SOY: here you go, another chapter for you :)

…–…–…–…–…–…

Rating: Mature for themes and later content.

Warnings: none.

Disclaimer: I don't own HomeStuck.

…–…–…–…–…–…

Higher than Hope

Chapter 04

They were surrounded by the velvety, dull blanket of darkness of the outside of the meteor.

Terezi was smirking, sliding close to him only to tap his nose with her cane, retreating with a flirtatious smile, waiting for him to follow.

Dave's legs felt weird –a bit too slow, like he was walking through water– but he did his best to give chase, his heart fluttering slightly.

He didn't quite get troll romance, but she felt like an exception. She felt like someone who could fill up his days and never tire him out.

There were things of Terezi that scared him –her words, the edge of her smirk, the merciless way she played with her mock-trials, hanging the guilty and mocking the opposition– but he liked her. She was honest, brutally so, and it kept him grounded, through all the lies he spun.

He blinked, and Terezi was in his arms, pressing her lips teasingly against his jaw; he could feel her smirking lazily as she let him hug her, body sharp and dangerous.

As he held her close, he wondered why it felt so wrong –why her frame felt like it should be softer, bigger. Less Terezi, more–

He stumbled forwards, looking around at the roofless meteor, moving like he was swimming through sludge.

The surface of the meteor hurt his eyes, so he turned around to leave, but the air was thick and heavy, and he could barely breathe.

"John!" he called out, and his throat hurt for some reason. He'd drank too much coffee. That made sense. Too much coffee could tear you apart. "I know it's you, give me back my shoes!"

There was a flicker of blue at the edge of his vision and he turned around, laughing–

But it wasn't John. And it wasn't blue.

It was Gamzee, roughly kissing Terezi against the wall.

She was kissing him back.

Dave blinked, then looked away, uninterested –he'd seen them already, before. He needed to get to Karkat, because they had to play Monopoly together and…

Gamzee's face was suddenly in front of him, staring at him with Terezi's eyes, and then he was spinning, spinning, heavy and falling and–

Dave blinked in the dark and sneezed, awaking abruptly, shaken away from his dream, and panted into the silent room, feeling his heart race in his chest but too confused to focus on why it was beating so fast.

Something in the corner shifted, and Dave knew with absurd certainty that if he looked, he would see Gamzee there.

He opened his mouth to talk, and suddenly the corners of the room slid into focus, morphing from the dark angles of his room on the meteor to the wooden room of the hive.

Heart still racing, Dave closed his eyes and took a deep breath, waiting until he'd calmed down before looking to the side, trembling fingers grabbing the bowl and drinking water from it, relieving his thirst, then he shuffled a bit, hoisting himself up into a sitting position.

His side gave him a warning, but it didn't flare up and he breathed in relief.

With a soft sigh, he leaned to the side, observing the wall and squinting a bit; he had asked Rufioh to be moved next to one of the walls, close enough to the window that he could peer out whenever he wanted, and had spent countless moments staring at the quiet sea of trees outside during the evening hours.

Leaning forwards a bit, Dave located the line of small marks he'd carved with his nails onto the window pane, and counted them. Thirteen marks –one for each day since he'd woken up in the new universe.

Flexing his legs, Dave carefully lowered them to the floor but didn't stand, simply relishing the feeling of cool wooden panels under his bare feet.

Thirteen days, and finally the remains of his Godtier powers had kicked in, hurrying his healing up so that the wound had turned into a scar.

It would take longer for it to heal properly, but he judged he was well on the way of full health.

He tugged the panel covering the window and slid it to the side. It was still night, the world outside of the hut covered by a velvet shade; the moon was somewhere above the roof, but its light was enough to show Dave a good view of the forest.

The nights on this new, and as of yet still unnamed, planet were brighter than on Earth, but the moon was dimmer than those shining in Alternia and Beforus' sky; the days looked normal to Dave, but for the trolls the knowledge that they wouldn't get burnt into a crisp for standing out in the daylight had been a huge surprise.

