The Alternian morning was chilly, and a cold wind carved its sharp path through the angular streets of the City of Night. Terezi had said (in between loads of jabs and verbal sparring) she would take Dave somewhere, although when Dave probed for further details she just crackled like a madwoman and continued on with whatever she was doing. Now the two were walking down the avenue, the silence punctuated with an occasional barb or witty retort from one of them, until they turned a corner and came face to face with one of the merchant class.

"Hey, you there, the Pyrope," The female seafarer sneered down at Terezi. "Why's this guy in shades?"

"Good morning, Madam! My most sincere salutations!" Terezi simpered, her voice laced with sarcasm. Dave could almost hear her snort in amusement at the show she was putting up. And why? For fun, of course! "I bring a blind charge, most honorable Madam! Most wonderful and marvelous Madam! Most elegant, graceful, classy- heehee- Madam!" Terezi started to explain, although her 'explanation' was soon lost in a flood of inane rambling. Dave noticed that Terezi's trolling was subtly more long-winded today, to the point that it was beginning to really grate on his nerves- then he realized that she might have been trying to draw attention away from his blindness, especially when he felt the stranger's piercing eyes on him.

"Blind?" The Serket peered closely at Dave, curling her lip at his red garb. "A Megido, huh? A strange one, but that's not the point...a Megido? And blind? Pft, the scummiest of the scumbags. He probably doesn't contribute anything, does he? Don't bother with the likes of the Megido, definitely not the crippled ones- just cull 'im." Terezi hissed in response, but the woman simply shrugged. Dave couldn't help but twitch- here the woman was, talking about culling him right in front of him. Even if he was in disguise, his blindness wasn't faked- and if this was whatever people were going to say...

"Weeellll..." Neither could see it, but the seafarer grinned almost in a Terezi-esque way as an idea entered her head. "I could report you two, especially the boy, but how about I give you a special deal. If the boy comes with me, then I'll pretend nothing happened and you can keep your nice little legislacerator class and benefits without any reprecussions. Or I could report you, and..."

"What are you going to do to me." Dave deadpanned, the same moment Terezi spat out; "Not in a million years, old hag! He's mine, I tell you! Alllll mine!"

"Have it your way, I'll just be-"

"Going now." Suddenly an individual in blue emerged into the intersection, attempting an authoritative swagger which was killed somewhat by his slightly lopsided glasses and buckteeth. "Back off, they're under my protection."

The seafarer snarled, not bothering to hide her expression of distaste. "Fine. As you wish." She turned away, muttering something about being bossed around by people of higher ranking, and soon vanished around the corner.

"Woonnnderful timing, John!" Terezi crowed cheerily as if nothing happened, recognizing the boy by his distinctively lighter scent. "Your application to join the coolkid class has never been better timed! However, you still fail at that swagger. Work on it."

John looked downcast. "I didn't do a good job? But I tried very hard to be all upper-class and snobby and everything!"

Dave resisted the urge to groan. John had it easy, and he was complaining? Pft. "Try harder, Egbert. It's just not in your blood to be cool."

John nodded in disappointment, and then realized that none of his companions would be able to see his reaction. "I guess...maybe I should go with the two of you, just in case. It was a close call there!"

"I don't like hanger-ons, kid." Terezi snapped back. "We'll try again tomorrow, earlier. Stupid class system. Jegus knows what could have happened to us!"

"Where are you going anyway?" John asked curiously, hopeful that his help today could perhaps get him into Terezi's good books, but no such luck.

"Booooring! I'd thought you would be more creative in your extortion methods, Egbert! Guess I was wrong. What a pity!"

"Just tell me!"

"No chance, darling."

Terezi opened her door to smell three people outside. Equius' STRONG smell was overpowering and along with Nepeta's catnip nearly covered up the delicately grassy scent of the foreigner named Jade. "Got business?" The blind girl tilted her head.

"Yeah, Jade's visiting~!" Nepeta practically mewled. "Can she come in?"

