This chapter took a LOT of work. I would really appreciate a comment! This is 6,800+ words.

I'm going to be making a sequel to Incantation, look out for it! I'll make sure it stands out. I'm planning on finishing up the final chapter, taking a short break, and then I'm going to start writing. If you like my one shots and my other series The Kids Arent Alright, I'll be updating those too.
But first I have to finish the last chapter!


"Didn't it work?" John mumbled, glancing behind him momentarily at Dave, before casting his gaze back to the salt circle at his feet.

They weren't magic and they knew that. This whole plan failed. John took half a step back, ready to turn around, leave this place, and head home.

The darkness surrounded them like the trees surrounded the light house. Without his night vision, John couldn't see much further than the car. the only reason he could see anything and was because there was a dim light on one of the buildings.

A breeze shook the leafless trees, stirring the piles of dead foliage on the ground. When a second, stronger breeze picked up it cracked branches and limbs had squealing as they rocked back and forth. As the wind quieted, so did the environment. There were no birds this far north, all flown south in tightly packed Vs. No raccoons or other common critters to snap sticks or rustle leaves.

They'd failed alright. Come all this way and pissed off their parents for nothing. John took a second step back. His mouth was poised to speak to Dave when something flashed, like lightning in front of him. Again, and then again, nearly blinding John and forcing his eyes away.

Like hellfire, cobalt sprung from the absolute limit of the salt circle, in a ring of angry heat, intending to burn and leaving scorch marks on the grass and blackening the white salt. John could feel the warmth on his cheeks, eyes wide as he stumbled back and fell directly on his ass.

"Shit!" He swore, scrambling back. He found himself on top of Dave, who's arm locked around his middle and fisted into his clothes.

The fire died down quickly leaving Vriska standing in the middle of the salt circle. Her long hair was fixed nicely around her shoulders and falling into a human like wavy curl, her bangs brushed over her missing eye. She'd found herself a new jacket, black leather, with the left sleeve torn off. The left over scraps were knotted to cover her involuntary amputation.

She flipped her hair back, shaking her bangs and baring her empty socket to the boys. Just like before, there was a sort of fog that settled over her face. Over the empty socket, and John wondered if that was some sort of protection spell. He watched her remaining eye dilate to activate her night vision because his did too.

"Well, now don't you have a looooot of nerve," Vriska drawled, her raspy smoker's voice drawing out her vowels.

John's mouth gaped. He watched Vriska's eyes narrow, and she searched the space around them. Then a smirk pulled her lips taunt.

"You're both alone," she pointed out. "What's the deal?"

John and Dave exchanged glances, but no one spoke.

"Hello? Earth to stupid fucking mortals!" Vriska taunted. Finally, John cleared his throat, seemingly able to find his voice.

"Hi," he greeted lamely. Vriska narrowed her eyes a second time. John cleared his throat again and attempted to speak.

"I called you here, uh. Away from the witches. I just, uh," he struggled. Something cold brushed his hand. Looking down he noticed Dave pushing Roxy's hexed coin in his palm. He could feel it hum in his grip, prickling him like static electricity. He wanted it out of his hand. Now.

"Spit it out!" Vriska commanded.

"Well, we just wanted to know if you'd like to play a game with us," John said quickly. Vriska's lip twitched, irritated.

"A game of chance," John continued, holding up the coin.

The demon rolled her eyes, shifting her weight from side to side. She was interested, but she didn't want to admit it. "Go on."

"A game of chance," John repeated, "and the winner gets another half of my soul."

"What?" Vriska snapped immediately, "what? So when I win, I get another half?"

"That was the thought," John nodded.

Vriska crossed her arms. She weighed her options as she tilted her head to the side and then shifted her weight left and then back.

She was bothered by the circle, evident by her constant motion. A finger twitch here, movement of her foot, of her arm, twitching in her neck. Truth be told he didn't know how Vriska wasn't going insane. It had made him feel like ice was crawling up his spine. it was heavy and uncomfortable, like wearing wet clothes made of lead. The coin too bugged him. John placed it instead back down at his side, moving his fingers away from it.