Due to that, the two had adopted a semi-diurnal lifestyle, adapting to the days of 28 hours by alternating bouts of six, seven hours of rest with a longer period of wake. The first day they would wake up in the late afternoon, when the sun wasn't too bright to be annoying, and go to sleep roughly eighteen hours later. The cycle was repeated evenly, and it returned to the same starting time on the seventh day. this allowed them to still count the time in weeks.

While the trolls had been able to settle down easily, for Dave it was a bit harder, and he still woke up a bit disoriented, or fell asleep during the 'waking period'. The two trolls had taken turns to follow his messed up pattern while he recovered, but he was slowly settling down, aligning his sleeping hours to match theirs.

As he idly observed the night view, the dream fluttered up to the surface of his conscious, and he quickly shoved it back where it belonged.

He didn't want to think about Terezi.

After their break-up, no matter how 'okay' he always said he was, he had gone out of his way to avoid her (he'd say 'give her space', but he knew which option was the truth), and she had done the same, leaving him behind to be with the juggalo troll. He cared for her, she was still a friend, no matter what had happened, but… he didn't want to have to confront those feelings.

Not yet.

And still, even finding her, dealing with the awkwardness, would be better than this isolation, the feeling that his friends were in danger.

He worried about her. He worried about all his friends, about K… and not knowing where they were only made him more anxious. He could force himself to forget when he had company, which was why he enjoyed being around Rufioh so much –the guy could talk for hours uninterrupted if allowed to– but he wasn't with the others all the time.

His train of thoughts always ended up in the same direction, and worrying sick was a thing Dave did daily.

With a sigh, Dave concentrated on something else, driving away those thoughts –it was a good moment to try and stand up.

Rufioh had been adamant to make him rest first, and not attempt to walk until he was sure his wound had closed completely; Eridan hadn't wanted to risk being found out after the first time, and Dave could only disobey when he was alone.

He knew it wasn't the brightest idea, but he didn't care –it was bad enough to be dependent on the two trolls… he didn't want to admit his own uselessness more than this.

Smirking to himself, Dave pushed his weight forwards, holding onto the side of the bed as he finally stood up straight, legs parted to balance himself better.

His heart was pounding in his temples, wild and exhilarated, and he took a series of deep breaths to calm himself down.

"Ok, good, I'm standing, tall and proud and all that shit, a pole of steadiness, now let's not ruin this by slipping, wouldn't be cool, only idiots slip while standing, I'm not even walking yet c'mon, just keep it cool–"

He bit down on his lower lip, blocking the muttering mid-rant. Talking to himself made him lose focus, and he had to keep quiet.

Lips moving soundlessly as he continued his rant on mute-mode, Dave flexed one leg first, putting all his weight on one foot, the one on the opposite side of the wound. No problem there, aside for the way his bones popped as he shifted. Easy.

He tried to do the same to his other leg, but while he could easily stand on both legs, his right one still couldn't take all that much weight without trembling, tendons and muscles straining under the tension, so he quickly balanced himself evenly again.

Ok, he could make do. He was good at finding out details and pieces of information about things and work with them.

He stepped forwards with his left leg, mindful of keeping one hand on the bed as support, and everything went well.

Good.

He flexed his right leg experimentally, testing out the muscles, and the bones of his hips cracked a bit. Moving it didn't hurt, though the talon couldn't reach his calf (not without stretching it first to avoid cramping) but he could lift it to at least twenty degrees before it started straining.

Dave wasn't even aware he was smiling, since he was too busy focusing on his leg and side; he felt euphoric, because this was much more progress than he'd done in a whole week, with or without the fussy presence of Rufioh, and it was enough to strengthen his determination.

Yes, he was almost healed enough to ask Rufioh to take him out for a flight… then he could get directions and see just how big the forest was, and how to orientate himself to search for his friends –for Karkat.

