Chapter 11: Aradia: Search

Dave and John took up residence on the couch in John's house early the next morning, ready to have the conversation that they should have had days prior.

"So…you wanna tell me why you nearly took my head off with your windy powers?"

John fidgeted over the question, clearly searching for the right words to respond. "Oh, um…"

"It's cool," Dave interjected. "I'm not mad at you or anything, just a little confused that you resorted to nearly taking my head right the fuck off my shoulders the instant you thought Karkat and I had been in a fight."

He winced. "I'm really sorry about that! I saw that Karkat had been hurt and my brain just kind of…shut off?"

"Shut off, huh?" He paused, watching John for any sign of what he was looking for. But seeing nothing, he was forced to ask John the question he'd been trying to avoid. "Look, John…you seem to really care about Karkat."

"Oh, yeah!" He nodded vigorously. "We've gotten really close lately."

"Right…and I don't suppose you've started to…to feel anything for him, have you?" He cringed at the way the question felt on his tongue. This wasn't something he wanted to ask, but he had to know.

"Feel anything?" John echoed. "Well, yeah—he's my friend! I care about him a lot!"

"And you don't think that those feelings lean a little…I don't know, a little red? Like, romantic?"

"Dear lord," John gasped, "no, of course not! I care for Karkat as a dear friend, nothing more!"

He wasn't entirely convinced. John was so goddamn oblivious, and it was obvious that he'd been getting very close to Karkat in the past weeks. He insists he's not romantically attracted to him, but I don't trust him to know what he's feeling.

"I'm not really sure why you're saying this to me," John went on. "You're the one that likes Karkat as more than a friend, I'd never interfere with that!"

"Right." He pushed his shades up higher on the bridge of his nose, hiding his doubt. "Of course."

John smiled at him. Then he did a full one-eighty a moment later, suggesting, "Anyways, I think you should really go talk to Dirk."

Dave recoiled. "Wait, why?"

"Well he attacked Karkat," John said, staring at Dave as if he were missing something painfully obvious. "And it's obvious that he's dead set on believing that he's the one that's been murdering people, even though we both know that's not possible."

"Completely impossible," Dave agreed in a low, irritated murmur. But apparently he's crazy enough to think that Karkat could have gotten his hands on the weapons necessary to kill all those villagers, and that he could have been in two places at once, seeing as he was with us when the last murder was committed."

John shook his head. "I just don't get it. How can he still think that Karkat's the one doing this? Is he blind? There aren't any plasma weapons on this planet that we know of, so it's impossible that he killed that villager, or any of the others."

"And that just adds onto the mystery," Dave agreed. "But no matter how impossible it is that Karkat's the killer, it's enough to make Dirk suspicious, and enough to make him attack the poor guy."

"Which is exactly why you should go talk to him!"

"Dude, what is talking going to do at this point? He's dead set on believing Karkat is the culprit, and I don't think that having a nice long chat is going to get him to change his mind."

"You could at least try!" John pleaded. "Come on, Dave…just talk to him for a few minutes?"

"Why can't I just pester him?"

"You two never get anything done when you're chatting online," John pointed out. "You just go round and round and get sidetracked—so go see him in person, and don't get led off on tangents!"

He rubbed a hand through his hair, wanting very badly not togo talk to his idiot of a relative.

"Go!" John insisted, pointing at the door. "We've been sitting here all morning, get out of the house!"

"What, and you get to stay here?"

"Yep! If Rose decides to come here in person for something, one of us should be ready to greet her."

He had to admit, he had a point. "I hate you for this," he said, but there was no heat behind his words.

"Yeah, yeah," John giggled. "Just get out of here!"

He left without another word.

†††

That was how one Dave Strider found himself standing in the home of someone who had recently tried to kill his almost boyfriend, watching as he tinkered with a bunch of mechanical parts spread out across a table.

