I'm alive! I am so sorry that I haven't updated in forever (even though I'm not even sure anyone's reading this), but I'm back! I'm finally reunited with my laptop. And here with a new chapter. Let's begin!

Roxy sat down beside me. "What'd you find?"

"The answers to our problems," I replied. "But you're not going to like it."

I carried the book with me as we walked to the nearest table. "Tell me about it," she whispered.

I leaned closer. "Alyssa and Gabby, it's their presence that is causing the war. My mind can affect Underland. The differences between my mind, Gabby's mind, and Alyssa's mind are disrupting the normal ways of Underland."

"So how do we save Underland from the war?"

I gulped. "Alyssa and Gabby have to die."

Roxy stared at me silently, a blank expression on her face. Then she said, "That's some pretty heavy shit, Rose."

"Heavy shit indeed."

"Well, we need to tell PM. She'll know what to do," Roxy said, standing up.

"Roxy, we don't need to figure out what to do. We need to figure out how we're going to do it."

Roxy deflated at this. She sat back down and said, "I don't want to think about kids killing themselves to save our world. That's sick."

I sighed. "I know."

We sat in silence, mulling over the horror of the inevitable. We were interrupted by John. "Hi Rose! Jake told me you and Roxy snuck in."

"Windy J-sock, now is not the time for flirting with my younger sister," Roxy said. John blushed bright red and stammered something about that not being his real intention.

"Dearest John, of course it wasn't," I said. John's blush grew.

"S-so, what are you doing?" he asked awkwardly.

I frowned. "I know what we have to do to save Underland. How quickly can we gather everyone, including PM?"

John was about to answer, but was interrupted by screams. On que, he equipped his hammer, Roxy her gun, and I my wands. We ran out of the library. Prospitians were running own the streets in terror, and we could now see why. Jack Noir, in all of his terrible glory, was destroying the city, transporting back and forth in green wisps, killing off carapaces left and right.

"He looks threatening," I muttered. Almost as if he heard us, Jack teleported in front of us. He snarled in a very dog-like fashion. A dog that hadn't been fed in a day, that is.

John tried to strike first, but Jack teleported behind him. Before he could stab John, I shot a blast of magic at him. He turned green, and the magic was absorbed. Another Jack appeared behind Roxy, and she jumped out of the way before it could hit her.

John ran up, hammer over his head. He jumped into the air, ready to strike. Jack teleported behind John. With a swift stab of the sword, John fell to the ground, blood pouring from his back. I screamed and dropped my wands, running to him.

John gave me a weak smile. "Hi Rose."

"Don't you dare die on me John. Think of Casey. Think of me," I said.

John's eyes widened. "Look out!" I turned my head and saw Jack who was now raising his sword over his head, dreadfully and painfully slow. Roxy shot at him, and he turned green again. The blast was fired back at her.

"Bad dog! Worst enemy!" someone yelled. It was Jade, rifle in her hands. She fired and Jack caught the bullet. "Leave! Now!" she yelled. Jack whined in a pitiful fashion. "Now!" Hesitantly, Jack flew away.

"Jade! J-sock got stabbed!" Roxy exclaimed. "We got to get him to a hospital!

"Allow me," someone said. Jade and Roxy turned, and found Alyssa. She was cold and calm, almost inhuman as she held John's wrist in hand.

"Who?" John asked.

"Alyssa. Now shut up or I'll put you out of your misery," she threatened. I couldn't tell what was worse. Her utter lack of emotion, or the serious tone she had that made me believe her.

Alyssa disappeared in a green shell, and John was missing. I didn't feel tears prickle in my eyes as I had suspected. I just felt empty.

"Sis, it'll be alright," Roxy said, kneeling beside me.

"Jade, where's Casey?" I asked.

Her face contorted into a horrified expression. "With Kanaya and Karkat," she answered.

"Can you teleport me there?" I asked. Jade nodded. She focused and clasped her hands together, and green wisps encircle us. When they disappeared, we were in a house filled with clothes.

Casey noticed us first and came running up to us. "Guess what! I know what fuck means!" she exclaimed. Then she went around saying the word, doing a little dance.

Karkat followed after her. 'If John asks, Kanaya taught her that."

Then Kanaya came and grabbed the young salamander. "Casey, I believe I already told you. You are too young to be cussing." She then noticed our somber expressions. "Rose, Jade. Whatever is the matter?"

"John," Jade said. "He got stabbed."

Casey and Karkat looked up. "Oh shit," Karkat muttered.