And–

He'd been focusing so hard on this rush of adrenaline that he didn't even realise he'd let go of the bed, taking two steps towards the centre of the room on his own.

The moment all his weight was placed on his right leg, the muscles sent a spasm of pain up his side.

White, searing agony exploded in his head and robbed him of his breath.

Instantly, both his legs gave out beneath him, and he crumbled on the floor with a choked gasp, panting and pressing his forehead against the wood, eyes unseeing, waiting for the wave of pain to pass.

His lungs finally unclenched, and he took a shuddery breath, air burning as it went in, leaving him wheezing.

The floor smelled stuffy, dust settling into his lungs and making them hurt, but he was unable to move, and kept breathing shallowly, forehead pressed against the boards enough to leave marks on the skin.

Slowly, the pain receded and Dave coughed out the dust, shifting until he was on his side, head tilted to look at the ceiling tiles.

"F… fuck," he wheezed, weak and shocked.

What was going on?

He was quite sure the wound had closed up correctly, and he had no idea why it hurt so much still.

Maybe he had to do more stretching before moving…?

"Wwhat the f–"

Eridan's voice startled Dave out of his thoughts, and he tilted his head slightly to stare at the door, blinking softly.

"Davve, wwhat the hell happened?!"

Quickly, the troll made his way to him, kneeling at his side, and Dave's nostrils were suddenly hit by the pungent smell of fish. He gurgled and wrinkled his nose. "Better then," he replied, voice shaking a bit, "what's with that smell? Shit, you reek like you've just dismembered a whale and decided to take a nap inside its belly".

Completely deadpan, Eridan glared down at him, swatting his shoulder slightly. "No shit," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "I wwas takin' care of cookin' for today".

Dave snorted. "Where did you even get the fish?"

"There's a glubbin' rivver some miles down," he replied, hands still hovering above Dave's shoulders. "Ruf's brought stuff before goin' ta bed".

Dave nodded, relaxing a bit; this was apparently the signal Eridan had been waiting for, because he tugged him up into a sitting position, then helped him stand again. Dave leaned heavily against him as the troll guided him back to the bed, and did not let go until the human had sat down again.

He remained standing in front of him, even as Dave avoided looking at him, shuffling a bit and flexing his toes.

"Wwell?" apparently, Eridan wasn't the most patient of trolls.

"Wwell wwhat?" Dave replied, mocking the troll's speech quirk.

Completely uncaring, Eridan grunted and rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course, because mockin' me is a completely vvalid wway to make me leavve".

"Worth a try," Dave grunted, looking down at his lap. "I tried to walk, that's all," he finally bit out, tensing up slightly and expecting Eridan to chide him.

"Wwhat, an' ya crampled dowwn like a wwet seasponge twwo steps in?" Eridan knew how to make himself look unimpressed, and it was enough to annoy Dave. "Maybe you shoulda done that wwith someone 'round, huh?"

"Oh, shut up, I would see you try to get some walking done with Mr ControlFreak over there," he sighed, lifting one trembling hand to brush through his bangs. "My leg hurt and I wasn't expecting it".

The troll didn't speak, but when Dave glanced at him, Eridan looked perplexed.

While they hadn't really hit off very well at first, with Dave being quite sure Eridan was barely acknowledging his presence in the hive (for whatever reason) and the whole mishap with quadrants –fuck that shit– now the two were functioning together at an acceptable level. So, Dave was almost sure he could detect some worry on the seatroll's face.

After all Eridan had saved his life, so…

"Wwhat hurt?"

"Leg," Dave repeated, frowning a bit. "The one on the side of the wound".

"Wwhere. Details, Davve, howw am I supposed ta help if you're bein' vvague?"

Blinking, Dave tried to think about his pain. "Uh… I wasn't really focusing on the details, I was too busy inhaling dust".

He reached for the bowl of water, a constant at his bedside, and drank most of it, coughing to remove all the dust from his throat.

"Wwell then, get back up," Eridan ordered, tugging at Dave's shoulder, expecting him to obey. "Get your lazy human ass off the floor an' showw me".

