A/N: Welcome to the prologue of this little story! I say 'little', but at the time these first two chapters go up, I will have already written about 80k+ words for this. Subsequent chapters will go up over the next few weeks, but if you don't want to wait, check out my Ao3 account to see all of what I've written already up!

I hope you enjoy!


= = = } DAVE: Examine the Door.

And yes, that Door had to be capitalized, because as it just so happened, this shit was about as important as the cinematic climax of an Indiana Jones flick, complete with soundtrack and flying boulders galore. It's a wonder that nothing has come through the Door and declared that all this was some fucked up trap that you would have to go through.

Your name is DAVE STRIDER, and you are staring at the door that's supposed to take you to a new universe, which you just happen to be one of the Gods of.

If you were to say that you aren't at least a little bit nervous, that wouldn't really be the truth. Sure, you might try to tell yourself that it is, and that you're just fine, thank you very much, but Rose wouldn't allow that. You'd probably only needed to think it and then bam, Rose would suddenly be there faster than a starving bloodhound with a nose for inner turmoil, telling you flatly not to do that, that bottling up your emotions isn't something that was healthy and is something that you need to work on fixing. To appease your sister, you'd just told her that you'd work on it, jesus, no need to get on your damn case. Then that would be the end of that shit.

You look around yourself, at the people that are there. Miraculously, you and all the other humans survived. Even your brother-and-sort-of-father is there, in those stupid poofy princely pantaloons of his, looking towards the Door that would lead everyone to the universe frog that Jade had made. To the right, of course, are the trolls.

At least, the trolls that ended up surviving that maelstrom of bullshit that happened on the meteor.

Karkat is standing there yelling at John, as high strung as he normally is, with Terezi and Vriska snickering over his shoulders, twin Cheshire Cats who look like they just caught an entire flock of birds instead of just one measly canary. Kanaya's there, holding your ecto-sister's hand as casually as could be while also looking so fluffy and mushy with her that it makes you gag internally. You can literally feel all of your teeth rotting out of your mouth. No vitamin C can save your gums from this onslaught of romantic bullshit.

Then you have Jade talking to Calliope and Roxy, really chatting it up like a couple of really excited canaries that somehow got away from the Sapphic Sisters' sharp toothed jaws, and then there's Jake hanging around the fridge that still held the clownfucker with your brother and the Mayor, who seemed adamant on showing them how to make a suitable Town Hall that any can could enjoy. Good on him, the little dude, good on him.

Really though, that left the question of why the hell isn't anyone doing anything?

Okay sure, you've all just gotten through the final battle, and yeah you're pretty tired and you sort of want to sleep for the next millennia, but ultimately the Door is there. You all could just go, right now, and get through it, get into your new universe and chill out as the Gods of everything. No extra waiting needed, not for you all. And frankly, you've all waited for long enough. Paradox space is honestly worse than the DMV, and since that in and of itself was an accomplishment. You sort of don't want to break up the touching reunions and all, especially since until just a few moments ago you were having them yourself, but you are honestly itching so badly to get through this shit that it isn't even funny.

Besides, it's not as if you're too happy to be here, where all that fighting and shit that you hate used to be. You want to honestly forget all of that shit. Even for a little while.

= = = } DAVE: Notice the Door opening behind you.

What?

The thing that you hear next is a small creak coming from the Door that you just so happen to be standing in front of, back to it so that you can watch all of your friends. Terezi is the first one to notice something, probably sniffing it out with that keen snout of hers, and before long Rose's head snaps towards your direction too, eyes slowly widening as she let go of Kanaya's hand, using it to latch onto one needlewand as the other raises to point.

You think that she says something, maybe something along the lines of, "Behind you!" but you don't get the chance to see it clearly. As your head turns, you catch a glimpse of a black mass there, one with a white face. You have no time to react. And even if you did, what the hell would you do? This is something from the universe that you all created- this is one of your creations, technically, and it's apparently strong enough to open up this literal Door to the Void.

You have no time to react as a skeletal hand clamps over your mouth and drags you back, through the Door.

= = = } ALICE: Fall into Wonderland

Your name is still Dave Strider, and while you may not be falling into any Wonderland, you sure as hell are still fucking falling.

You didn't even know the Door would lead to this. You just thought that this would maybe lead you into the world, on solid ground, not drop you from what feels like a few stories up high into some dark abyss below. You can't make anything out in the darkness- you just keep falling, and the worst part of it all is, no matter how much you fucking try, you can't even bring up the energy within yourself to float, or maybe to fly up to the point where you were dropped from.

There's something falling down with you, and you realize belatedly that it has the weirdest fucking face, white and cracked, like a shattered mask with a grin, or maybe like a fractured skull. It's literally the weirdest fucking thing, and coupled with the feeling of falling endlessly into nothing it's like you can't even breathe. Those old commercials with the people on them, advertising heart attack meds and showing visuals of having an elephant sitting on their chests did fuck all in this situation. It's like an entire zoo has taken up residence on your body, pressing down with the force of a hundred stinking animals and children screaming and throwing tantrums. When the feeling of things pressing inwards, as if you are being compressed in on yourself, starts you know for a damn fact that this shit not only takes the cake, but is probably selling it illegally on the black market with a side of your kidneys.

Then, your back is hitting against something, and everything goes black.

= = = } KARKAT: Try to remain calm about the situation.

How the FUCK are you supposed to remain calm like this?!

Your name is KARKAT VANTAS, and the worst possible thing just happened. You honestly shouldn't be really surprised at this point- the entirety of existence is dedicated to shoving seven rusty machetes down your protein shoot, so why the fuck would you be? This shit just isn't something that should be able to fly.

Right now, all of you are on an empty platform, with no Door to be seen. Dave was just spirited away to fuck knows where by some liquid skeleton creature before the Door to your new universe, the one you and your friends have been fucking working towards for sweeps, is gone.

And the kicker?

There's a fucking human child in a stupid striped sweater where the Door was.