Seconds

Summary: The seconds were counting down and the end was drawing closer but as long as they were together, they really didn't care what happened. DaveKat, Sadstuck.

Their timeline was doomed but… Despite knowing that, he just kept on fighting. Even when his friends were dying around him, even when it was obvious that Lord English had already won. The Batter Witch herself didn't even exist in this timeline yet the Players had already lost the game.

"You look like-" There was violent coughing before the sentence could be finished. "-complete shit."

Dave had been thrown back a couple of feet and onto his back, landing next to the unmoving body of a certain troll with cherry-red blood who was coughing up said blood. His mouth was covered in the bright substance and it ran down his chin and was dripping onto his throat. He was lying on his back and his clothes were torn in various places where the clothing was stained in the sickening red.

"Thanks, Kitten. I can always count on you to make me feel like a princess…heh." Dave's voice was hoarse and it hurt to speak. Hell, it hurt to even MOVE! But he had to, he had to get back up, he really had to-

"Strider."

-because he just needed to, absolutely needed to keep on going because… Well he didn't really have a reason but still-

"Dave."

-or maybe he did have a reason but had convinced himself that he hadn't and wow, now he couldn't even think straight because everything was fucking hurting and everyone was dying and, and, and-

"DAVE!"

He was thrown out of his cluttered thoughts and back into reality. Slowly, he turned his head to the side to look at Karkat. "Yes, Karkitty?"

Karkat didn't have it in him to scream about the nickname. Of all things, he looked concerned even though he was in much worse shape than Dave was. "Just stop."

What?

"Huh?"

"Enough is enough, dipshit. You don't-" There was a fit of violent coughs that made droplets of blood fly. "-just… It's over so don't… Don't force yourself to fight a losing battle. It's OVER, we're fucking done for so just stay down and don't get the fuck back up."

It took a short time for Dave to register what Karkat meant (a total of twenty seconds to be exact), and he didn't like it one bit. To spite the troll, Dave got to his feet and summoned his sword to his hand before running at Lord English (who was dealing with many of the other Players).

Karkat frowned but didn't yell anything after him. Actually, Karkat felt so tired that he didn't even feel angry at all. He wasn't even angry at Lord English. Just so, so very tired. Perhaps he could just… rest his eyes… for a little bit…

A hand tightly grabbing his own made his eyelids flutter open. Who the fuck dared disturb him from his sleep? He estimated that he had indeed been out of it for a couple of minutes.

Tiredly and with much effort, he moved his head to find shades very close to his face. What in the-?

Dave-fucking-Strider was the prick holding his hand for some unexplained reason. The guy looked so beaten-up and much worse than he had been previously when the troll had seen him last. Even the guy's shades were cracked but the idiot was still wearing them.

"H-Hey, Kittykat."

Un-characteristically, his voice sounded shaky, nervous even. Vulnerable.

Karkat tried to move his other arm so that he could punch the douche or something but it hurt to move it so he didn't. So, to compensate, he squeezed Dave's hand but he didn't have enough strength to make his grip painful.

"Sup, Stridouche?"

His throat felt like it was on fire and he had grown accustomed to the bloody taste in his mouth. Hmm, at least he wasn't coughing anymore.

Dave took his shades off and tossed them away. Without them, he looked so vulnerable. His eyes were watery with tears threatening to fall and he looked so very, very sad.

"You were right."

Duh, of course Karkat was right! When was he ever wrong? Never-fucking-ever, that's when!

"But I was holding onto hope, you know? I don't want to die! I don't want my friends, family or you to die! Why is life just so fucking shitty? We never did anything wrong, we never asked for this! This is some fucked up, grade-A bullshit right here!"

Obviously, Dave was finally starting to see the light of the situation, that being that there was no hope at all. It was lost and this entire event was dragging out longer than it needed to be. Karkat was even inwardly begging for Lord English to just come over and finish him already, get it over with.

Dave just kept on talking, never shutting his trap. Damnit, he sure liked to hear himself talk.

"I can't even reverse time and go back because if I did then it would create another timeline and the shit happening here would still have happened and everyone's ghosts would be going into the Dreambubbles which would be a pain in the ass for people in other timelines so-"

Everything was starting to sound fainter and fainter to Karkat plus his vision seemed to be darkening. Right, this was it. His body was finally shutting down like he had wanted but still… He didn't want to leave just yet because the Insufferable Prick was still here.

So, he might as well distract Dave so the guy would stop freaking out and flipping his shit. Besides, this was the last time they were ever going to be together anyway. Might as well make peace.

"Dipshit, s-shut the fuck up for a minute and h-hear me out."

"Yeah, what is it?"