With a soft grunt, Dave complied, standing up and balancing himself. Even if he felt a bit tired, his leg didn't really hurt, and the phantom pain from before felt more like a bad dream now.

Still, it took him a few seconds to let go of the bed, and then he hesitantly stepped forwards with his left leg; again, nothing happened. Then he brought forth the other leg–

He felt the same sharp pain hit him instantly, and with a yelp he pushed back, shifting all of his weight on his left leg.

"Shit–"

Eridan kneeled at his side, tugging up Dave's shirt enough to uncover his wound, which now only needed a loose bandage; the seatroll loosened them to check on it.

"Doesn't look like it reopened," he commented, cool fingers tracing the ragged scar.

Dave watched him stand up again. "Wait, let me try again–" he stepped forwards once more, trying to concentrate–

He hissed out loudly this time, and his leg gave out again, but instead of falling down on the floor, like before, Dave was quickly intercepted by Eridan, who helped him stand up again.

Feeling helpless as he panted, fingers gripping tightly on Eridan's shoulders, Dave tried to focus on the lingering throbbing. "I-it's the back of the thigh," he finally gritted out, throwing a thankful gaze as Eridan lowered him back on the bed.

"Get dowwn," the troll ordered.

Dave sighed but did as he was told, laying down on the bed. Eridan was quick and precise, lifting his leg up and pressing two fingers right on the underneath of his knee. There was no pain, and even as Eridan tried to pinpoint where it hurt, there was still no pain.

"I havve absolutely no idea wwhat the fuck is wwrong wwith you," the troll had to admit after a bit of prodding. "Wwhy don't you get some more rest? I need ta go back a keep wworkin'".

"Wait!" Dave's hand dashed out and took a hold of Eridan's sleeve. "Fuck, no we went there already remember? Don't fucking let me rot in here! I can help with the fish! Just… fuck, please, get me out of here, will you?

"I'm not your crutch, Davve," Eridan groused, voice thick with disdain. "You can barely wwalk".

Dave grunted, hand releasing the sleeve to curl up into a fist on his lap, and he looked away from the other teen.

No, the troll could just go suck his cold bulge somewhere else. He wasn't going to beg anymore.

It wasn't his fault he'd gotten hurt in the first place. He didn't even want to be there with them. He wanted to leave.

"Fuck off then," he growled, trying to hide the way his voice shook. "Don't even know why I asked".

Eridan hesitated, the coldness in his stance relaxing a bit.

He couldn't say he understood the weird specimen of an alien; he hadn't had much contact with humans, not even when in the bubbles, and his only knowledge was the messed up interaction with the weird guy obsessed with guns. Which had been something Eridan had despised, both for the inclusion of Sollux in the equation and the fact that nothing had mattered shit back then.

But Dave was stranded somewhere without being able to leave, and wounded, and not even allowed to move on his own.

He wasn't there of his own volition.

Eridan himself could understand the way Dave acted, his desire to be around someone else. He'd done his fair share of clinging back then. Feferi, Karkat most of all, even Vriska. Whenever and to his own pace, to fill the silence of his hive with the familiar pings of Trollian.

He had to remind himself that being here was his own decision. Not an imposition. Not forced by anyone else. Just him.

Annoyed at himself for feeling a fraction of compassion for the human, for having humiliated him needlessly –he should have been happy, but that had stopped being enjoyable long, long ago– Eridan rubbed the bridge of his nose, shoulders sagging in defeat.

"I guess the least you could do is your fuckin' share of the wwork," he mumbled, sounding almost dejected. "I wwill laugh a' you wwhen you beg me to take you back here, you useless prick".

Dave looked up sharply at him, assessing him with a penetrant gaze, but there was something raw in his face that made Eridan look away, feeling embarrassed.

"I'm not wwaitin' forevver," he added grumpily, offering the human his hand.