"Didn't expect you to visit me," Dirk said, breaking the awkward silence. Dave hadn't really announced he was coming in, he'd just…well, done it, which had prompted something of a standoff as the two Striders waited to see which one would acknowledge the other first. "Thought you'd stay away, seeing as I tried to slice your boyfriend's hands off and all that."

Dave tensed, but refused to let his irritation seep into his words as he said, "Yeah, it was a little hard to get myself here. But John insisted, so here I am."

"Hmm." Dirk kept tinkering with the weird contraption on his desk.

No tangents, Dave told himself. John told me to get straight to the point, and so I will. And so with that in mind, he opened his mouth and asked, "What are you making?"

Fuck. So much for not getting off topic.

Dirk lit up at the question. "I'm working with thermal sensors, actually. Obviously there wasn't a code for alchemizing them, but I think I've managed to piece together something vaguely functional. A real pain in the ass, but it's working."

"What are they for?" Dave drifted closer, looking down at the sensors. They were rickety things, obviously pieced together from things Dirk had already had on hand.

"I'm studying the hemospectrum, actually."

"The hemospectrum? As in the whole troll blood type thing? Why are you studying that?"

He shrugged. "It's interesting. Got me thinking…is it possible to find some way of tracing certain blood types? Like, if a troll with green blood went missing, could I calibrate some kind of machine to track them based on blood type alone?"

"How would you go about that?"

"Dunno." Dirk put down the screwdriver he'd been shoving at one of the sensors. "That's what I'm trying to figure out. Supposedly the highbloods have an extremely low average body temperature, while the lowbloods run far hotter than humans."

"That's why you have the thermal sensors," Dave realized. "Think you can track trolls based on their body heat?"

"Yeah, I do. It's tough, though—there are only three trolls alive right now, you know, with one of them off world, so I can't really calibrate the device with the full spectrum."

"Sounds rough." Dave took a step back as Dirk finally stopped tinkering, looking up at him through those pointy shades of his.

"So," Dirk said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why are you here? I'm certain you didn't come after me just to have a lovely conversation about thermal scanners."

"Nah," Dave agreed. "Hey, why don't you fly with me?" He didn't want to have this conversation in the house. He could hear Jake shuffling around upstairs, and he really wasn't into the idea of being teamed up on if this whole mess ended in a fight.

"Sure," Dirk shrugged. "Where to?"

"How about the fields where that first body was found?"

Another shrug. "Sure, man—but let's make this quick. I don't really want to leave Jake alone for long if there's a murder walking around in broad daylight."

He ignored the not-so-subtle jab at Karkat and led Dirk from the room, the two of them shooting up into the sky after a few words to Jake explaining where they were headed.

"I'm surprised you guys have been home so much," Dave said casually. "The two of you always used to be out doing the whole exploring thing, but it seems like you've been staying home a lot ever since the first murder."

"What can I say?" Dirk pulled ahead, and Dave sped up as not to lose him. The guy was fast. "We aren't interested in running out into the wilderness so long as someone's out there killing people. I'm sure I could handle the guy, but Jake worries me."

"Yeah, I guess he would." It wasn't exactly hidden knowledge that English was the weakest fighter out of all of them.

They flew in silence for several minutes after that, and Dave quickly realized that the fields were a lot further away than he remembered. Maybe they should just…?

"Dude, this flight is a fucking drag," Dirk complained. "I'm gonna flash step there. You coming?"

Just what I was thinking. "Yeah, sure."

They jumped. Dirk was faster than him, though he would never admit it aloud, and when Dave finally came to a halt he was already waiting for him. They'd come out into the middle of the field where the first body had been found. No one was around.

"Well that was pleasant," Dirk remarked, shoving his hands into his pockets and angling his shades at the bright midday sky. "Now, should we get down to business?"

"Yeah," Dave agreed, "I guess we should."

"Oh, good. I was wondering when we were gonna do this."

"Wait, what—?" Dave recoiled with a barely concealed yelp as a flash of silver passed not two inches from the side of his head, neatly slicing a few centimeters off the tips of his hair. He swung around to face Dirk, who was suddenly behind him with his katana angled towards the sky in front of his chest. "Dude, what the fuck?"