Dave hadn't shed any tears which Karkat was glad for. He had no idea how to comfort the guy when he was at his worst.

"Do you think we could have-"

"Frick-fracked, done-the-do, crossed-swords?"

It was good to hear that he still had a sense of humour at least and Karkat dug deep and found the strength to yell at him for it.

"NO YOU PIECE OF HOOF-BEAST SHIT! I was going to say before I was RUDELY interrupted that do you t-think we could have been in a quadrant in a-another timeline?"

Because they had never really established anything together to do with quadrants, though they had done things in the past that could be placed in all quadrants. They had fought, hung out without beating the crap out of the other, and had done many other quadrant-type things over the three years spent together on the meteor. They had never really done anything red though but Karkat could recall a few times where they had been sappy together and right now, he felt some pity for the douche.

"Quadrants are fucking stupid."

Wow, Dave just had a way with words that made Karkat swoon.

"Maybe, but so is the human disease called friendship."

Dave let out a chuckle at hearing the saying that the troll over-used quite often.

"Nah, your face is stupid. Seriously though, I think that we could have. You may have been an unlikable grump at first but you're actually pretty decent."

"Well-"

"And have a nice ass that would put Bro's plush-rumps to shame."

"FUCK YOU!"

Karkat's cheeks were turning red but he joined in the laughing fit that Dave was having. They both laughed so hard that their sides started to hurt. They laughed even when heavy footsteps were audibly getting closer. They kept laughing when a green figure came into view. Tears were streaming down their faces and their grip on each-other's hand tightened. The seconds were ticking by, getting ever closer to the inevitable.

So, this was the end? Yeah, it was. Well, at least Karkat had stayed conscious for these last few moments with Dave. Never had he ever thought that he would die holding hands with a guy who he had hated a short time ago. Fate was funny like that.

Karkat caught something from Dave though in the final fleeting moments of the short time they had left, something that made Karkat's lips form into a genuine smile.

"See ya in the afterlife, babe."

"It's a d-date."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

It didn't even hurt when their flesh was rotted away and bones were burnt into oblivion.

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The pavement was dampened darkly from a downpour of rain previously but this didn't stop the blonde from cursing the weather when he walked right into a puddle and got his red converses wet.

He had been paying too much attention to his phone to be aware of his surroundings. Some self-proclaimed ninja he was.

With a furrowed brow, he slipped his phone in the pocket of his black jeans and then put his cold hands in the pockets of his red hoodie. He was already in a bad mood from being woken up abruptly by Bro dragging him out of bed for a good old beatdown on the roof at the crack of dawn. Damn puppet-maniac.

Now aware of his surroundings and making sure to take everything in, he proceeded walking down the sidewalk, dodging people as he went. It was Winter so at least it wasn't uncomfortably hot and cool instead.

As he walked past a window, he abruptly stopped. For some reason, his heart had skipped a beat at seeing someone through the window, sitting at a table in a diner. The person who had caused the odd reaction was male and very gothic-looking. He was dressed in all black and had the black hair to match and dark eyes. Besides that, he seemed to be scowling at the menu he was looking at.

There was just something about this guy… Something important. Dave had never seen this guy in his life before though.

'This guy is fabulous anyway, I gotta talk to them. They look like fun to hang with.' Dave was trying to convince himself of a logical reason to want to get near them so with this chosen one, he entered the diner. Mentally, he gave himself twenty seconds to go up to the guy and just engage in conversation with him. He HAD to, he NEEDED to.

All it took was twenty seconds of bravery.

So he made his way over to the table casually, nerves on edge. The stranger didn't even notice him though since he seemed to be focused on glaring at his menu as if it were an enemy of some kind. Perhaps the poor piece of laminated paper would catch fire if Dave didn't intervene soon.

"Hey there,"

With a surprised look on their face, the stranger looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Umm…" He looked extremely confused and Dave couldn't blame him.

"Mind if I sit with you?"

Despite seeming cool on the outside, Dave was inwardly very nervous and self-conscious. He masked it well though with his usual cool-kid façade.

"…Sure, I don't see why the hell not…" The guy sounded a tad distant.

So Dave took a seat across from him and seemed pretty casual about it. He even examined the menu and looked over the foods (most of which were over-priced).

"So what made you want to sit with me anyway?"

Dave smiled in a way that he hoped looked either charming or friendly. Perhaps both. "Felt like it."

"You know, that statement sounded really damn suspicious."

"Your face is damn suspicious."

The guy smiled at the comeback and rolled his eyes. "Wow, what a mature fucking adult you are. I am amazed by your marvellous display of fucking maturity. Watch as I pass out from the sheer power of what you just said!" He sounded like he was talking to a friend rather than a stranger and Dave felt it too. It was as if he had known this guy from somewhere before but he couldn't think of where.