Dave swallowed, tired and still feeling angry, then inhaled sharply. "I can leave the room on my own, fuck you very much".

"Don't be ridiculous," Eridan made an expectant motion with his hand. "I'm not dragging your bony self through the hivve wwhen you fall dowwn".

"Maybe then you should".

Feeling an intense dislike for the troll, the whole situation, and himself for his obvious life choices, Dave carefully slid out of the bed and lowered himself down on the floor, glaring at Eridan all the while.

Eridan stared down at him in disbelief, hand still stretched towards him. Dave stared back, daring him to actually do it.

So Eridan actually reached out, grabbed the neck of Dave's shirt, and started tugging him away from the bed, mindless of Dave's soft gasp, his body sliding on the wooden floor as he dragged him across the room easily.

Dave blinked in shock, unable to shake it off until they were actually out into the corridor –the only other familiar part of the hive he'd seen since getting there– and when it finally hit him that Eridan was basically using him to clean the floor, all his anger disappeared into a fit of strangled laughter.

"I… I can't believe you were moppin' up the floor with me," Dave snorted in disbelief.

Much to his own disgruntlement, Eridan was equally amused, his lips twitching upwards in a silent chuckle, until both teen were shaking in mirth, Eridan pressed against the wall of the corridor and Dave hunched over, face covered with his arm.

"Wwill you behavve noww or should I givve the corridor a good cleanin'?" Eridan looked down, gills twitching slightly, and Dave snorted, nodding.

"I will be a model patient," he assured, shaking his head.

He ignored Eridan's offered hand, though, and shuffled until he could hoist himself up again. His side hurt as he moved, but other than that it didn't reopen, which was good. He really didn't want to go back to his bed. Dave had to push all his weight on his good leg, but he didn't mind as long as he could stand on his own.

Eridan watched him, eyes catching the signs of pain flickering on his face and the tenseness of his muscles, but did not reach out to help.

Still, once the human was up, he tugged him closer until he had one arm around his shoulders, holding a good part of his weight.

"Ready for a three-legged race here, just watch us win the game," Dave muttered, talking to dispel the fact that he still needed help. "There'll better be a fancy maiden ready to give me a kiss at the finish line".

"Sorry, Ruf's still sleepin' noww".

Dave couldn't help it –he snorted, tilting his head to the side so that he could hide his face against the curve of his shoulder.

"Cmon, bigfish, let's get to the kitchen, giddy up!"

"Ain't movvin' till you ask nicely, wwriggly monkey".

"Jesus, are you for real," Dave composed himself, a calm exterior and a blank face. "Will you show me the way to the kitchens, m'lord?"

"Wwell, that wwill suffice, yes," Eridan replied with a courteous nod. "This wway, sea that you don't slip n' fall".

"Then it'd be all your fault, m'lord, since you're supposed to be holding me up like a fair princess".

Eridan let out a snort. They continued bantering all the way to the nutrition block.

"Good morning to you two!"

Eridan and Dave turned around, watching Rufioh stomp into the kitchen with a very satisfied face.

The troll had not been around for a good portion of the day, probably scouting ahead and doing whatever the fuck Rufioh did in his spare time, but he had a healthy flush on his cheeks and was carrying the body of a white creature on his back.

As he spotted Eridan and Dave, he threw the thing onto the floor, and it fell with a weird squelching sound, unmoving.

"Well then mates, today's been quite surprising!" Rufioh grinned at both, then rolled the creature over with a boot. "But quite a good hunt, never felt so alive since I was, well, uh, livin'!"

Apparently his squeamish behaviour with blood only extended to trolls and humans, because the animal in front of him was very much dead and quite bloody, red still pouring out from its body and onto the wooden tiles.

Dave leaned forwards a bit, using the table as a crutch to shift closer to the thing.

It wasn't like any animal from Earth, so it meant this was one from Alternia. Or Beforus.

"What's that called?" he asked, circling the body and gaping at the mouth, meeting two different rows of fangs and two distinct tongues lolling out.