Dirk smirked, reaching up to adjust the way his shades rested across the bridge of his nose. "What's wrong? You dragged me out here to take care of me, right? To make sure I don't kill your boyfriend?"

"Dude, no!" Dave bit out, sword appearing in hand. "I came out here to talk to you, dipshit!"

"Oh." Dirk relaxed his posture, but his sword remained in his grasp. "Well, shit. Sorry about that, dude. Totally thought you were about to attack me."

"Right," Dave hissed, mirroring Dirk in keeping his weapon at the ready. He didn't trust this situation to stay peaceful, not after seeing how trigger-happy Dirk was. "Well now that that's out of the way, can we do what we actually came here to do?"

Dirk blinked. "Well, yeah…go for it."

Two fingers pinched at the bridge of his nose. "Look, man, I'll make this real quick. I want you to stop going after Karkat."

"Not gonna happen."

"Just listen to me. I know you're determined to think that Karkat's the one that's been doing this, but the evidence just doesn't add up."

"Oh no," Dirk said, "that's not true. From where I'm standing, all signs point to one very angry, very unstable troll. He's a fucking train wreck, you know that."

He winced. He hadn't told Dirk about what had happened to Karkat the previous night, and he didn't intend to. "That doesn't mean he's killing people, dude! It's so unlikely; why are you determined to go after him?"

"Because it's unlikely, not impossible. And right now, even you can't deny that Karkat is the only suspect we have."

"He's not a suspect! How the fuck would he have gotten his hands on a plasma gun, anyways? And I was with him when that last murder occurred. It just wasn't him, and you're not right in the head if you're still trying to accuse him!"

Dirk blew right past him. "No matter how unlikely it may be, it's not impossible, and that means that he's still a suspect, and still the best suspect we have."

"How is it not impossible, exactly?" Dave asked through clenched teeth. "You're just wrong about this. He's been too weak to hurt anyone recently, even if he had managed to get his hands on the right weapons for the job."

"Too weak, huh? Well, he seemed pretty damn strong with he clawed my face open and dragged Jake out of that tree."

He hesitated. Actually…that was true. Karkat claimed that one of his hallucinations had hurt Dirk, but that was just code for saying that Karkat had done it while imagining that it was really someone else. If he'd had the strength to hurt Dirk and smash Jake into the ground…if he'd had the strength to snap his own fingers and claw open his own chest…

He shook his head. No, no! He couldn't let himself think like that! Karkat was innocent! He'd been with him when the last murder had been committed, so it couldn't have been him!

Or at least, that last murder couldn't have been him.

A smile hooked into the corners of Dirk's mouth. "Why don't you come talk to me again once you convince yourself he's innocent, huh?"

Dave recoiled in a very un-Strider-like way, features creasing with momentary worry. "I'm completely convinced; you're the problem."

"Right," Dirk chuckled. "Just keep telling yourself that."

Dave shot up into the air, knuckles white as he gripped the hilt of his sword. "You know what? This was a horrible idea. Fuck you, and fuck John for making me come out here. I'm out."

Dirk had the nerve to laugh at him as he started to fly away, gearing up to flash step right the fuck over to John and deck him in the face for making him talk to his dysfunctional relative.

"Come back once you've figured out who's really guilty!" Dirk called after him, katana glinting in the dull sunlight.

He didn't plan to.

†††

Some time later, John and Dave arrived at the lab to take Karkat home.

Both boys listened with rapt attention as Rose explained the conditions of his release, making it very clear that the troll was not to be left alone for even a single moment. Someone would always have to be in the room with him to make sure that he couldn't hurt himself—and though it sounded exhausting to say the least, both seemed happy just to have Karkat with them and not locked up in the lab.

"There is one good thing that comes out of this," Rose remarked as John slung one of Karkat's arms over his shoulders in preparation to fly him back home. "The next time a murder occurs, assuming you and Dave are diligent in your surveillance, Karkat should have a completely solid alibi. No one will be able to accuse him of anything."