"Yeah, yeah. I don't see why not." Reminding herself to pick up a towel somewhere for Equius, Terezi shrugged and allowed them in. Jade immediately asked about the whereabouts of Terezi's charge, and the blind girl indicated his temporary room with a flick of her cane.

"You've got something for him, hmm? Is that a flush I detect?"

"N-no! Of course not! Don't be daft!" Nevertheless, Jade immediately labeled Dave's room as her sanctuary and fled towards it, amusing Terezi to no end.

"Something's up with those two," Terezi mused after warming up a plate of cookies with a microwave for the others. "I can smell it."

Nepeta immediately pricked up her ears and doubled her already-insufferable enthusiasm. " Pricks up ears in interest - Ooooh! That sounds pawsome! I may have to update my shipping wall, come to think of it…"

Equius frowned sternly. "Don't do that;" he grunted. "It's so...strange and disgusting, recording the romances of others! Isn't tracking twelve people like a lowborn bloodhound good enough already?"

"But there's always room for more!" Nepeta argued excitedly, balantly ignorant of Equius' contempt (Equius hated everything to do with everyone below his class anyway). "They're so interesting!"

Equius muttered something reluctantly and carefully picked up a cookie, but the piece crumbled between his fingers. The strong boy was about to blow, but his friend immediately distracted him by continuing the conversation. "Ummm…. Equius, what is your opinion of the four of them?"

"They are… not very strong, I suppose, but they do not horse around, and I appreciate that." Dusting the crumbs off his fingers, he settled for a carton of milk instead, successfully downing it without crushing the carton. "They're not thoroughbred though. I suppose it's their culture."

"They're all so weird. Especially my blind blondie boy." Terezi chuckled and mentally congratulated herself with the new and innovative nickname. "He doesn't like red! Not even Kanaya's clothes-constructing genius can make him wear red over those boooring white stuff! I don't get him, how could anyone resist such a delicious color? Huh! ...but that aside, he's very amusing. Never without a retort to throw back at me when I wordplay with him. Not bad with his tongue-"

"Ohohoh! Giggles!" Nepeta giggled. "That's so purrfectly scandalous!"

Terezi scowled. "I meant he argues well. Not whatever nonsense your corrupted mind dredged up. Nepeta darling, your mind is so far out in the gutter I'm afraid we can never dig it out again!"

"Teeeerezzziiii! I frown at you!"

Jade ran up the stairs, careful not to make any noise on the way. It didn't help that the floor was all creaky and all, but there was no reaction from Dave's room, so she suppose he hasn't yet noticed. The door was slightly open, so she peeked in. And gasped involuntarily.

At first she thought she saw a ghost. The she realized that the 'ghost' was in fact the person she was looking for, only dressed in pure white. His whitish blond hair blended in perfectly with his pale skin, and gave him an overall ethereal appearance. Dave was presently looking out of the window – or he would have been if the curtains were not drawn.

"D-Dave?" She said haltingly. "Can I c-come in?"

There was no response. Jade hesitated, then pushed the door fully open and crept in anyway. She tiptoed over to stand beside her friend, satisfying herself with his presence and hoping he at least found some comfort in hers - and when Dave finally spoke, it was so sudden that she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"What are you doing here?"

Okay, maybe she shouldn't be here. Dave wasn't himself. He hadn't been himself for a long time, in fact.

...but all the more she needed to come see if he was doing fine, right?

"Umm… I came to s-see you. Y-You haven't been the same since – since that accident." She paused, took a breath, willed her voice to stop shaking already. She wasn't a sheltered and frightened child."I know this sounds silly and insensitive, but what's wrong? Would it help if you talked about it?"

His hands reached out to fumble with the curtain, until they drew the fold of teal fabric open. "Tell me, what do you see outside?"

The sun was harsh even in the late afternoon. She didn't understand what the point of this was, but she knew she should try to be descriptive as possible for Dave's benefit. If there was anything to describe in the first place. "N-Not much, actually. Angular streets, paved light greyish, some people in various colours walking around rapidly. It's, um, very bright, and um...there are buildings...and...uh..." She floundered. There really was nothing. "It doesn't have much compared to our city."

"Is that it?"