"Actually, I have no dam– no idea, that thing looks a bit like sweet Meulin's Lusus, but that's not a Lusus at all. It attacked me, goin' all growly and famished at me so I had ta take it down. Figured it'd be good flavour, get me?"

Dave glanced up, and caught Rufioh licking his lips appreciatively, still proudly beaming down at his prey. Eridan let out a loud, squeaky sound through his throat and his gills fluttered as he moved towards the animal, probably judging how to cut it into pieces.

Not as interested as the two trolls in the whole process of dismembering the animal, but still intrigued at it, Dave observed the size of the head and the fangs.

Nothing like this on Earth, but it looked majestic. New animals, he just knew Jade was going crazy somewhere…

It wasn't all white either, the tails and the tip of the ears were dark grey–

"I also found this, figured you'd be grateful to have it back!"

Something was shoved under his nose and Dave recoiled, surprised. It took him a second to focus on what was under his nose, and when he did he made a strangled sound deep in his throat, both hands darting up to wrap around what Rufioh was giving him.

His Captchalogue Modus. With his cards.

Eridan peered from above his shoulder, raising both eyebrows in surprise. "Wwait, those still wwork evven in here?"

Not listening, Dave hurried around the table, leaning heavily on it for support, ignoring the jolts of pain from his leg, and sat at the table, trembling fingers stroking the side of his modus block.

He'd figured he would never see it again, and now…

"What kind is that even, I tried ta get something out but it didn't let me, thought it'd be broken but I figured you'd want it anyway!" Rufioh smirked. "Found it around where we found you, fallen into a hole under one of those trees, but was like finding a treasure, gods, do I miss having treasures to hunt with my crew, they were a bit loud but good company–"

Dave grabbed one of the cards from its slot. It was orange and yellow, with a grey border. "Not broken, just encrypted," he replied. "During our trip, uh, I stole Karkat's encryption modus and fused it with mine. Made this shitty thing, totally not ironic but works better than my feathery self's one, so I can't complain… Encrypt Tag-stack".

Eridan didn't seem all that interested, as he was already skinning the beast in the middle of the kitchen, but Rufioh sat down in front of him, looking expectantly at Dave.

"Means the slots are stacked from longer word to shorter, to get something out you decipher the code based on the name, the number of letters composing the word, in my case, synonyms. So I rap it out".

Rufioh scratched the base of his horn, looking perplexed. "Sounds complicated, man, isn't it hard to use?"

"Actually it's pretty safe, and it gets easier to use when you crack the code," he shrugged.

He sifted through the cards, eyes brightening up at a particular one.

Rufioh leaned forwards, trying to hear what Dave was muttering, but then he was taken aback by a huge pile of metallic pieces of various dimensions flying out of the captchalogue card, clattering all over the kitchen floor, filling the space that wasn't already covered by the partially skinned carcass.

"You're very welcome," Dave stated, looking quite satisfied with himself. "Now don't let me stop you from asking what, exactly, are those apparently useless metallic pieces of shit".

Rufioh winced automatically at his words, then straightened up his back. "Do tell bro, I'm all auricular sponge clots".

"This," Dave patted one of the bigger pieces, "is our portable energy convertor".

Eridan was the first to grasp the meaning of that, and he quickly grabbed one of the pieces, staring down at it in wonder. "Means wwhat I think it means?"

"Yep," the human looked quite smug. "We brought things from the lab with us when we left. Couldn't leave anything without knowing what to expect, get me? Shared things between us, dismantled them so they'd fit into the cards. Won't be having a party with a coffee maker or a washer, sorry, but yes, give me a few hours to put it all back together and we'll have electricity, fuck those shitty torches, no more fear of burning down the hive guys!"

Eridan ripped out one of the animal's six legs and stared up at him, nodding in approval. "Fuckin' fantastic," he stated, grinning. "Havve been wwantin' to wwork on my wweapons for a swweep noww".

