Terezi was right.
Beep.
Dave Strider is watching the last seconds of his life tick away, and all he can think is that the goddamned troll was right. He's not ready for this.
Beep.
There's always been another way. Bro's been here to save him, another Dave from another time has taken the fall, Jade has been there to wake him up again. But there are no more time loops. No backup lives. No guardians. Nothing but a few more seconds on the clock, and Dave doesn't want to die.
Beep.
"Rose?" he says.
Beep.
"Yeah?" She looks over at him. Her eyes are glittering, which he ignores, because he feels about ready to cry too. Striders don't cry. They're not supposed die either, though, so maybe everything's so fucked up it's irreparable.
Nothing's irreparable. That's the point of this suicide mission, isn't it?
Beep.
"Do you think this'll help?" he asks.
Beep.
Rose swallows and nods, a quick jerk up and down. The electronic numbers on the bomb cast their light over her face, making her features glow. "I know it will. It has to."
Beep.
He looks at the huge bomb in front of them. Less than a minute left. Less than a minute to live. It wouldn't be cool at all to have his last words be something stupid, but he can't shut up, and who's going to know anyway? Their whole universe is about to stop existing.
Still, the next thing he says is so damn childlike that he wants to die right then and there.
"You don't think it'll hurt?"
Beep.
Rose shakes her head. "Less than before, I think. We'll just be... gone. In a flash."
"And we won't come back."
Beep.
"No. Not this time."
Dave nods, clearing his throat a little. His grip tightens around the handle of his piece-of-shit-half-sword, but there's nothing to fight. Not here. No way out.
Beep.
"I'm a shitty brother," he says. "I should have stopped you. I should have saved you. Bro did for me. Both of us didn't need to die."
Beep.
"It's ok," Rose says, choking on the words a little, and he sees that she's really crying now, which makes him feel like even more of a jackass. "It's ok," she repeats softly, and as the last few numbers count down, he feels like it is. Because there are a hell of a lot of worse things to die for.
Beep.
It's crazy how much she looks like him. They're siblings - twins, maybe? It's Egbert that gets all this ectobiology shit. Dave's still not sure how the hell he's related to anyone, even his own brother. Rose's eyes are different, though. Her eyes...
Beep.
Dave reaches up to touch his shades. He's worn them pretty much his whole life. Hell, he even wears them sleeping. They're part of what makes him cool, makes him separate, keeps him screened off from the rest of the world. A plastic and glass barrier to keep all the bad things out.
Not anymore. No point now. If he's going to die, he doesn't want to die as cool kid Dave. He ought to be him. Just Dave. Soon-to-be-charcoal-Dave, really.
Beep.
A pair of shades tumbles into the void. Purple eyes look into red.
"I wish I'd gotten to meet you sooner, Rose Lalonde," he says.
Beep.
"Me too. It was nice knowing you, Dave Strider."
Beep.
Dave thinks he feels the beginnings of a smile forming on his face, and he's half tempted to feel for it to make sure it's real.
Beep.
"For the record," Rose says, "I think you would have been a kick-ass brother to have around."
Dave Strider, Knight of Time, sees the timer on his life hit zero, and for the first time ever he's smiling. He doesn't even need to check.
"You would've been-"
And then everything goes boom.