"Yeah all right," Vriska replied finally. "Let me out of the circle and I'm game."

"We are not letting you out of the circle, nice try," Dave snorted.

Vriska scowled, cocking her hip and pinning her hand to it. "Alright genius. How the fuck am I supposed to play from inside here?"

"How do we know you won't attack us?" Dave countered.

Vriska barked a laugh, quick and malicious. "His soul is on the line here. That's how."

Dave and John exchanged glances again.

"Well," John said after a moment.

"Dude, you are not taking her side," Dave accused.

"No! I'm not! Just, she makes a good point," John explained. Dave rolled his eyes.

"She's literally tried to kill us both, and you just want to let her out?" Dave accused.

"What would you rather do? What was your intention coming out here?" John asked, tension rising in his tone. Dave frowned. John thought maybe he hadn't thought that far. She couldn't come out to deal, and it was crazy to go in with her. Dave didn't speak.

"John, fucking get up and get your knife and let's get a move on!" Vriska hissed impatiently.

The knife? Oh right. The knife Dave had taken from under his shirt, the one John used to cut his hand to offer blood was laying in the grass. It had fallen when John recoiled and dropped it, and it rested only a few inches from the edge of the salt circle. Slowly, John made his way over. He leaned down to grab it cautiously, watching Vriska as he reached out to grab the handle. He knew she couldn't grab him, but being so close made John nervous. Like at the zoo. The lioness was behind the glass, but it was still scary if she lunged.

Knife in hand, John retreated back to Dave for a moment, looking Vriska over from head to toe. She was getting restless, shifting her weight foot to foot more often. John tried to hand Dave back his blade, but Dave pushed it back.

"Keep it," he insisted. John nodded.

"Do I just kick the circle and it's broke?" John asked. Dave swallowed thickly and shook his head. Slowly, slowly, John inched forward again.

He stood face to face with Vriska then. Face to face with evil incarnate, and she smiled. Row on row of sharp teeth stared back at John, and he couldn't look away. Teeth. Pointed, razor like. She was a predator just like him. She could kill with those teeth. Kill him. Kill Dave.

John found his lip curling back, showing off his own jagged set of fangs. Vriska snarled.

A sound rose from somewhere, vibrating John's chest and reverberating through his skin. It didn't hurt, but it felt a little like like standing in front of a concert speaker, shaking him to the core.

When Vriska made a similar sound, hunching her shoulders and tensing, John realized what it was. He was growling at her. Deep in his chest, he was growling. He had something to protect, he thought. Dave was his, he needed to protect Dave.

"John," his boyfriend's voice cut through the tension. John's head jerked around and the sound abruptly stopped. Dave looked worried. He was drawn into himself with his eyebrows knitted and a deep frown covering his features.

Dave was not in danger. He was here, all in one piece. For now. And John was here too, he realized as he grounded himself. Where had that outburst come from? John glanced back at Vriska, who had not calmed down in the slightest. This was trouble. This was dangerous, especially with her on edge. This was a bad idea.

John took a deep breath, paused just one more moment, and then without looking down he kicked the circle. Salt scattered into the grass, breaking the line and the protective properties. John backpedaled. He rose the knife, pointing it at Vriska, and he didn't stop moving until he practically crashed into Dave. He never, never took his eyes off of Vriska.

Vriska, to his surprise, didn't advance. She put more distance between them in fact, three, five, ten feet and came to rest nearby. Once far enough away, her posture relaxed finally. The air between them was tense. Thick, like an unplaceable pressure hung in every particle. John was still freezing, but his mind was elsewhere.

He could see her with his night vision. This was a repeat of that night in the woods, where John knew she was going to jump him. Again, his legs screamed at him to move. To get the fuck out of Dodge, leave, scram, run away like a coward and go home to his dad. He couldn't though. Not now. His feet stayed planted, firmly.

"Dave," John spoke quietly. "Pick up the coin."

Slowly, looking down only once, Dave leaned down and picked up the coin. Seemingly even slower, he stood upright and tried to hand it to John.