Dave recaptchalogued the objects in the same card, and Rufioh helped him out of the kitchen, moving like he couldn't even feel Dave's weight.

Since Eridan had agreed to help Dave around the hive, he had been able to get a good look at the whole hut, and even though he couldn't really move on his own –yet. He still had hope that the newfound pain in his leg would vanish, soon– he now had a good understanding of how big it was.

Rufioh had built it all with wood, since this new universe didn't have ready factories of metal, using vines and plants and making bricks with the mud, including the rudimentary oven in the kitchen.

Dave wasn't about to tell them yet –not until he made sure the Energy Convertor worked– but he was also the proud carrier of an electric stove. Making food would be easier now. He'd have to thank Rose next time he saw her.

'If I see her again,' his brain added. Dave bit down on his lip to prevent himself from moving down that path. He had better things to concentrate on.

The hive was all on the same level, but there were parts that were detached from the main house that one could reach by using vines to climb to them.

Similarly, while the trees surrounding the hive were taller than Dave had expected –he had been faced with a good ninety feet free fall looking down from one of the windows– Rufioh had gone out of his way to create a series of steps down the whole length of the tree he'd built the hive on, including a lift made of ropes and wooden planks and rudimentary gears.

The troll truly knew how to get by in the wild, and Dave was thankful he had decided to add those things, otherwise he would have had no way to get down from the tree, not with his wounds.

The front door opened right in front of a small porch with the lift and the ladder ropes, and on the inside there was a big empty space that led to two corridors. Dave couldn't begin to think of the patience Rufioh must have had to cut all the wood and build all of that, even if he'd only been halfway through it by the time Eridan had appeared.

Dave's favourite place in the hive, aside for the kitchen, was the empty room with the 'entrance door', because it had a comfortable, low bench near a giant window, where he had a great view of the sea of trees and also a chunk of the lower levels under the first layer of foliage, though it was still impossible to look to the ground from there.

Since he had started to explore the rest of the hive by himself, he had claimed that spot as his own, sitting in the sun and soaking in it while composing raps and sightseeing.

He was unable to really help the other two, since he couldn't even stand on his own, but had become quite adept at weaving the vines to make sturdy ropes.

Now, though –now he had a job that he could do, and one that was actually useful. Rebuilding the Energy Convertor would take some time, but he was the only one who knew how to put all the pieces together.

Rufioh lowered him down on the bench, and Dave immediately put himself to work, feeling excitement bubbling up inside him.

Concentrating entirely on rebuilding the metallic trap, Dave didn't even pause to drink or rest, hands fumbling with the smaller pieces of junk in his haste to finish.

Together with the convertor, his captcha-cards also contained the necessary tools to fix it, a row of oil cans and various tools that would be useful in the long run, like screwdrivers and a hammer.

Not to mention clothes and a small alchemizer, though he wasn't sure that would even work outside of the game. He didn't have many empty cards, so he would have to use it sparingly until he remembered the correct code to punch new cards out of it.

He was not sure what things he could alchemise, since it was one of the simpler designs, but he was hopeful he would find out soon.

Things were starting to look better.

He was shaken out of his work-induced trance by the sound of shuffling coming from outside the hive, the sound of the pulley and the makeshift lift creaking with added weight, and he looked up, confused at the sudden sound.

Rufioh's voice, muffled by the walls, alerted Dave of the troll's return, so he finally took a break, stretching his shoulders. For a moment he wondered who he was talking to, since Eridan was still in the house –having him leave would have alerted Dave even while he worked– then the front door was pushed open, and the troll trudged in.

Dave opened his mouth, about to call his name in greeting, then he froze when someone else shuffled inside the hive, following the Taurus and closing the door behind them.

Quite tall, though not as tall as Rufioh was, ruffled black hair and a pair of short, nubby horns poking from the top of his head, dressed with a ruddy cloak.

Dave felt like someone had just punched him in the guts, squeezing all the air from his lungs.

"K… Karkat?!"