Slightly late chapter today. Reworked a bunch of it last-minute. Hopefully, the slight wait was worth it!

Oh, and FFN is being a jerk and isn't rendering the horned smileys or the eight-dot ellipses correctly.

John: Hey Terezi.

John: This isn't John.

John: This is Vriska.

Vriska: I 8et you're wondering how I got ahold of John's phone.

Vriska: Actually, I 8et you're wondering how I'm still alive.

Vriska: To 8e honest, I'm not sure either.

Vriska: I released the juju and got hit 8y a shard of reality.

Vriska: And I got pulled into the 8lack hole…..

Vriska: 8ut now I'm here. I'm on Earth C. Somehow.

Vriska: I don't understand why it would 8e inside a 8lack hole.

Vriska: No8ody else seems to realise where they are, either. It's really weird.

Vriska: 8ut enough a8out that. I'm ram8ling. You remem8er how I can get.

Vriska: You still remem8er me, right?

Vriska: You'd 8etter. I'm hard to forget, aren't I? :::;)

Vriska: Well…..

Vriska: I don't really know what to say.

Vriska: It's weird. I haven't 8een in touch with you for so long; you'd think I'd have a lot more to say!

Vriska: 8ut I'm not sure what to tell you.

Vriska: I hope you're still alive.

Vriska: If you are, let me know. Please.

Vriska: It gives me an ache to think a8out you 8eing…..

Vriska: No, I'm not going to think a8out it.

Vriska: 8ut please, pleeeeeeeease tell me. Tell me right away. I know there's pro8a8ly a time delay in the messages 8ecause of o8noxious time shenanigans. So I'll w8. I can w8.

Vriska: I know what you're gonna say. You'll say "VR1SK4 YOU HAVE THE P8T13NC3 OF N3P3T4 ON C4TN1P" or something.

Vriska: 8ut I'll w8 for you.

Vriska: It's for you.

Vriska: I miss you.

Vriska: Come 8ack, if you can. I want to see you again.

Vriska: Like I said, we've got a hail of a lot to catch up on.

Vriska: How old are you now?

Vriska: I hope you're not weirdly old.

Vriska: Every8ody here is, like, at least 20 sweeps old. It's freaking me out.

Vriska: Rose and Kanaya got married, which is gr8 for them. They adopted a kid, and she's almost my age… well, the age I was when I left.

Vriska: I'm not sure how old I am now. Pro8a8ly 10 or something? My eyes have gone 8lue, so I've gotta 8e at least 9.

Vriska: It's so forking weird, getting older without remem8ering it happen.

Vriska: Oh, and John has a kid? You know that, right?

Vriska: You've 8een in touch with him. I saw your weirdly flirt8ious convers8ions with him. He's like 10 sweeps older than you now! That's forking creepy!

Vriska: 8ut… yeah. We DEFINITELY have a lot to catch up on.

Vriska: You'd never 8elieve who I just killed. Now THAT'S a long story. 8ut I'll tell you in a not-text, okay?

Vriska: 8y the way, EG8ERT! If you see this, STOP READING THESE MESSAGES! THEY'RE PRIV8!

Vriska: 8ut... you don't have to contact me.

Vriska: I guess…

Vriska: I don't…..

Vriska: Siiiiiiiigh.

Vriska: It's okay if you've moved on.

Vriska: It's okay if you think I'm not worth your time.

Vriska: I mean…..

Vriska: What have I ever done to earn it from you?

Vriska: I mean, I'm the reason you're 8lind.

Vriska: I hurt you.

Vriska: And other people, I guess. 8ut this isn't a8out them.

Vriska: I guess I don't understand why you stuck with me even after that.

Vriska: You still kept up the moirallegiance.

Vriska: Even though, you know, I've always 8een an axehat.

Vriska: May8e I should stop that.

Vriska: I met a different version of me while I was in the dream 8u88les.

Vriska: She had a tattoo? What the fork was up with that?

Vriska: 8ut she was different in other ways.

Vriska: She was happier than me. She didn't have all these walls 8uilt up around her, know what I mean?

Vriska: And I freaked out when I saw her.

Vriska: Like, how DARE this second-r8 knockoff of me 8e happier than me? How forking DARE her?

Vriska: 8ut now I've realised…

Vriska: That version of me is the 8etter version of me.

Vriska: She'd 8e the moirail you deserve.

Vriska: Not me.

Vriska: ::::'(

Vriska: So…..

Vriska: It's okay if you move on.

Vriska: I guess I'll just have to live with that.

Vriska: I….. I think I'll have a hard time with it, though.

Vriska: You've 8een a part of my life for so long.

Vriska: I… I'd h8 to lose you. Not again.

Vriska: Really, I don't know wh8t to tell you!

Vriska: I want you to st8y, 8ut I also want you to 8e h8ppy!

Vriska: 8nd I don't th8nk you can h8ve 8oth!

Vriska: I don't kn8w it I c8n have 8oth, eith8r!

Vriska: 8ecause I just w8nt to s88 you, or h8ar from yo8, m8re than 8nything in th8 world!

Vriska: And I'm c8nfused, a8out 8 lot of th8ngs!

Vriska: 8nd I'm… I'm sc8red a8out 8ll of th8s!

Vriska: I'm sc8red 8nd I don't kn8w wh8t to do!

Vriska: 8ut you…

Vriska: You're my Scourge Sister.

Vriska: If any8ody can help me out right now, it would 8e you.

Vriska: So…..

Vriska: Please call me.

Vriska: Or don't.

Vriska: I want to say I don't care… 8ut honestly, I do.

Terezi shuts her phone off and stares at it for a while. A turquoise tear leaks out of her eye, followed by another one, and then another, coming quicker and quicker and before she knows it she's out-and-out sobbing.

Vriska's alive. Vriska's okay. And Vriska misses her.

That's all she ever really wanted to know, wasn't it?

But, evidently, she's in a different Earth C from the one Terezi's on right now. The John there is alive. Hers is dead, his body stuck in a wallet.

Terezi reopens the message and rereads the ending. Typical Vriska move, manipulating someone into doing something while making it look like she had no intentions of the sort. Of course, she might not have done so intentionally, but considering it's Vriska, she's not willing to put anything past her.

She would have called anyway.

Terezi swipes to the phone app. It's about time she makes the call. Who knows how long it's been on Vriska's end? Hours? Weeks?

Just before she presses the call button, she smells something odd.

Something's in the air. Humans and trolls, traveling at a breakneck pace.

Terezi sniffs again and recognises five distinct and familiar scents. She pulls on her jetpack. Before she takes off, she sends a brief message.

Terezi: H3Y VR1SK4

Terezi: YOU H4V3 NO 1D34 HOW GR34T 1T 1S TO H34R FROM YOU

Terezi: C4NT C4LL RN, SOM3TH1NGS UP

Terezi: 1LL C4LL YOU 1N L1K3 F1FT33N M1NUT3S D3P3ND1NG ON WH4TS UP

Terezi: SM3LL Y4 L4T3R :]