"No," John rejected, "you flip."

He rose his voice to call across the clearing. "Dave's going to flip the coin if that's alright with you."

"A coin flip?" Vriska mocked, "that's your idea of a game of chance? How many flips? Who gets what? So many variables, Joohn."

"Before we even think about it, we need to iron out our deal," John responded. He was shaking in his shoes, but he refused to let his voice quiver. Vriska's lip peeled back in disgust but she didn't reply. John could see her hair blow in the breeze, the fog over her eye never budged.

"Dave's going to flip the coin. One flip. You call heads or tails. I already know that your powers act up here. But just in case, there's no cheating. No manipulating Dave, or the coin, or the air. No attacking us," John listed. "Don't leave the area. Once Dave calls it, it's over. If you win, you get my soul. If I win, you leave me alone for good."

"As if," Vriska scoffed. "And how do you know my powers act up?"

John didn't dignify her with a response. She was hungry and getting desperate, like a starved dog. He watched her lick her top lip with a too long tongue.

"Fine," she spat. "I want heads!"

"Fine," John agreed, and then his eyes shifted to Dave.

Dave huffed. He looked down at the coin, turning it over in his hand a moment before he shuffled his feet out away from John. He watched Vriska intently as he walked her way, untrusting.

Vriska's single eye glowed, the membrane behind her lens reflecting light back like a cat. John could see hers, so she must be able to see his, two bright glints through the short space. The cold seemed not to bother her, despite doing the least amount of moving. She had no control over the breeze, John noticed. Usually, she was able to egg him on with her control, whisper to him, but tonight in this space, she was unable.

Good, John thought.

Dave stopped short of the middle, closer to John than Vriska. He turned to he was facing neither of them. He switched the coin from his right hand to his left, forming a fist with his right, his thumb untucked. He positioned the coin on top of his thumb and flicked.

The gold coin flipped up, over turning again and again in the air as it rose and fell like John's confidence. Like his stomach, with the overwhelming urge to vomit ebbing on him.

The coin hit the ground with an audible thump, falling to the wet grass between Dave's feet. John couldn't see what it had landed on from where he stood. Dave could. Last time Roxy bought him shoes, she had bought him two pairs of the same boot. One to wear to school and keep nice and one to scum up outside. He had on his school pair tonight, staring down at the toes and the coin between them. Slowly, he shuffled back.

"Heads or tails?" Vriska hollered.

Dave didn't speak. He swallowed hard though, refusing to look up at either of them. It was clear Dave didn't like the looks of what he saw. John already knew which way it had landed. Vriska probably knew too.

"Heads or tails, and don't lie to us, whelp boy!" Vriska laughed. She just wanted to hear him say it. To hear she'd won. When Dave looked up, he looked like he was about to start sobbing. Dave's eyes locked on John like Vriska wasn't even there. His lips were quivering and blue, both from the cold and the fear in his veins. His pale eyebrows were pulled close together. His forehead wrinkled as he tried to hold back tears.

"I'm so, so sorry," he choked, burying his face in his sleeves.

Vriska, on the other hand, was growing more impatient, if that was possible. She tracked closer, closing in on them, three, four paces before she spoke.

"Call the toss, whelp! We can't end the deal until you call the toss!"

"It's okay, Dave. Just call the toss," John spoke quietly.

"She's gonna make you into a monster and this is all my fault!" Dave shouted, muffled by fabric. His shoulders collapsed in on themselves and his knees bent as if they might give out. John frowned deeply. He glanced up at Vriska, and then deciding whatever she might do was worth it, he strode to his boyfriend.

Slowly, John wrapped his arms around Dave's frame. His right arm moving to push Dave into his embrace and his left hand coming up to push his blonde head into John's shoulder. Quietly, John shushed him.

"Hey, it's alright," John cooed, "it's not your fault, it's not."

"She's just," Dave paused to cough harshly, "standing there. Letting us say goodbye. It's not fair! She's gonna kill us both!"

