Jade fumbled with the blue edge of her sleeve nervously.
She was in trouble. Hella trouble. All distortions of hell kind of trouble. She knew she shouldn't have tried to enter the island's ruins; she'd been taught that since she was coherent enough to recall names.
But Harleys were a stubborn bunch, it was relatively hereditary. Getting into trouble was a familiar issue, it was almost not her fault that enthusiasm for adventure seemed to run through the veins of the Harleys. Jake would understand, but he was pretty useless in her defence. That's pretty much how things went on the island. Do something wrong, and the grandparents would know sooner or later. No one could save you then.
That didn't stop her from going along with Karkat's latest 'plan'. Note the inverted commas; Karkat couldn't make a plan worth shit. Cambions were supposed to be intelligent, but turns out that particular apple fell pretty far from the tree.
Jade would never mention such things to his face.
She stood in front of her towering home, covered in dirt with her rifle strapped to her back. She was so screwed. She could lie and say she just had a good tumble with Karkat or one of the many wandering lusi. But that never happened. So that concept was metaphorically out the window, along with her freedom for the next month. Sigh. She had a feeling it was going to be a looooong month.
Becquerel only allowed her two cousins to enter the ruins, them being nephilim and stuff. It was their birthright to maintain the seal. The seal between the two dimensions, crafted by her uncle's late wife many thousands of years ago, an angel from the beginning of time itself, if you wanted to be dramatic. It was basically just a teleportation pad that allowed people to come and go.
The only problem was dangerous things could come through. Demons, ghouls and whatever other creatures Jade's grandparents had warned her and Jake of. She believed this, despite her somewhat sceptic attitude towards it. She'd come across the supernatural, obviously; her cousins were nephilim and her best friend was a cambion. It's just that that seal was her only connection to the outside world, away from the island hidden away from the chaos of the world.
And by fuck it was a hellish world.
Polar to the relative calm of the island, the rest of the world was in disarray. The war pretty much caused that. Humanity was crippled by the arrival of the Condesce and her armies. The she-devil and her loyal Lords took it upon themselves one day to enslave everyone. It came too suddenly for anyone to understand the timing or the reasoning. Humanity never seen it coming. No one was safe. Pardon. No one is safe.
The Harleys were fortunate to have lived in solitude, mostly undisturbed by the rest of the world. As the respective guardians of the seal for more generations than there were people spared the culling fork, it was their duty to watch over the ruins, and basically make sure no one screwed around with it. You see, there was no where else on earth that was safe, no where but the island. The seal did exactly as it's title suggested, sealed the island away, safe from the rest of the world. Only way onto the island was through there, and off. And it lead to anywhere you wished to go. It was apparently a lot more casually used before the war.
Her uncle David and cousins John and Jane - soon after the impending apocalypse - came to live on the island as well, taking up residence in the towers. It was great to have more company at first. She had been six when this occurred, Jake had been nine. The company of those closer to their age had felt a relief if anything. But then a couple of years passed, and John started to invite people onto the island, opening the seal, and closing it again. Karkat was the first, and then some other cambions followed in the years after. The latest arrival came a year ago, some creepy guy called Gamzee.
John was far too generous that way, by her grandfather's perspective.
The Harleys weren't used to company, especially those of half demonic origin. But they could barely protest against someone of John's standing.
It struck her as odd that John never invited anyone human. She thought maybe there were none left to save, which was a thought she avoided dwelling on. Her and Jake's parents were still out there somewhere.
Ten years had passed since the apocalypse began. Ten. It felt weird to actually mention a number. It felt too normal, too calm on the island. The only hint of the bloodshed or horror came from the cambions, who were naturally a little bit sociopathic, borderline psychopathic. Karkat didn't like to talk about what happened before he came to the island, but it was easy to tell it had scarred him. It was off putting at first, but Jade came to realise there was a default setting of pissy to his personality, there was no real spite there.
Over all those years, she'd been encouraged by her imagination to indulge in her curiosity for the seal. What was really out there? Everyone had told her simply, 'it's not like this place', and that only made her more interested. Perhaps if she seen it herself, she'd feel better?
The first guardian did not humour her innocence, to say the least.
So Jade ended up standing in front of the home, scuffed and beaten, and hesitant to enter. Karkat had headed home, defeated yet another day. He never let her come over to hide at his hive, territorial cambion 'bull'.
Someone would be inside waiting to catch her, she just knew it! As if they always knew when she was up to no good.
A finger tapped the back of her shoulder, and she jumped, barely making a scream before she turned pale.
A strange noise came after, and she recognised the struggled sound as laughter.
"John! That's not funny!" She yelled as she turned, before covering her mouth to hush her frustrations for her cousin's antics.
He shook his head and continued to laugh. He moved his hands to sign the words, 'couldn't help it.'
She huffed, and pressed her hands against her waist as she stared him down.
He offered a grin as an apology, and moved his hands again to speak. 'Bec beat you up again, didn't he?'
She removed her eyes from him, and a sigh slipped from her mouth, 'maybe', she motioned, 'just a little, please don't tell...'
After a moment with his brow arched, and he shook his head, 'secret's safe, again.'
"Thanks John," she sighed in relief, and pulled at the strap of her rifle nervously. "I can't handle another lecture, it's... Ugh... You know? Well, you wouldn't really. You just walk around wherever you want and no one says a thing... Oh! Not that I meant that in a bad way! I'm just so envious..." She pouted, staring at her shoes.