And that, Dave thought, would be the biggest relief on the whole goddamn planet. He was sick of dealing with Dirk's shit, as he'd said to John in a rather ineloquent way upon returning home.

"That's good, at least," John agreed with a sad smile. He extended an arm to scoop up Karkat's lower half and cradle him to his chest. "And you don't have to worry, Rose, we'll take care of him."

"I expect nothing less." Rose turned her gaze on Karkat, who was remaining eerily silent. He was obviously conscious, reddish eyes staring out at nothing, but he didn't seem interested in participating in the conversation. "Karkat, I expect you to follow through on what we discussed."

John frowned. "What you discussed…?"

"As him about it later." She stepped back, giving them room to take off. "Now, off you go! There are a few things I must attend to."

"Oh, of course! Thank you, Rose!"

"Yeah," Dave echoed. "Thanks."

John lifted a few feet up into the air. Then he paused, looking down at Dave. "Hey, uh…what are you going to do? I mean, are you coming with us?"

He paused. Would Karkat want him around yet? They'd at least started to patch up their shit, and the guy had seemed more than willing to cuddle with him on the couch, but…

John's expression softened. "How about I take Karkat back to the house? You can think about it and do whatever you think is right."

He nodded, thankful for once that John was so adept at reading him. "Yeah, that sounds great. See you later, dude."

John offered him the goofiest smirk possible. Then he was shooting up into the sky, Karkat clutching onto him in alarm, and rocketing for home. It didn't take long for Dave, still staring after them, to take off as well.

He had some thinking to do.

†††

A few hours after that, Dave pushed open the door to the home Karkat shared with John, duffel bag slung over his shoulder, and promptly proceeded to plop down on the couch beside one very dazed Karkat Vantas.

John didn't even bat an eye when he saw him. He just smiled and said, "Take whatever room you like, I don't think Karkat will mind. Oh, and do you want anything to drink? You look a little tired."

"I'm fine," was the automatic response. He looked to Karkat, but the troll didn't even seem to notice he was there. "What's with him?"

John shrugged. "I don't know…he's thinking, I guess. Apparently Rose said some things to him that really made him question what's been going on."

"Has he said anything?"

John opened his mouth to respond, but Karkat cut him off with a low, "I'm trying to think. If you're going to talk, go do it in the meal block!"

So that was a yes. John was visibly holding back laughter as Dave shook his head, saying, "Oh no, I'm comfortable right here. John, what do you say we shut up for a while?"

And then he really did laugh, agreeing, "Yeah, sounds good to me." He sat down on the couch on Karkat's other side with a contented sigh, limbs thrown out at odd angles that were apparently perfectly comfortable for him. He yawned, and Dave found it hard not to follow suit.

Karkat, on the other hand, looked to be wide awake. Dave couldn't help but feel a twinge of concern when he saw the way the troll was glaring through the television screen, obviously failing to take in the glory of the cheesy romcom playing out on the screen. He was deep in thought in a way Dave had never seen before, and he desperately hoped that that was a good thing.

He heard shuffling on the other end of the couch. When he looked over, he saw that John was already slumping down tiredly, and that his cheek was mushed into Karkat's shoulder.

Adorable, was his first thought. But then his heart turned sour as he realized, like hell he doesn't have feelings for him. Well, two can play at that game, Egbert. He purposefully slouched down and smashed his face into Karkat's other shoulder with more force than was necessary. His nose kinda hurt after he did it, but hearing Karkat's irritated huff was worth all the pain in the world.

"You're both impossible," Karkat growled. But Dave felt claws lightly pricking at his scalp a heartbeat later as the troll started to card his fingers through his hair, and he knew that he wasn't really angry.

"Impossible," Dave agreed, choking back a laugh as a snore sounded from the troll's other side. "But you love me anyway, don't you?"

Karkat spared him a glare. "You're insufferably pathetic. Happy?"

He smirked. "Only if you are, Karkles."