All John could do was shush him again, petting the back of his head gently. John tried not to let him see the tears in his own eyes. Dave cried, John held him, and Vriska loomed like a shark in bloody water.

"Run," John murmured.

"What?"

"I said run," John insisted, and he shoved Dave away from him with enough force to knock him back.

"It was heads!" John declared, without even looking down. "You win!"

"John!" Dave screeched, his voice cracking with the high pitch. Before he could move, Vriska was advancing towards John.

She hit him like a freight train, hard and fast, body checking him to the ground and climbing on top of him. The knife went flying from John's hand, to where he didn't see. She knocked the wind from his lungs, but not his fight. John reeled back as best he could and punched her. His first connected with the side of her face and knocking her head to the left.

There was a couple seconds pause as if she hadn't intended on John fighting back. Her eyes went wide, and then narrowed, and she clubbed him as has as she could with her fist. She hit John in the forehead, on the crest of his eye, but he was so pumped with adrenaline he almost couldn't feel it. When she went to restrain his arm, he fought harder, able to resist her one arm with his two.

With a jolt of his hips, he was able to overturn them. Once flat on his back, he now had his stomach pressed against hers, holding her down. Vriska snarled. She used her speed to roll them again, shifting him off only to jump back on, pouncing like a cat with teeth to match.

John felt her teeth enter the meat of his arm after putting it up to block her onslaught of teeth. it worked until she moved to bite into his bicep. That had him hollering as he tried to throw her and get away. Vriska followed. Before John could get on his feet, she was tackling him. He landed face first on the grass, her legs going to pin his, and her hand on the middle of his back.

"I was gonna let you go with dignity, John!" She screeched, and then with an open palm, she pressed down.

One moment John was acutely aware of where Vriska's legs were on his, and then he was only aware of the pain. John's face slammed down into the dirt, his mouth frozen in a silent scream and his shoulders hunched in on himself. He had no sensation in his legs, as much as he wanted to kick and struggle. He knew she was still on top of him, but he didn't register her weight on him.

He couldn't feel it when she bit her own hand to draw blood, but he felt it when she used her knee to force his head to the side. His mouth was still slack, allowing a split second for Vriska to violating his mouth. She held him there and pinched his nose shut.

"I was going to let you go with dignity," Vriska hissed, low and angry in his ear, "but if you're going to fight me, I'm going to make you suffer."

No, John knew that was a lie. Vriska's entire personality revolved on getting one up, lording over him. John was never going with dignity. It took everything in him not to breathe in and swallow her blood. If panic hadn't already set into his muscles, already locking him up tense with lactic acid, John could have saw an opening. A chance to push her off when she shifted, but adrenaline always had a terrible effect on the body. It slowed his reactions and coordination.

Vriska brought her knee down again, and he felt bone connect with his skull. He was forced to take a breath then, aspirating her blood and forcing himself choke. To retch for breath but receive none, only her hot searing blood down his throat and into his trachea.

Vriska's hand left his mouth to fist into his hair. She jerked, slamming his head into the ground once, twice, four, six times. John couldn't breathe, he couldn't see, he couldn't feel anything except fire licking up his spine. It hurt. God, it fucking hurt. Why couldn't she just kill him already?

Vaguely, John was aware he stopped moving. He couldn't see anything, his eyes were open and straining but his gaze was eclipsed by big black spots. His ears were ringing, blocking out any sound. He didn't register Vriska's teeth in the back of his skull. It felt like a wasp, a sharp stinging that crawled like embers in his veins.

Without his vision, his hearing and part of his touch, John became aware of his bond strings for the very first time that night. Roxy's string was prominent, overwhelmed with worry. He couldn't tell how far she was away, but he could feel her urge to find and protect him. Dirk's string was ridged too, angry, but there was an uncertain undertone there too. A deeply rooted sort of care that John was familiar with. Like parental love. Brotherly affection. Rose was there, and so was Jasper. And Dave. Dave was nearby, so scared he was quaking under John's bond touch.

They were there. The Striders, they were all attached to him in a warmth different than the hot pain from his wounds.