John didn't say anything of course, he was mute. It was awkward at first, when they first came to the island, but Jane helped with the translation and eventually helped her learn sign language. It'd became easier to communicate, but it was still a little weird. Pesterchum was a miracle.
She glanced up, and saw him fold his arms and shake his head.
'Sorry!' She motioned, and offered him a smile.
He released his arms and waved his hand with a smile, indicating that it was all good. Jade was grateful her cousin didn't hold grudges, he was nice that way.
"So any tips for entering the house of Harley unnoticed?" She asked.
He shook his head, and motioned again, 'Grandpa is waiting inside...'
Her eyes widened, "then what was the point in saying you'd keep it a secret, John?!"
He frowned, and shrugged, 'I'll do what I can to cover for you, but he's pretty strict when it comes to the ruins. He just knows things. Besides, you do this practically every week, like clockwork. It's never gonna work, Bec won't let anything through.'
"No one except you and Jane."
He shook his head at that, and looked away. 'I can't let you go though there, you don't want to see it. I probably seems like I'm being unreasonable, but I'd rather you not rush into danger... It's literally hell out there.'
"That's not for you to decide, John! I'm old enough to know it's not safe, but I'm not some defenceless little girl!"
'You wouldn't understand it, Jade. Please just hear me out on this. It's a nightmare out there. You're not just my cousin, you're my friend. I'd hate anything bad to happen to you.'
She huffed, and entered the towers. She didn't intend to be mean to John, well, that time she did, but she didn't want to hurt his feelings or cause him to worry. He kept the island safe from the war, closed the seal when he was still learning the alphabet. He was amazing, she admired him greatly. But he didn't understand what it was like to feel trapped his entire life. It was exhausting just sitting around in the safety of the island.
She stormed through the living room, ignoring her grandfather sitting by the fire polishing a shotgun.
"I know I'm grounded, I'll be up in my room," was all she said before she made the ascent to her room. Jake was there when she walked up the final spiral of stairs, raiding through the cubboards hastily.
She ignored her brother as well, and fell face first onto her bed, groaning into the covers.
"Sorry sis, I'm undergoing quite the predicament here," he hummed, rustling through the bottom of tbe wardrobe. "I'll be with you in just a moment."
She rolled over and looked to see what he was doing. "What have you lost now?"
"Are you insinuating I lose things often, because I assure you little sister, I most certainly do not!"
"Whoa, Jake, alright. What can't you find?" She sat up, and curled ber fingers over the edge of her bed.
He ran a hand through his messy brown hair, "my blasted laptop. The damn thing was here this morning, but now there's no sign of it."
"O-oh..."
"... I believe I recognise that response, Jade... What have you done?"
"N-nothing!" She looked away.
"Dear, precious, sweet baby sister... Am I correct in assuming you've played a part in the sabotage and or theft of my laptop?"
Jade watched Jake walk closer with every word that came from his mouth. She didn't mean to lose the laptop, she just borrowed it on her little journey, and it kind of broke in her spar with Bec. "Oops..." She giggled nervously.
"I do not want to get into another round of fisticuffs with you, Jade! But if you have damaged or lost my laptop I might acually kill you!" He was a bit furious, she noted.
She shrank back as he moved closer, unsure of whether or not he would initiate another round of fisticuffs. No matter the outcome, she still had her rifle. "... Okay... Well, try not to kill me... But I kind of sort of maybe lost your laptop indefinately... I'm so sorry, Jake. You know I hate leaving home with an extra computer on hand... If it makes up for anything, we can get you a new one! It might take a while, but you can use mine until then!"
His face scrunched into an unpleasant frown, but he wasn't looking at her. "So my laptop has entered oblivion from which she can't return, or... Is she simply lost?"
"Uhh... She- it fell into the ocean..."
"... Well... I... I suppose she at least had a poetic death, one which is worthy or such a loyal and reliable piece of unfeeling machinery. Bugger."
His exhale echoed in the room.
"I'm sorry, Jake. I got into trouble with Bec again, and the laptop slipped from my bag, and I had no idea it could break into that many pieces on the way down to the water!... Here, take my computer!"
She pulled her computer from the 'techno-pile' at the bottom of her bed, and forced it into his arms.
"Egad! This is mighty fine of you, Jade. Although, I admit I'm still a tad sore about this whole kerfuffle."
"It's only until I find you a new one..." She spoke sadly.
He rolled his eyes behind his glasses and smiled. "Well, consider your apology accepted, I know how much you love this computer."
She relaxed back against her bed. "What was on your laptop that you didn't want anyone to know about?"
"Wh-what?"
She pushed up her glasses and pressed again. "You're super protective of it..."
He walked away with her computer, "it's my laptop, why of course I'd be protective!"
"Yeah, I suppose..." She closed her eyes, giving up. She knew what he'd been up to anyway, she'd used the laptop. Her brother had been on pesterchum chatting with someone she didn't recognise. Someone called timaeusTestified.
She didn't outright confront him about the new chumhandle. If he was going to talk about this penpal, then he would to his own sister surely? She glanced across the room to see him sitting on the bed, typing away. She removed her rifle so she could finally get some sleep after a stressful day.