AN: Hello to everyone out there! To my old followers, yeah, I got stuck on 80 days so I'm putting that on hiatus now. Also I found a new love in Homestuck as you can see. Be forwarned, this story will contain OC's as part of the main characters, and this will also be splintering off of the canon Homestuck timeline. Yes, I'm creating a doomed timelime, don't worry, this will be addressed later in the story, for now, enjoy and R&R. Oh, and if anyone out there happens to have an AO3 account, could you please send me an invite? FF really doesn't allow me to do this story the justice I think it deserves. (ie: text colors)
Level 19 Glitch
Intro
A moment of peace. Sollux almost smirked when he realized it; it was such a rarity for him, especially nowadays that he essentially lived in a single room accompanied by all of the most irritating (and admittedly only) trolls he knew. If someone (Karkat) wasn't telling him to repair something, code something, or stuff something up one of or otherwise abuse his orifices; someone was usually having a hissy fit of some kind, either with another of the room's inhabitants, or occasionally with these humans that Karkat had decided they should troll.
But no, for once it was quiet, well relatively at least, the voices hadn't stopped bugging him, but after a few sweeps you got kind of used to that. Sollux leaned back in his chair for a second as he considered what to do; he probably couldn't leave the room without Karkat noticing, same with taking a nap, and as much as he loved coding, he had been going nonstop over the last couple days and needed at least a little variation. So what to do?
Well, there was always that security scanner that he had been thinking about using. Sollux glanced at the icon on his monitor, mousing over it. He had finished up the code a while ago, but as he was putting on the final touches Karkat got all dramatic about how it was a waste of time, and how they were all probably doomed no matter what they did, and something about nooks and levels of idiocy and blah, blah, blah. The point was that Sollux never got around to installing the thing.
He did sort of agree with Karkat on one point, if something did happen to them that would require the scanner, than they were probably in a doomed timeline like Aradia said, which would mean they would die no matter what. But he had decided that he would at the very least have some kind of warning beforehand, to… say goodbyes he supposed, or whatever you were supposed to do before dying. He smirked, You'd think I'd know by now.
On a dead world, in a dead city, in a dead building, the young man sat; scrunched up against the cold, ungiving concrete wall. Tears fell from his face, but he didn't care, it wasn't like there was anyone around who'd mock him for it. It'd all be over soon anyway.
Nothing changed for a few seconds, at which point the young man realized something. My ass is vibrating.
He sprung to his feet, his other worries forgotten instantly as he fumbled with his back pockets. He yanked out his cell phone, a cheap model, and flipped it open, praying to whatever cruel god that had put him in this situation to grant him some mercy for once.
It was the powering up screen. The young man's face fell as he realized what had happened. I butt dialed the power button. He slumped against the wall, sliding down in defeat; I'm such a fucking idiot.
He looked at the screen, which showed exactly what he expected, no new messages, or missed calls, nothing aside from the ugly black text that read 'Out of Service Area'. Of course I'm 'out of service area'. He thought bitterly as he blinked back tears, There probably hasn't been anywhere on Earth with service for about a month now.
The battery bar was full however, I must have shut it off right after this all began I guess. As he scrolled through the menus, he realized that he still had pictures, as well as a few messages he hadn't deleted before it all started. One last look
Just as Sollux expected, after making sure to filter out all the signals that he already had identified (that is, their own computers and those of the four humans), there was nothing out there. At this point in time Jack Noir was still preoccupied with the human's universe, so there was no trace of him, just as he expected.
He fiddled with the scanner for a few more minutes, ensuring that there were no bugs or discrepancies in the data. It was at this point that the scanner stated to pick something up that wasn't supposed to be there.
What the?
It was a signal, and it didn't match any that he had ever seen. He'd be more worried if it wasn't so weak, it was just barely above the scanner's threshold.
It was a radio signal, similar to those of the humans, but again, a match for none of them. And he hadn't heard anything about a fifth player. Even if he had, this one was coming from an entirely different location; what should have been just another part of the extensive void they now resided in.
Sollux mulled over what he should do.
Well… it seems capable of receiving signals. Let's troll this nookwhiffer.
The young man flipped through the various photos he had on his phone. They were low quality, but he didn't care, they were the only connection to his past he had left; everything else was… gone. He was the only one left.
Text Message Received
The young man froze in disbelief. How… I... It's…
Text Message Received (2)
He opened the text.
From:
hey anybody there.
CB:
And the next.
piick up ii know your gettiing thii2.
He typed as quickly as he could, in the meantime he had already received another.
dont tell me youre afk.
who is this?
He was breathing heavily, overwhelmed by what was happening.
well arent you 2low as fuck. and ii could a2k the 2ame
Another person, there was actually another person somewhere out there, still alive.
sorry crapy cell where are you? is there anyone else with you?
'crapy cell'? and why 2hould ii an2wer you?
His hands shook in panic; he couldn't drive whoever this was away.
im sorry im so lonly please help me are you in the city?
what ciity? are you a player?
Oh god was he hallucinating? Was this the ramblings coming from his brain as it gave up?
phoenix and what player? is that code?
2hit. lii2ten, tell me what2 goiing on, de2criibe your 2iituatiion
He had to calm down and think, Breathe in, breathe out. The young man brushed away his tears and stared down at the cell phone, trying to answer the question as best he could in 160 characters.
I'm the only one left everyone else is dead Before you answered I thought I was the only guy left on the planet Please help me I cant go on all alone
There was no answer for almost a minute, he started to panic.
2orry but youre 2tiill probably the only guy left.
your a girl?
no, ju2t not on your planet.
What? Was…was this guy trying to lighten the mood or-
iit 2ound2 liike youre the only 2urviiviing player iin a faiiled 2e22ion. iim on an a2teroiid iin the miidle of the voiid
He was stunned silent, there was just... nothing he could do to express his disbelief.
Youre an alien?
a troll.
lii2ten, you 2ound liike you could really need iit so maaayyybe ii can help you. but that2 a biig maybe, iive got re2pon2iibiiliitiie2 around here, ok?
He looked at the screen of his cell, it's light illuminating the dark concrete hall that suddenly felt both very big, and very confining. Take it or leave it, take it, He closed his eyes, or leave it.
...
ok
alriight then, btw the name ii2 sollux, you never 2aiid your2
He stood up off the floor and dusted off his pants
its issac
He made his way back down the stairs, back into the light of the ruined city.
niice to meet you ii22ac