And then they were gone.

Everything had been so hot. Vriska's blood, the places where her teeth married his flesh, the bruises on his face. His spine felt like an inferno. Then his strings snapped. Like a guitar string that been tuned too tight. It felt like someone poured the black lake water into his chest, filling him up with a chill deeper than any cold wind. John's breath left him again in a wheeze that sounded like a death rattle, and as if he'd frozen solid, his body stilled.

Where was Dave? He wanted to see Dave so badly. He couldn't feel him anymore and it just felt so wrong.

John's stomach rolled. He wanted to puke. He felt so empty, so lonely. Like every light in the world burned out. Like every good thing to grace the earth had vanished. The overwhelming urge to cry overtook him, but even his misery couldn't move his body.

Vriska's hand was back in his hair. He could feel her fingering the edges of the chunk she'd taken out of his scalp. She moved to push his head over so his left ear was in the cold grass.

He wanted Roxy back, with her pet names and drunk-happy demeanor. He wanted Dirk, who always seemed to come to his rescue. Rose and her snooty tell it like it is voice as his reason. God, he missed them. He wanted to reach for them, tie the strings back together and sob. Where was Roxy to forbid him now? Where was Dirk to scream at him to get his head out of his ass? John reached for his bond strings, but all he felt was broken. Broken and cold.

Slowly, John's vision regained. He could shallowly make out a vague form nearby. However, he was unable to tell how close the form was without his depth perception. There was only one person it could be. As soon as he realized who it was, he wished he was still blind. Dave walked with purpose, knife in hand in Vriska's direction.

Dave moved quietly, a practiced hunter with his blade. He couldn't sneak up on Vriska, but he managed to stab her once good through the hand as she went to grab at him.

It took Dave off guard, and he froze for just a moment as if he couldn't believe he'd actually stabbed her. That was his first and last mistake.

Vriska jerked her hand away, pulling the knife out of Dave's grip and used her teeth to yank it from her hand. Dave stumbled back, going to turn and run, but she jumped him.

Dave hit the ground with a shout. He tried hard to get her away. He used his legs to push himself backward, shoving with his hands as she crawled forward. She looked rabid, drooling over wolf sharp teeth and long hair pasted over her face with sweat. She caught him finally.

John couldn't move. He couldn't fucking move. Just fucking lay there while his best friend, his boyfriend got attacked. Vriska was growling, her fangs bared long and sharp in Dave's face. With only a hand on her forehead keeping her from grazing Dave's skin, breaking him. His weak, human strength barely keeping his blood and marrow inside his body.

Vriska made a noise like a car wreck. Like steel on steel and slamming breaks and crashing frames all in one sound. She raised a clawed hand to Dave's to dig into his wrist. Blood flowed, and Dave cried out, and finally, his strength gave out in an attempt to escape the burn.

Dave struggled away from her, only moving so far as a half a roll away until she was grabbing at him. She used her legs to pin his down like a thumb tack. Exactly like she'd done to John already. Her gaze was intent on the back of his neck, planning to snap his spine and end Dave Strider where he lay. As her teeth closed in, breaking into the nape of his neck, something happened.

Dave screamed again, both of his hands going back to Vriska's head, yanking her hair to pull her off. In that same moment, the dim light on the building they'd been using this whole time flickered. Like during a power surge, it dimmed. And then, as Dave struggled, it did it again. And then finally, the third time the light went out and the darkness was lit by red lightning.

Lightning arched from Dave's hand, crawling like an insect over the ground outwards in a circular pattern. It crawled over Vriska too, over taking her with energy and the sound of a thousand birds. The ground burned, and so did Vriska's skin. The demon shrieked, retreating away from him and pulling her teeth from his neck. He drove her away, sending her out of the circle he'd formed to protect himself. John could see the lines on her face. Raised veins and skin.

Her skin looked like tree roots had overtaken her, hot and angry and her clothes singed. Her gray skin was blacking in some places. other places were starting to bruise a dark blue, outlining her collarbone and filling in the hollow of her cheeks. Her hair was fried. All the curl was gone out of it, instead smelling heavily of burnt hair and sulfur.

