you, we all are!
TG: yeah okay whatever just dont make me stay here with her alone
TG: lets all hang out or something
GG: a family get together? how can i say no?
GG: im over at johns right now so let me run it by him first!
TG: hurry it up

"Hey John!" I called to get his attention. He turned to see me and giggled a bit at how silly I looked with this towel wrapped around my head but I ignored that and continued. "Dave wants to hang out."

"Really?" he asked, surprised. "Guess he's finally coming out of his room then, huh?" I sighed and I pressed my lips into a line. Dave had been locked up in his room though Rose reports that he often leaves the house to visit his grandpa's grave and can be gone for hours so it's not like he was actually in his room the whole time. He had just needed some space to try and actually accept what has happened and when he's able to do that, we'll be here to help him cope. Just as they were there for me when I needed them, we'll be there for him.

"He said Rose is trying to get into his head again so he doesn't want to be alone with her." I corrected, not wanting to discuss Dave's absence.

"Ah, that makes sense." he nodded as he started to put away all the cleaning supplies he had gotten out. "Still feel bad for the dude, having to spend all that time in the hospital with his grandpa. I hate hospitals." he shivered and I rolled my eyes. I knew what it was like to stay in a hospital for a long amount of time but I wasn't just visiting, I was the one in the hospital and I can honestly say that it's far worse that way than visiting.

"I'm pretty sure that's still a sore subject for him so be nice and don't bring it up." I told him and he nodded, waving me off.

"Sure, sure." I followed him into the kitchen where he began washing the faint green color from his hands.

"So what am I telling Dave?"

"I'm more than okay with seeing him, it's been a while. Is Rose coming?" he called back over the noise of the running water.

"I don't know, I'll ask."

GG: he says that he's okay with hanging out! is rose coming too?
TG: yeah she said that she wanted to come
GG: where are we meeting up?
TG: my park
GG: you really seem like that place dave!
TG: of course i do its my park after all
TG: but seriously its a pretty chill park and no one else goes to the east part of town anymore so its the perfect place to hang out without interruption
GG: i never said it wasnt cool! :B
GG: anyway, well see you there in a bit! :)
TG: see ya harley

- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG] -

I looked back to John when the shut the water off and started drying his hands on the bottom of his shirt.

"Yes, Rose will be coming with us!" I exclaimed happily and he nodded with a wide smile.

"So where are we going?"

"Dave's park." I answered as I carefully removed the towel from my head, running it over my hair once more as we made our way back into the living room to put our shoes on.

"That place is pretty cool; I just wish it wasn't so far away." John complained and while I did agree with him, I said nothing on the subject. Instead, I rushed back up the stairs to leave the towel on the bathroom counter and quickly brush my hair before making my way back down to John who held the front door open for me to walk out of with him following.