†††

He was dreaming again. And this time, it was someone different.

"Karkat."

He blinked, struggling to orient himself. It was always a challenge to figure out what was happening when he first started dreaming—but that was a small price to pay, seeing as the past few dreams hadn't ended in murder.

"I don't aim to impose, but are you able to hear me?"

He gave a shallow nod. His vision was blurry, but he could just make out the form of a very familiar troll standing in front of him.

"Ah. That's good. I don't suppose you've seen Nepeta around, have you?"

Another nod, this time as he remembered how she'd taken Dirk out. But wait…that had been a hallucination, not a real event. He amended his mistake with a murmured no.

"Don't be foolish, of course you've seen her. You yourself said that you had—now where is she? That's an order, Vantas!"

"Don't know," he managed, and his vision was finally clear enough to make out a fuzzy picture of the scene around him. "She attacked Dirk and ran, how the fuck should I know what she got up to after that?"

There was a pause, the silence broken by a series of sharp, damp breaths. Gog, Equius had always been such a creep. "So you truly are ignorant of her location?"

"Yeah, I have no fucking clue. Why, did you lose her? Are you that bad at keeping track of your moirail?"

Equius looked away irritably. "Watch your tongue!"

He snorted. "Is that an order?"

"Yes! Wait, no—only if you want it to be!"

He cringed, wondering why he'd gotten stuck with this guy in his dream. Sure, it was better than being murdered, but not by much. "Nepeta," he reminded him.

"Oh, yes—unfortunately, we were separated. None of us can see each other anymore. Something is changing."

"None of you? Meaning what?"

"Meaning everyone, you fool. Nepeta, Gamzee, Eridan…" And there he visibly shuddered, pausing to ask, "Oh…I don't suppose you have a towel on you?"

"Step back, you perverted fuckass!" Karkat snapped, holding a warning hand out in front of him.

"Ah, yes—my apologies. I suppose if you have not seen Nepeta, and you don't have any spare towels on hand, I should really be going to fetch one. I'll speak with you later, Vantas."

"Wait!" Karkat yelped. "Wait—I need to ask you something!"

Equius paused. "What is it?"

And Karkat, knowing that it wasn't a good question to ask, knowing that it would just twist his think pan around even further to hear the answer from some fucking ridiculous figment of his own mind, opened his mouth and asked the question that had been eating at him since his very first conversation with the trolls that were appearing in his dreams. "Are you real?"

Equius frowned. "Of course I'm real."

His breath caught in his throat. But no, he couldn't believe this—Equius was just another figment of his think pan, and his think pan was trying to convince him that the hallucinations were real.

"Vantas, just because no one else can see us doesn't mean that we're not there. Besides, we're gaining a considerable amount of power now. Even those of the lowest blood caste are gaining strength. Soon everyone will be able to see us, and then—"

A low snarl cut through the pleasant atmosphere of the dream, making both of them jump.

"That would be my cue to leave," Equius said curtly. "I have no intentions of getting caught up in that fool's revenge scheme. Until next time, Vantas."

Then he was gone and all was left was that snarl, low and threatening and cutting straight to Karkat's very core until he was backing himself away as fast as he could without looking away from the pair of indigo eyes that had just appeared in the shadows.

It wasn't real. These dreams, though vivid, had to be fake.

But they sure as hell didn't feel that way.

†††

Thousands upon thousands of miles away, a pair of rapidly fluttering wings carried a very familiar troll along the furthest ring of existence.

She'd been traveling forever, she thought. For sweeps and sweeps, endlessly searching, and there was no sign of the one person she was desperately hunting for. She would have given up if not for the fact that she needed that other troll to be here. She needed her to be alive. Because if she wasn't…

Well. Losing their new world so soon after gaining it wouldn't be a pretty sight.