Dave, on the other hand, curled deeper in on himself, both of his hands going to cup his severally bleeding neck. He was crying, hot tears sliding down his cheeks as blood soaked his clothes. Vriska tried to take another step, to move back in, but a jolt off the ground had her rethinking.

Something snapped in John in that moment. It compelled him to his feet no matter how hard his brain screamed at him not to. John forced himself up, and the more muscles he moved the easier it became to stand. When finally he stood erect, he could feel something different inside of him. Like something shifted.

Dave couldn't see in the darkness he'd caused. He was still now, but whimpering on the ground.

"John?" He tried, his voice wet and unsure.

"Here," John replied.

"Thank god," Dave half sobbed.

"This is over, right here, right now," John spoke. His eyes locked on Vriska.

"Oh fuck, no, John, give it up! Get us out of here!" Dave begged.

John wasn't listening. He couldn't hear Dave over the constant stream of thoughts running through his head. He wanted to kill her. Rip her remaining arm off. Bite her with his teeth, gouge her skin, tear her flesh. John was going to kill her. Kill her, kill her, kill her, kill her. Kill her!

Fuck, he wanted to rip her hair from her head and choke her with it. He wanted to break her open and spill her guts. Tear her heart out, collapse her lungs, eviscerate her kidneys, knot her intestines. He could paint her body like a canvas in her own fluids.

He was going to kill her, and nothing would stop him. He was a predator, fit and strong, and he would be the one to survive.

John felt the resonation of a growl rise in his chest and the instinct to bare his teeth seized him with a snarl. Vriska didn't look confused in the slightest, she snarled right back. At the moment she decided to rush him, he chose to rush her.

They collided like a storm, muscles rolling like thunder as they struck out like lightning. There was a flurry of hands and claws, legs, and knees. John was ejected during the scuffle, thrown ten foot to the side. John scrambled to his feet as the crashed together again. His nails drug across her face as hers tore their way down his arms.

Vriska pushed him back a second time and jumped him. John rolled with her on top of him, and thinking fast he jerked his legs up to kick her off. Vriska landed in the woods, crashing through the underbrush. John was dazed as he stood. When had they crossed the road?

Vriska attracted his attention back as she stood, growling deep in her chest. There was a large, dead branch protruding out of her shoulder, and she didn't even pause to pull it out. Before John could blink they were twisting in another dance of fangs and talons.

Vriska's incisors sunk into John's shoulder like his skin was quicksand. It tore something like a roar from his throat and he twisted, stumbling deeper into the woods through the underbrush and fallen logs. John found his own teeth in the side of Vriska's face, biting through her ear and shredding it to ribbons. The sound she made split John's ear drum as her own ear canal filled with blood. With her mouth off of him, she pushed him away again, going to cup her bleeding flesh.

John used that opportunity to strike her, gain the upper hand. He was on top of her as they broke the tree line again, on to the beach and it was twenty foot to the water. He took one look at the lake and he knew what he needed to do.

Vriska rolled them, but John refused lose the lead. He pinned her again and grabbed her arm by the wrist to move it above her head. With his remaining arm, he slotted her head in his elbow and forced her into a headlock.

"Let go of me!" Vriska screeched.

The demoness struggled, her legs thrashing wildly, but John held on. John stumbled to his feet, and despite Vriska trying to kick his feet out from under him, he began to drag her.

"Let go of me! Let go of me you fuck face! I'm going to kill you!"

John ignored her, focused instead on the black horizon, and the water licking its way up the sand.

"Let go of me!" Vriska howled, and then bit into John's arm. John faltered, but he had no free hand to stop her. Instead, he bit back a yelp and pressed on. Blood ran down his arm, falling in dense droplets until it dissipated into the sand.

He reached the water, and took a step out into it. His sneakers filled with water and his jeans soaked until finally, he treading water. Vriska's legs kicked, splashing him with water and kicking up sand from the lake bed. He looked down at her, pausing to watch her thrashing body when the gravity of what he was about to do crashed down on him.

