Hope is Lost
Chapter 3: Can we Hope?

Dave glanced around in the forest as he passed another round of houses which were deemed unliveable and had no signs of activity around them. The day had passed and it was now 1:43PM and the air was becoming unbearably windy. The November air bit at their jackets and clothing and the day was going downhill quickly. He sighed to himself, not wanting to seem disheartened by the day's find of: nothing. It seemed to be a recurring theme nowadays, he'd get this feeling that John would be in his city, town or anything but he never found him.

He was going to give up when he heard Rose's voice wipe away any negative thoughts. "I see a house." Dave's head snapped up and he was the first one there by a miraculous feat and was peering into a window. Nothing. He checked the next and the next but came up empty.

Until, that is, until he checked the second last one, a window from the bottom left corner of the house. When he peered inside, he got a sickening feeling and almost threw up right there. Jade looked concerned where Rose's normally stoic face was etched with worry.

"What seems to be the problem, Strider?" She asked and he nodded.

"Take a look."

One look was all they needed to become convinced that something was abnormal about the house.

The splatters of what seemed to be blood-red paint stained everything in that entire room. The closet doors, the walls, the furniture and even the floor. In the middle of a large pile of blood-red "paint" was what seemed to be a drain pipe, also covered in the "paint."

Jade was the first to speak.

"That's not paint, is it?"

Neither Dave or Rose had the heart to tell her no.

-x-

As Vriska drove through the town recklessly, she was trying to maintain her calm demeanour, even if she was well going 40 over. She knew the police could possibly catch up, but once she hit the forest then she would be safe. She was only a few minutes from her home when she heard those familiar sirens.

Well, shit.

She stepped on the gas and glanced onto the street that she seemed to be passing at an alarming rate. Suddenly, she was all staring back at the boy in her own home, every person was now him! She sat there in confusion as she stepped on the gas even more as she tried to speed away from all the clones.

They stared at her, and she screeched in anger, even drove off the side of the road only to hit two of them, blood splattering on her windshield. Her windshield cracked as well, and she wasn't too happy with that. But she had to do something- anything to get them away! They were all fake! Fake! FAKE!

But were they?

Once she was in the forest, she took her own way to her home: the long way. She heard the sirens starting to fade as she sped through the difficult terrain with almost a graceful ease. Almost.

She parked her car in what appeared to be oh so far from her home. When she glanced into her rear view mirror, all she saw was the reflection of John's face- everywhere.

Where was this coming from?

She had one choice: to rid the real one from the world. To kill him.

To kill him, to hide the body, to walk away from it all.

She would never need to see his face again.

She opened her door and slammed it just as quickly as she took off in a full sprint to her house, her keys clanging against her fingers.

He would be dead and she would be free from his curse.

-x-

After much hard work, Dave was finally able to crack the window open and be the first to fit inside. Jade followed and Rose decided to stay outside to keep watch from where she was. The two looked around the bloodied room and guessed that John could, at one point, been here. Dave's stomach dropped a meter or so and he nervously looked around.

The one thing that snapped him out of the sick feeling he was getting was Jade's frustrated groan. He quietly walked over, confused. She pointed to the lock on the double doors of the closet.

"Dave, I can't get this open. What's important in here-"

Without a second thought, Dave kicked in the door to the left and peered inside. He didn't mutter a word as he seemed to be lost in some sort of thought. Maybe... he was shocked? Jade peered in and gasped loudly.

Blue, terrified eyes met her green ones, and Dave's sunglasses.

The entire room was quiet, except for the wind which had seemed to pick up. The first to speak with Dave, whose voice seemed to almost disappear into a whisper.

"Egderp?" He asked, worried that this might not be John. He got a slow nod in reply and Dave noticed the others tussled yet long and uneven black hair and those bright blue eyes.

They found him.

He wasn't dead.

He wasn't bringing home a body for the family.

He was bringing home John Egbert, alive.

That is, until he heard the front door slam open.

-x-

As soon as Vriska reached her house, she unlocked and slammed the door open. In her rage, she heard what appeared to be a shrill...scream? John didn't sound that womanly, so she could only deduce that someone was in her house. She grabbed the closest weapon she could, which just so happened to be a simple black umbrella and advanced to John's "room."

She swung the door open, only to see someone she did not recognize in the slightest. A young girl-perhaps adult who had long-waist length black hair, bright green eyes and big circle glasses; she was the quick definition of a nerd in Vriska's sense. She immediately raised that umbrella to swing but obviously she didn't think that someone else was in the room.

Her face collided with the nearest wall on her left and she could barely see who did it.

She growled as she finally turned her head to see this... this fiend who suddenly punched her! It was this somewhat tall, blonde haired, sunglass wearing freak.

She screamed and swung the umbrella low and collided it to his right side, which made him finally back off. She shrieked before lunging at this blonde adult, trying to land another hit.

Which somehow, became almost impossible.

This adult had an amazing sense of defensive moves which allowed him to mostly stand his ground against the shrill insanity that was Vriska. And of course, that pissed her off even more so to the point where she tried her very hardest to trip him up.

She aimed for his legs or hands, specific places where she had seen his limbs one too many times. She finally swung with all her might into the others left elbow, which stopped his defensive posture. Immediately, she hit him in the side of the head along with the side of the jaw.

She swung back to wind up for another hit but heard a loud 'BANG!' before she could react. Slowly, she turned to where the sound had originated and noticed that black haired girl holding what seemed to be a silver revolver.

She took a few steps back as pain surged through her left calf. This was ridiculous- where was that blonde intruder-?

And suddenly, she felt herself hit the ground in a sea of black.