"I think so…" She trailed away.

"...interesting." He resumed looking at the general direction of the window.

"Um, you haven't answered my question…?"

More silence, uncomfortable silence. Jade shrank away, tempted to quietly flee the room and leave Dave none the wiser. But somehow, she stayed put until her friend replied.

"That's because I don't know how to answer it." His tone was surprisingly harsh, bitter, and Jade flinched as if she had been hit. "I never asked for it. None of it.None of it!" Sounding dangerously close to hysteria, Dave whirled around and gestured roughly at his soul-piercing red eyes. "What did I do to deserve this? What? Why did it have to be me? Did I do anything wrong?"

Jade unconsciously backed away, too stunned to say anything. She quailed slightly under the intensity of his blind gaze. Dave seemed to be having a meltdown. "- and I know this sounds horrible but everyone else has it so great and yet they're complaining about their lives and what about me? - John has everything, everything, including a great high-class identity and both his eyes are functioning and what does he do? He thinks his life sucks just because Terezi takes jabs at everyone, when you have a blind Megido boy here who gets put down by everyone because everyone thinks he's blind and low-casted and therefore utterly useless! What did I do to deserve this?"

A ghastly silence hung between the two. Dave leaned against the wall for support, trembling, his breathing ragged. With a whimper that he didn't even pause to contemplate the uncoolness of, he covered his face with shaking hands. "what did i do to deserve this"

Jade swallowed her fear and terror. Dave needed someone right now. She cautiously minced forward, nervously placing a hand on his shoulder. "...I don't know, Dave. I...don't know."

What a terribly inadequate answer. Come on, Jade, you can do it! "But what I do know, is that you shouldn't listen to all those people, because they don't know you. If it's really the rest of the world who treats you like that, then the rest of the world have no idea what a brilliant person you are. Truly." She shuffled closer and tried not to start crying herself, because she had to be strong for Dave. "I...I'm sorry. But it'll be okay, I promise. Everyone else can berate you but you must know that you have friends, Dave, who care for you! John seems to really have it easy, I know, but you should know that he's ready to stand by you any time, under any circumstance. We're all here for you, Dave."

It sounded unbelieveably cheesy, but...

"I'm here for you."

Dave had finally seemed to calm down. "...I'm sorry for that outburst. I guess I was overreacting a little. I apologize if I scared you."

Shemumbled something about not minding. At last she remembered her purpose, and managed a shaky smile. "Alright, now that the little sob-fest is over, let's move on to happier things!"

"...what."

"I'm going to teach you how to dance."

"What?" The look on his face was priceless.

"Yeah, dance!" Jade found that inserting enthusiasm into her voice was quite easy."Like, proper dancing and not the random flailing around that we used to do. John taught me how to do it just this morning, and I came so I could teach you!" Jade made herself grin widely. "It'll be better than all the moping around you do all day! All you need is a distraction!"

"But how the heck am I supposed to do that if I can't even see?"

"Sight doesn't have anything to do with dancing anyway. As I've said, I can teach you, I've learned both parts. Don't worry!"

The catacomb was uncomfortably cold and stuffy. Terezi had herded Dave through countless alleyways, and insisted on leaving no later than three hours after midnight. To minimize interruption, she had said, and refused to answer any of his other questions. After who knows how long of traveling and a lot of stairs (good thing nobody fell), they had arrived at their destination.

"Where are we?" Dave said, unaccustomed to the biting chill of the Alternian night.

"Somewhere that nobody else knows~" Terezi said in a singsong voice, placing his hand on a wall. "Lesson time, my enthusiastic student!" (Dave did not bother to point out that it was Terezi who had forced him into this 'lesson'.) "Feel those depressions in the wall? They're symbols. I found this while sniffing out an extremely musty yet sparkly scent."

"And what does smell have to do with anything?" Dave removed his hand from the cold stone.

"Everything, of course! It's a special blind-gate that only the unique likes of us can go through! Don't you just feel so special thinking about it?" Terezi quipped playfully.