John didn't feel like he was living in his own head in that moment. He was detached from the situation, acting on autopilot, but at that moment, chilled to the bone and knee deep in water, he understood. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes, and his hold on the struggling woman lessened. John shook where he stood.

Vriska seethed like an animal, her saliva rolling down John's arm, pink with his blood.

"What are you waiting for?"

Dave was at his side, and it startled him. With his eyes wide, John jerked to look at him. Had he been following them this whole time?

"I don't want to kill her," He spoke. "I don't want to kill anybody."

"I'll do it," Dave offered.

"No, it's not yours to do," John insisted quickly.

"John, you can't let her go. She's stolen so many souls over the years and killed people. If we let her live, she'll keep doing it to other people. I don't care if you can forgive her for whatever she did to you, but I won't let her go in good conscience," Dave defied. He spoke carefully, and he sounded a lot like Roxy.

"I'll help you," Dave said, and it wasn't an offer. John bit back a sob, his lip quivering as he nodded.

Unceremoniously, John dropped Vriska into the drink. Dave dropped to his knees immediately, attempting to pin her down. He seized her hand after John released it with one hand, and with his spare, he pressed Vriska's head under the water. He held her there.

Of course, Vriska thrashed, so when John dropped to his knees too, he grabbed her foot and with an iron grip, he held it. She couldn't possibly get away, not with only one limb. John's free hand gravitated up until his hand was covering Dave's.

The lake water was ungodly cold. John's muscles contracted, tightening more than he wanted to realize. Waves were constant on the Great Lakes, and water slapped him in the face with every roll.

John almost didn't see the bubbles. But once he did, he couldn't look away. And then they just stopped. Altogether the bubbles stopped. John had no idea how long they'd been sitting here, but not long. Maybe three, four minutes. Was that really all it took?

He expected himself to feel lighter. To feel like a weight had been lifted, or a burden was off his shoulders, but instead, John felt the unpleasant dip in his stomach of misery. He hadn't asked for his, he thought as he wiped tears from his already wet face. He hadn't asked for any of this. She'd put up one hell of a fight, but it almost wasn't fitting that Vriska went quietly.

Under him, John felt the demon's body begin to fade. He hadn't expected it at all, but as the water drew back out to the horizon, it drew Vriska body with it. She disintegrated like wet paper, large clumps washing away with each rocking wave. John was glad the water was so dark. He thought he might puke if he had to see it. Her clothes went with her, the jean material falling through John's fingers.

"It's over," Dave spoke shakily.

"Yeah," John agreed.

It was over. It was over and it almost seemed like a trick.

"Hey, look at me," Dave requested. His chilled fingers touched John's cheek. "I'm proud of you. You were so brave. You fought her tooth and nail, and you won. Fuck, you saved my life."

"I had to. I love you," John professed. "Thank you too, for not letting me lose my nerve."

"We make a good team," Dave smiled, but all John could see was the blue tint to his lips and the water drops rolling out of his hair.

"Your lips are blue."

"Yeah, I'm freezing. Come on, let's go," Dave said, and he reached out to hold John's hand as he lead them out of the lake. Dave lead him down the beach a few feet, and then up a well tread path. They walked uphill just a bit, and the path let out in the parking lot. John never looked back.

"Stay here," Dave told him at the car and jogged the little ways back to get his bag. He brought the grimoire with him and promptly threw it in John's front seat where they didn't have to look at the damn thing.

"Strip," Dave commanded next, shrugging his jacket off before peeling his shirt away. His glasses caught on his shirt, and he didn't untangle them, just tossed them on the floor in the back seat. John paused, his mouth slightly agape.

"Take your clothes off, it's not like, sexual. You're gonna get hypothermia if you don't," Dave explained hastily and turned around. His boots came off next, and then his pants dropped. John turned away then. He wasn't sure if he was ready to see all that.

"Aren't we like, supposed to get naked and cuddle for warmth?" John asked.