-x-

"Jesus fuckin' Christ, who the hell is she?" Dave immediately asked after he shook his right hand repeatedly after punching the lights out of her. She seemed familiar but the attitude she wore was downright... wrong. It was almost like she was a complete frantic beast or maybe the reason for her behaviour was because of their trespassing.

"I..I don't know.. but we need to get John out of here and now!" Jade immediately replied as she hid her revolver back into her black blazer and quickly sped back into the closet where John was kept. She tried to comfort him but any response she got was a muffled sound and what also was muffled sobbing.

"Goddammit it's like I broke every fuckin' tendon-"

"Dave you can't break tendons-"

"Fuck you I broke them."

"Did you break your arteries too?"

"Shut up Rose."

A chuckle escaped the blonde girls lips as she fiddled with her cell phone. "I called the police, apparently they were chasing someone who was speeding only about five-ten minutes ago. I suspect that it might be our insane woman here, but I could be incorrect." Dave nodded slightly as he tried to ignore the slowly dulling pain in his right hand.

He then was struck by an idea. "Rose, come inside and help me look for the keys to get John out of these shackles."

She somehow gracefully hopped into the room and walked out like she was strutting her stuff. Dave just sighed and followed her out in a rush, he needed to find that key.

In a matter of seconds, Dave was rushing through the house and tearing it to pieces, trying to find those damn keys. Rose simply watched with amusement and scanned the room for anything that looked remotely suspicious.

"Oh okay I'm just gonna sit back and do nothing like the princess I am-"

"Second drawer to your right."

"What? Rose are you telling me where the measuring cups are-"

"I swear I will curse you."

Dave groaned and opened that drawer and went through the drawer. Simple kitchen supplies were in it: spatulas, wooden spoons, the whole nine yards. However, for some reason, his sister was right and he held up a small pair of keys which seemed extremely out of place.

"How the fuck do you manage to do that?"

"How do you think?"

Dave didn't answer that. He immediately sprinted back to where John was currently being whispered too by his lovely girlfriend. He slowly undid the two hand cuffs that pinned the black haired male's hands above his head. After that, his feet were next and as soon as he finished, John collapses straight on the floor in the foetal position. Just as Dave and Jade were about to comfort him, they heard sirens.

Perfect.

Dave couldn't help but to crack a smile as he bent down to gently pick up his exhausted friend. Jade gave him a bittersweet look as both Jade and Dave, along with Rose headed to the ambulance that his blonde sister had requested. They also placed John's captor in the ambulance as well and the three of them rode back with John to the General Hospital.

Dave was still recovering from the shock of finding his best friend after all these years. His shaded red eyes couldn't stop staring at his friends unconscious form and he even felt himself tearing up.

He did it.

They did it.

-x-

Travis was smiling to himself as he was being wheeled by his boyfriend across the street to a local sports restaurant. It had only been about two years after Travis's surgery and Gavin was still being immensely supportive, even if the two were technically on a "break" due to the young adult's problems with trust. However, the more time he spent with Gavin, the happier he felt in general.

As they entered, they were quickly seated by Theresa, an odd girl with medium-short hair and weird red sunglasses that definitely made her stand out. Despite that, she was legally blind but could find her way around the restaurant better than the other waiters.

As they went to order some water, two of the sports channel's screens were suddenly filled with "Breaking News." Theresa got their order of water and headed to two more tables to take orders. Of course, Gavin didn't pay too much attention, but Travis's interest was caught. As he glanced up, someone at the bar ended up turning up the volume so they too could hear it and Travis was glad that he could hear the news.

"-and it is in this house behind me where detective Dave Strider along with his sister Rose Lalonde and girlfriend Jade Harley found not only John's culprit but John himself. The 24 year old has been missing since October 31st, 2006 and all hope was given up for his case. However, the young Strider has seemed to live up to his brother's exp-"

Travis tuned out to everyone around him as he stared at the images on screen as his brain was catching up with what he just heard. John. Alive. 'He's... alive...' was the only thought that rang through his head. He had felt so guilty about leaving John there with a monster but due to his surgeries and complications, he never had time. Never had time to tell John that he was alive and help him escape.

He didn't seem to notice that tears were flooding from his tan-brown eyes until Gavin had to physically shake him.

"What's wrong, Tavbro? You feelin' alright? You don't look good, why're you cryin'? Did a motherfucker just try to-"

"u-uh G-Gavin. U-uh.. t-that's him.. John... the, uhh, one that I was with w-when I was... k-kidnapped..." He simply retorted as he cut Gavin off completely. He buried his face into his hands and started to sob uncontrollably, forgetting the fact that he was in a public restaurant.

'Oh my god... He's okay...' Reality didn't strike him until he realized everyone in the bar was staring. He turned away to the left side of his wheelchair and continued to cry. Gavin nervously peered around and saw Theresa giving him a mixed face and scurried to their table before dropping their two glasses of water.

Gavin only watched his best friend writher in his own wheelchair and wished he could do something to help him. But what? If he did something wrong, it could set Tav back into his state after he was found. Slowly, he placed a hand on the others shoulder and heard his muffled cries escalate. All he could really do is let his best friend sit there and slowly revel in the fact that the other boy he was with was alright and doing well. At least they were happy tears.

But, were they?

A/N: Welp, this took a bit of time to complete, unfortunately. I would have updated sooner but I'm now at my Aunts.

I would love to thank the people who have Favourited thsi story, who have reviewed it and everything. Chapter four is in the works now and I will continue writing this during school time.

Also, I have decided that Veronica/Vriska will have Dissociative Identity Disorder along with signs and symptoms of Schizophrenia. I'm excited to share her backstory with everyone.

And Travis is actually alive. If anyone gets confused with the trolls human names, just ask me and I'll write them for you.

This is long. Take care everyone~