"Yes. I feel filled with an overwhelming sense of purpose now." Dave immediately shot back, sarcastic and deadpan as usual. "Other than doing nothing, nothing and nothing I can add 'going through random gates I can't even find on my own' to my extensive skill set. I thank you so much."

"That's the spirit!" Terezi crackled. "But enough fooling around. I apparently need some time thingamajig to get through the hurdle after this, and although Aradia's got skillz she hasn't got the sightlessness - and as of now, the life - to do, so here you are!"

Dave shrugged, coolkid style. "Alright, what now?"

"Put your hand there –" here Terezi pressed his right hand against the unyielding stone once more "– and wait."

At first he couldn't feel anything different, and then the stone began to shift and a warm sensation began to spread over his body. For a normal person, the light emanating from the single symbol on the wall would have blinded them permanently, but since Dave was already blind it wouldn't have made a difference. There was another rumble as the stone wall slid open, revealing a passageway into the cold earth beneath. He coughed slightly as the dank air from the catacomb began to rise.

"Here you enter." Terezi gave him a shove in the direction of the entrance. "Have fun, my enthusiastic student! There's some prophecy thing inside, you'll need to read it. Because if you don't the others will have my head for it and then where would you be? I'll be waiting up here. Good luck, and watch the stairs~"

Dave stumbled into the chamber. The crudely hacked stone walls gave him quite a few cuts as he felt his way down, but luckily the stairs were not as hard to handle. He felt glad that he wasn't driven to the point of considering echolocation, a totally uncool method of sensing his surroundings- not to mention he didn't know how to do it properly anyway. But at last the floor became horizontal and he forged forward to find a dead end. There were raised stone symbols on the wall, but they had been worn down by erosion and age, along with a strange indentation in the middle of the wall. He had difficulty tracing the lines of one complete symbol, and as even Terezi had been unable to read it, he eventually gave up.

What now? He thought.

Terezi had said something about time.

Hmm.

If only… oi! Future me! Get a move on!

And there was a dull hum. Dave grinned to himself, reaching out confidently for the pair of machines he knew were his.

And there they were. Dave felt the familiar grooves of vinyl records beneath his fingers, and heard the methodical clicking of what could only be a pair of gears. He made a mental note to thank his future self later, and then after scrabbling some more to get a better idea of how to work the thing he gave the timetables an experimental spin. The gears jammed. Cursing, he felt around again, and realizing his error, spun them again differently. The gears clicked against each other rapidly, the hum intensifying, and Dave felt a slight disturbance around him as the timeline shifted.

All at once his vision was flooded with red. The colour pulsed and ebbed around him in a flowing stream, and images flashed through the crimson water in a dizzy maelstorm. There was also a glittering golden point that stayed stationary in the flow, along with another more faded point further left. He was somehow compelled to make the brighter point move leftward, and they did once he willed the movement to happen. In the exact moment the two points completely overlapped the vision ended.

Before him was the wall with its inscriptions once again. However there was a very major difference – he was able to see! The raised stone formed a flowing block of text, and as if by intuition he reached out to touch the now-present white crystal in the middle of the wall.

Are you of pure heart and stead fast resolve? A voice rose in a rich vibrato and into his mind.

My heart is clear as glass and my resolve is of iron, he replied instinctively. Although he wasn't really sure if- ah well. Never hurt to have a little confidence in your capabilities.

Then look well, young one, for our race is at an end; these are our last words, and they are also a part of your prophecy.

The inscriptions shimmered and the glyphs shifted themselves across the unyielding stone. As they landed in their proper positions, the message instantly became clear.

In times of greatest need, the light which brings salvation is often not much different from the darkness which wrought destruction.

There will be four who will join hands to restore the equilibrium of the world.

The first, a knight who ascends with the wings of a phoenix and sees history with eyes the colour of blood.

The second, an heir to the world's winds who summons the lightning from the clouds.

The third, a witch who weaves the fabric of space with song and draws the power of life from the very soil.

The fourth, a seer who commands fortune with the tranquility and mystique of the deep.

There will also be twelve, reincarnations from the past, and a thirteenth of equal importance.

There have always been seven lands and six elements. Now there are only four.