"Vriska!" she shouted, voice carrying on endlessly in the void. "Vriska!" Normally she'd be afraid of alerting anyone around of her presence, but she wasn't afraid of that anymore. The dream bubbles were almost completely destroyed at this point, all but a few souls sucked into the massive 'black hole' that had been created by that alternate version Calliope, and the only living troll she'd been concerned about had decided to return to the new planet to aid Karkat.

But that didn't mean she was entirely alone.

She jerked her head up as she felt the familiar tug of the black hole that wasn't really a black hole. She hissed in annoyance. No matter which direction she flew in, she always ended up right back here. Right back where she'd started, subconsciously drawn by this part of the universe's desire to destroy itself and everyone in it. Her only companion had the same issue, and it only worried her more that should Vriska have been alive, surely she too would have felt the pull and returned here.

She darted out of the reach of the black hole with an irritated huff. She would choose a new direction, then, and then she would fly until she ended up right back where she was now. It was an endless cycle, repeating without cessation. But she had to find Vriska. If they were going to overcome the disaster streaking towards their new planet, she had to be there.

A loud string of curses caught her attention, and she jolted as she realized that the familiar buzz of psionics was crackling in the air around her. "Sollux!"

A few more curses sounded, and then the only other living troll around was appearing, swathed in a mixture of red and blue energy. He'd been drifting along behind one of the countless meteors dappling the furthest ring, thus his apparent invisibility.

"Sollux!" she repeated, darting to his side. "Did something happen?"

His one good eye flickered up irritably before his entire body sagged with relieved recognition. "AA, thank fuck. I'm jutht tho fucking pithed at thith whole rediculouth dithather!"

She sighed. It was no secret to her that Sollux was becoming increasingly infuriated with their pointless search. "There's nothing else we can do, I'm afraid. We need to find Vriska before we can return to the new planet and reunite with our friends."

"Yeah, tho you've thaid," the psionic grumbled. "You're abtholutely thertian that we need her thorry ath?"

"Quite certain"

"Ahh, shit!" Sollux clenched and unclenched his fingers rhythmically and the haze of psionics around them intensified tenfold. "I thwear, I'm going out of my pan here! Every time we thtart thearching in a new direction, we jutht get pulled right back here! I'm thick of it, AA!"

Aradia offered him a helpless shake of the head. "I really am sorry, but there's just nothing else we can do!" Unless…

She reviewed what she knew about the future. Silently, of course, because where would the fun be in blabbing it all to anyone who would listen?

We're already so low on time…and I need all the help I can get out here if I want to find Vriska in time. But still…Sollux isn't much help anymore, and he's just going to keep becoming angrier and angrier until he snaps. He'll drive himself mad out here. I could send him to warn Karkat and the others, but then it would take far too long for him to get to the new planet to be of any help. The time he spends flying will be lost time, useless to everyone. I need something else…a better solution…

"And thith gogdamn black hole ith really driving me shithive maggotth!" Sollux kicked the air in the direction of the thing, which was still doing its best to suck them in.

"It's not a black hole," she corrected. "How many times must I remind you?"

He grumbled, "Well it thucked all the thouls into it and prethumably obliterated them, tho I think I'll go ahead and call it one!"

"It's not a black hole," she repeated, but she wasn't really talking to Sollux anymore. Instead she drifted closer, eyeing the thing with newfound curiosity. No…it wasn't a black hole, it was a gateway—and if that gateway worked the way she thought it did, then it would take Sollux exactly where he needed to go. "Sollux," she said. "Be quiet."

The troll choked, having been cut off in the middle of his frazzled rant. "What?"

"Be quiet, and jump into the black hole."

"What?" he repeated, spluttering. "Fuck off, AA, you can jump into the black hole if you're tho eager to thee what'th inthide."

She blinked, surprised. He normally wasn't so harsh with her. "Sollux, I know you're tired of being here, and I know you're tired of searching—so I'm going to give you a new job."

That made him pause. The psionic haze died around him, and he drifted closer with a curious look on his face. "A job that involveth jumping into a black hole?"

"A job that involves going back to warn our friends about what's coming."

His single working eye went wide. "Ith that allowed?"