Tears welled up in Casey's eyes. She ran away, using her cloak hood to mask her face. Kanaya went to follow her, but I grabbed her arm and shook my head. "We need to get everyone together."

"What happened?" Karkat asked.

Jade inhaled dramatically, then said, "Rose and Roxy came here so they could research how to save Underworld but then Jack attacked them and John, so they fought him but John got stabbed in the back, so Alyssa showed up and teleported him away and me and Rose came here to tell Casey." Jade then breathed in and fell to her knees, the full force of the event dawning on her. Her eyes began to water.

"Okay, clam the fuck down. We need to stay calm. I'm going to get Terezi and the others. You guys get to John. We need to check up on him," Karkat said. "And make sure one of you checks up on Casey."

Karkat left, and Kanaya and I went looking for Casey. We found the salamander hiding under a bed, rocking back and forth. She was muttering, "Not again. Not again," over and over.

"Casey. Please come out," Kanaya said.

"Go away! You don't understand!"

Kanaya sighed. "Casey, I really do understand. Please, come out. Rose and I would like to speak to you."

Casey crawled out from beneath the bed. Her scarf was wrapped around her mouth and her hood covering her eyes. "What?" she asked, slightly muffled.

"I'm so sorry," I said, reaching out to touch her arm. She flinched and backed away. I pulled back and said, "I should have done something. I'm so sorry. But John's okay now, I promise."

"Okay," Casey muttered.

She walked away silently and Kanaya looked at me. "You realize that if anything did happen to John, she will lose all trust in you."

"I know," I said. "To be honest, I won't trust myself, either. But I didn't want to say that he might have died."

"I understand. Come, let's find John. An infirmary for soldiers is close to here. I'm guessing that's where Alyssa took him," Kanaya said. We walked out of the room and found Casey sitting with Jade.

"Are you ready to go?" Jade asked, standing up with Casey in her arms. We nodded and Jade teleported us to the infirmary. It seemed extremely busy for the small amount of soldiers that were here. But it became clear that all the carapaces injured were seriously hurt. Missing limbs and unconscious bodies were an unsettling common sight.

We found John lying on a bed. Three nurses surrounded him, along with Roxy and Alyssa. John had a bandage wrapped around his bare chest. He was barely breathing.

"John!" Casey cried, running up to his side.

John opened his eyes and cracked a smile. "Hey there kiddo," he said. "How did you get her?" he asked. Then he saw me. "Oh. Well that makes sense."

One of the nurses pushed Casey away. "I am extremely sorry, but you have to leave. You can't visit yet, you will have to wait until he is better."

"No!" Casey yelled. Alyssa grabbed her and slung her over her arm. Casey began pounding her fists on Alyssa's back, yelling, "I have to see him!"

"Stay calm kid. Er, salamander. Screw it, c'mon Rose. If we leave the kid here any longer, she'll attempt to kill the nurses."

"Good idea. Casey, it's fine. John just needs some rest. Right?" I asked, looking at him.

"Right. Come back here when I'm better, okay?" he said. She nodded and he smiled a toothy grin. "Good. I'm okay Casey. Don't worry."

"I'll come back soon with her," I said, taking her from Alyssa.

"Thanks," he said. We all left, but Alyssa stopped us when we were a few yards away from the infirmary.

"We just have to wait for Gabby to get here," she said.

"Why should we trust you?" Casey asked bitterly, pulling her hood over her eyes.

"Well, I just saved his life. I brought Rose back here, and I'm planning on getting you guys back in there. So I think I'm trustworthy enough," she answered. Casey growled.

"Everyone stay calm," Roxy said. "We have ta wait 'til J-sock is feeling better, then we can talk. Alright?" We nodded.

"Isn't Karkat gathering everyone? How will he get into Derse?" Kanaya asked.

"Right! We have to get everyone together," Jade said.

"Leave it to me!" Roxy exclaimed. "So, those spies were tryin' ta kill all the Derse dreamers, so me and Rose left. But the rest stayed so they could kill the spies. It was Dirk's idea."

"So when should they be back?" Jade asked.

"I have no idea!" Roxy exclaimed. We sighed.

Finally, I spoke up. "We just have to wait for Gabby?" Alyssa nodded. "I can do that. Are you going to stay here with me?" I asked, looking to Casey.

"Yeah," she said.

Oh shit, it just got serious and dark. Yeah, I'm cruel. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Please leave reviews, because I'd love to know if anyone was reading this or if you have any ideas on what I can change to make this better. I will be able to update tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Alright, I'm out.