"Pfft, no!" Dave laughed. "Just take your wet clothes off. They leach body heat faster. Dry clothes will help you keep warmer."

Dave already had on a pair of clean pants and was pulling on a shirt by the time John was finding his duffle bag. Dave climbed into the car, putting on socks when John slid in next to him, just finishing with his shirt. John did have to admit, dry underpants felt a lot better than wet ones.

Dave didn't ask, just pulled John's blue and white quilt the rest of the way from his bag. Careful of the wet pile of clothes, the boys curled up together in John's back seat. Now wrapped in a blanket they had a chance to build body heat.

John hadn't realized just how cold he really was. He couldn't feel his ears or his toes. His teeth chattered, and he shook from the neck down. His boyfriend was in a similar state. As Dave's legs curled around his, John's skin felt like pins and needles. It reminded him of trying to wake up a sleeping limb. Water slid down his neck from his still wet hair, but shivering did nothing. He was already covered in goose bumps.

"Do you want me to turn on the heat?" John thought to ask. The keys were right there.

"No, that could put us in shock. Warm up first, then heat," Dave said, "Believe me, I'm just as cold as you are."

Daves' head rested on John's chest, and his eyes closed for just a moment. He opened them blearily as if he'd reminded himself not to fall asleep.

John turned his hand over and with the backs of his fingers, gently petted his boyfriend's cheek. He brushed down a stray strand of hair sticking up too, smoothing down Dave's ruined hairdo. He ran his fingers down the shell of Dave's ear, down his jawline, up his cheekbone again. He could feel Dave breathing, slow and comforting.

"Why'd you stop? You went at her with the knife and you froze up. You could have killed her right then."

Dave shifted, frowning.

"Oh," he said under his breath. "I just. I saw you lying there on the ground. I couldn't see you breathing, and I thought I'd heard your spine break, and, I dunno. Looking at you basically dead stopped me in my tracks."

"If I really had died though, where would you be?" John asked in barely a whisper.

Dave's lips parted to answer him, but he didn't get a chance. The sound of tires on gravel halted their conversation. John sat up first, and having lost his pillow so did Dave. Head lights were approaching rapidly. The car stopped abruptly with its headlights cast on John's car.

It was Roxy's car, with Roxy in the driver's seat. The passenger door opened, and John's dad was the one to open it.

"Oh shit," Dave swore, "our shoes are still wet."

"Take your socks off and put them back on when you get off the ground," John said.

"After I get cramps up my legs?" Dave complained, but he peeled his socks off anyway.

Both boys would never say it out loud, but after the night they'd had both of them were happy to see their parents. They both got out of one door and stood bare foot in the lot. The idea sounded better in John's head.

"John!" Jack Egbert exclaimed, climbing out of Roxy's car with haste. Before John could reply, his father was crushing him to his chest, both arms locked tight around him. John returned the embrace almost as quickly.

"I'm okay, Dad," John smiled, squeezing tighter. It'd felt like a million years since he'd seen his father last. It'd been this morning, hadn't it? "I'm okay. I'm fine, I'm okay."

"Johnathan Michael you are grounded!" Jack scolded. "The next month, the next year! I'm home schooling you, you're going to work with me. Don't you ever, ever leave my sight again. Don't you ever run away from home again, don't. I couldn't take it again."

John hiccuped a little laugh. Besides them, Roxy was blubbering as she held on to her own son.

"Oh, baby, oh, sweetheart. Are you okay? Are you hurt? Are you bleeding? Do you need to go to the hospital baby? Darling, where are your shoes? Did you loose them?"

"I'm okay, Muma," Dave replied, letting her basically crush him to her and refuse to let go.

"Dave! The back of your neck!" Roxy gasped. Jasper was there too, John realized, hovering behind his son with a reassuring hand on his son's back. He was careful to respect his son's boundaries despite being just as worked up as his wife.

"I'm okay!" Dave insisted. "It will heal. Mom, something amazing happened. You are never gonna believe it."

"We have an entire car ride home," Jack interrupted. "Three hours. I believe we will have time. Let's get you boys off this cold ground."