"Have I…" The guy trailed off but with a sigh, he continued on determinedly. "Have I ever met you before?"

So they were both thinking and feeling the same thing.

"Maybe." Dave replied with a shrug because he really didn't know himself.

Unconsciously, he moved a hand up to fiddle with his shades but they weren't… there. Hadn't he put them on today? He swore he had because he always did. It was part of his daily routine every day but maybe he had just forgotten today which was strange. He NEVER forgot.

As Dave was pondering over this, he missed when the other guy's eyes turned white for a couple of seconds but when he refocused again, there was nothing out of the ordinary. He himself had missed the same thing happening to Dave's own eyes.

"So Karkat- what?!" The blonde looked startled. How did he even know this guy's name?

"Yeah, Dave- the fuck?!"

They both looked into each-other's eyes, as if the other held all the answers. When there was nothing said for a time, Dave was the first to speak. "I'm pretty sure we're both on the same fucked-up page here and have no clue as to what's going on, right?"

'Karkat' nodded. "Yep, seems that way."

"Ok…"

"Hmm…"

"Well this is awkward." It definitely was but Dave wasn't going to let this stop him from befriending the guy. "But perhaps this is fate and we're destined…" He didn't finish his sentence and trailed off instead when sudden images invaded his mind. So many memories were overflowing into his head and the same thing was happening to Karkat. They both felt a variety of emotions triggered by these; anger, sadness, confusion, even happiness…

"This is… the date we promised each other." Karkat murmured once they both recovered. "But…"

The world around them grew distorted and warped out of shape. They were now floating and surrounded by a rainbow of colours. Karkat now had nubby horns and fangs plus grey skin while Dave himself stayed the same.

"We're dead but everything felt pretty real." Dave said, looking around.

"Dreambubbles can trick people pretty damn easily if you don't remember anything about them. I guess everyone forgets their lives when they become a ghost only to get it again when triggered." Karkat replied.

The blonde grinned foxily. "So what you're saying is that we've been actually wandering a giant-ass Dreambubble all this time but it took finding each-other to snap out of it? If that's not the most poetic shit out there then I don't know what is. Love works in mysterious ways."

"Oh do shut the fuck up." But the troll's face was tinged red. "I'm not red for you."

Dave raised an eyebrow. "Do you pity me? Did you not pity me in our last moments because I saw your eyes and a trolls' eyes doesn't lie. You totally want me because everyone wants a piece of me."

Karkat snorted and shook his head. "Ha, as if that's true! Not even Gamzee wanted you and trust me, his taste in people sucked bulge!"

"I still can't believe Terezi was down with the clown."

"Yeah, neither."

They both sighed but didn't dwell on the subject of old friends.

"Anyway, maybe I felt a tiny, extremely tiny amount of pity for you. Just the size of the top of a pin." Karkat confessed.

This took Dave completely off-guard and without his shades for cover, the flush on his face was at full-force. "What."

"So laugh if you want to, make fun of me even. I really don't care."

"Calm down Kitkat, I ain't gonna do that shit." Dave looked pretty nervous and he was chewing on his lip, inwardly debating something with much thought. "And umm… If you wanna do the whole 'red thing' with me then I'm totally cool with that." Coming from Dave, this was like a confession in disguise but of course Karkat knew that. They both knew each other extremely well by now since they had spent three years on the meteor together.

Karkat rolled his eyes and then pulled Dave into a hug. "Then let's start right now you fucking dork."

Time passed and they stayed in the red quadrant. Sometimes they would run into others in the Dreambubbles that would be confused by their relationship. They had even run into different timeline versions of themselves a few times which was awkward yet hilarious.

"Hey Dave,"

They were lying on a floating piece of broken meteor, drifting through the different Dreambubbles carelessly. Karkat was now sitting up and his eyes were focused on something.

"Yes Grumpykat?"

Their hands were intertwined.

"Is it normal for Lord English to be in the Dreambubbles?"

Dave sat up quickly and scanned the area with his eyes. Sure enough, he spotted a large green form on the ground below and so did some others who were curiously drawing close to the figure.

"No, I don't think it is."

The seconds were counting down and the end was drawing closer but as long as they were together, they really didn't care what happened, even when they were destroyed for the second time.

A/N:

I struggled with the ending to this part because my inspiration kept escaping me. Everything seemed way too sappy and dumb. Part 2 was inspired by a movie called "We Bought a Zoo" that I caught the end of. So I guess be glad that I didn't leave it at Part 1 because of that movie. Be sure to check out my profile for more Sadstuck/Timeline/DaveKat stories. "Time" is a oneshot I wrote recently that is another timeline fic which is kinda like this one.