"We are outside the reaches of paradox space now," she reminded him. "Nothing we do can create a doomed timeline—but that also means that this is our only chance to get it right." She turned her face to the black hole, watching it continue to suck in what remained of the dream bubbles. "The last of the dream bubbles are fading now, and soon we will no longer be able to use them to send warnings to our friends."

"Not that that'th worked very well," Sollux snorted. "Karkat ith the only one that'th remembered anything we've told him; the otherth alwayth forget before they wake up. And the dream bubbleth are tho fragmented that Karkat hath only been able to thee you, and even then he'th not really underthtanding your warningth."

That was true. She'd tried many times to use the fragmented dream bubbles to warn Karkat or anyone about what was coming, but it had never gone well. Everyone but Karkat forgot the dreams once they woke up, and the bubbles were so shattered that she wasn't getting her message through to even Karkat. It was like trying to talk through a fan—her voice just sounded distorted, and all Karkat got out of it was a series of cryptic messages that didn't really tell him anything. One particularly long-winded warning about Gamzee had come out as only a single sentence—when the time comes, you will know what to do. So sending a warning, a real warning, was impossible.

Or at least, it would have been…if not for the gateway staring them straight in the face.

"We're running out of time," she whispered.

"Ith thith one of your Maid of Time thingth?"

"Yes," she decided. "Yes, it is. I can feel the impending disaster growing near, and we have to do something now. If we can just warn them, find a way to send a real message…"

"And you think I can thend a methage by jumping into the black hole?"

"Yes, actually—I do."

"And how ith that thuppothed to work?"

"It's a gateway," she said for the hundredth time. "It will take you where you need to go, if I'm right."

"And if you're not?"

She eyed him levelly. "Then it won't matter, because failing to send this message would have ended in all of our deaths anyways."

He paused. Then, "Okay, yeah, that'th a good excuthe. Tho you jutht want me to jump in?"

She nodded, knowing full well that she could be about to send Sollux to his death if she was incorrect about the true function of the gaping window to the unknown. "Yes, that is exactly what I want you to do."

"But what am I thuppothed to thay once I get there? What do I tell them?"

"Everything you know. Warn them about the dream bubbles, warn them about the six souls that have remained on their world, and warn them about the final choice the game has left them with."

"All that, huh? You're not worried that my think pan will get itthelf thcrambled by the black hole once I go through it?"

"Unfortunately that is a possibility, considering that every spirit that passes through it seems to wind up crazy—but we have no other choice, and hopefully the fact that you're only half dead will help things considerably."

"Well. Fuck." Sollux drifted closer to the black hole and peered into it, looking only slightly perturbed. "I jutht jump in. Jutht like that."

"You do," she said. Then her expression softened, seeing how Sollux was bristling with barely-concealed terror. "It's okay to be afraid."

"I'm not fucking thcared!" Sollux snapped. But he blanched, then, no doubt realizing how unreasonable he was being, and said, "Thorry, AA…that was uncalled for."

"It's fine," she shooshed him. "But if you're going to get there in time, you should leave now. I have no clue how long it will take for the black hole to spit you out where you need to go, so the sooner the better." She floated to his side, only slightly alarmed at how close they were to the gateway, and reached out to cup the side of Sollux's face. "It's terrifying, I know—but it's going to be okay."

He laughed humorlessly. "You don't know that."

"I don't," she agreed. "Not for certain. It's just a feeling I have, and my feelings are known to be quite accurate."

"I know they are, AA." Sollux pulled away, drifting to the edge of the black hole. "Okay then…goodbye, I gueth."

She smiled. "Not goodbye: see you later. That way we're bound to run into each other again eventually."

"Oh gog, that'th the cheethiest thing I've ever heard."

"Anything that works, right?"

He rolled his eyes—or rather, his eye—but it was obvious that he felt about a hundred times better. "Right, right. I'll thee you later then, AA."

"I'll see you later, Sollux."

Then he was gone, vanishing into the black hole with nothing more than a pained hiss.