This was a little difficult to put out, but here it is. Word of warning, this arc will go on for three more chapters and be appropriately dark. Either way, I hope you enjoy.
See you at the end of the chapter!
Karkat figured life was something that was priceless for the most part, but apparently someone decided to put a price on his; $20,000,000.
It was a bit of a surprise, to be honest. Well, no, it was actually a goddamn shock to the system, but semantics wasn't the issue here. It was the fact he had a bounty on his head for something that wasn't even his fault, held up by a madman who was in charge of a newly formed government agency. One about ghosts. If it wasn't for the fact ghosts were a real thing, it would've been as laughable as making a space military.
"Jesus fucking Christ." Karkat had walked off in a huff when the news had come out. It wasn't exactly mature but knowing that he had a bounty on his head was a certified way to stress him out. "Millions. Didn't think I was worth that, but guess Scratch wants to pay out the ass!"
It was thankfully not crowded where he was walking, otherwise people would've thought he was insane. If he'd stomped any harder too, he probably would've started damaging the sidewalk. Was this some form of sign? His faith in a higher power was low lately, but maybe one of them was giving him a clue that superhero shit wasn't his thing.
He could hear footsteps behind him, and he had a good idea on who they might belong too.
"Karkat, wait!" Aradia's footfalls came quick, but he didn't turn around. Just as much as he was in a trance, she seemed to be in a panic. "You kinda left us in a hurry back there! I had to make sure Sollux stayed behind so we didn't dine and dash."
"Good, would rather not get banned from there." Karkat said casually. Aradia figured that wasn't good, since Karkat wasn't the most chill person on a normal day. "You know how often fast-food workers get the government on their ass? None. I should've done that instead of be a superhero."
"Karkat, c'mon. I know this is bad, but we need to come up with a game plan here." Aradia figured that they couldn't let this go. Doc Scratch was clearly off the deep end, but he also had power, and that wasn't a good mix. "Maybe if we try to-"
Karkat stopped, doing an about face before leaning towards Aradia's face. She stopped talking, noting the manic look in his eyes.
"And do what, Megido?" Karkat didn't get what she wanted to do about this. This wasn't exactly an easy fix, especially with something so high up. "You want me to personally petition that the government doesn't do this? You want me to go out and assassinate Scratch with my bare hands? You want me to possess the president?"
"No! I mean, maybe?" Aradia ran a hand down her face. She was already beginning to feel exhausted with the situation. "Look, I know you want to give up the cape here and now, but I don't think we can. At least not until we deal with this."
"How the fuck am I supposed to deal with this?! I'm not even eighteen, so I certainly can't vote this shit out of office!" Karkat let out a strangled laugh, realizing the absurdity in its full glory. "I'm only seventeen and I have a double life, a bounty on my head, and more enemies than I can count. Jesus, we really did let this go on for too long."
"No, we did what we thought was right. It's all insane, but you have to remember this was all our choice." Aradia figured that would calm him down. "We wanted to make sure the ghosts didn't do anything to the town, remember?"
"I only thought of that because we were the only ones involved! We didn't have anyone else. No Pyropes, no Leijon's, and we definitely didn't have Horuss." Karkat pulled at his hair. Was he hyperventilating? He felt like he was breathing a little too fast. "It was fine with a few ectopuses and the occasional lunch lady, but the government is too far."
"Look, let's just get back to Sollux, alright?" Aradia reached a handout to placate him. "We can hang out in the park and just talk about this. We won't get anything done if we panic."
Karkat's phone rang before he could respond with anything. He snatched it, putting it near his ear without looking at the caller ID.
"Who is it?" Karkat said quickly. He scowled as he heard the other person on the line, pulling his head away to give the phone a glare. "Frostbite, I don't have the time right now. Unless this is an emergency, call me later."
He shook his head, hanging up. He needed to clear his head.
"I'm going flying. We'll talk about this later." Karkat triggered the transformation, turning back around. "Don't try to find me unless you see a ghost. After that, we'll figure this out."
Karkat leaped upward, zooming away from Aradia. She sighed, feeling frustrated. Of course her friend had to be stubborn at the worst time possible.
She would've continued to mope, but she heard the rustling of some bushes, causing her to instantly pull out an ecto-gun. Aradia blinked, feeling her stomach drop as she saw the startled looks of Feferi and Kanaya looking right at her.
"Uh, I would prefer you didn't shoot us, please." Kanaya lifted her hands bashfully, giving a nervous smile. "I don't think I can explain that to my mother all that well if it happened."
"Aradia, can you put the ecto-gun down? You don't need to panic," Feferi gulped at the disbelieving look on the other girls face. She put her hands up too, keeping a serious face. "But we do need to talk, though. Is now a good time?"
It wasn't, but Aradia felt like she didn't have much of a choice.
Frostbite looked at his phone with a raised eyebrow before sighing and putting it away. Looks like Phantom wasn't exactly in a good mood.
"It appears we'll have to go without Phantom this time around. He appears to be busy." Frostbite looked over at the temple, frowning. "A very moody boy, that one. I'm guessing some things are going wrong in the living world right now."
"There's always something going wrong in the living world. If there wasn't, no more ghosts would be made." Redglare cut down some more branches, giving a look towards where the kids where. "Nebit, Signless, how are the hellions holding up?"
"Poorly! For crying out loud, Calliope," Nebit was holding the girl back while Signless was keeping his own death grip on Caliborn. "I know your brother is a jerk and all, but you can't just hit him like that."
"He tore up my picture of Roxy!" The twins had apparently decided to just start saying their imaginary friends' names out loud rather than continuing their game. "I worked really hard on it for hours! And now it's ruined!"
"I wasn't my fault that it was terrible! I was making sure to spare the world of its idiocy!" And Caliborn was just egging her on the entire time, just because he could. "And would you let me go, you lousy priest!? I'm trying to teach my ignorant sister a lesson!"
Signless couldn't give a response, but he wouldn't have dignified him with one anyway. He just gave a disapproving glare that cowed Caliborn enough to shut up. He firmly sat him down before signing quickly to the others.
"Are we close enough to the temple yet? If they get into another fight, we're going to be stuck here for hours." Signless figured the bickering would start back up again soon. By all accounts, he practically helped Frostbite raise these kids. "If we're going to deal with the Muse, I'd suggest speeding this along."
"You haven't explained who the Muse is, by the way." Nebit still held onto Calliope to make sure one sibling didn't jump on the other. "If this is an enemy we have to deal with, I would like to know more before kicking some as- kicking some butt."
"The Muse isn't an enemy, per say. She just isn't… well, safe to be around." Frostbite said vaguely, doing his best to speak in riddles in front of the kids. "She's related to the situation with Lord English. And I mean that in multiple ways."
The adults only gave brief glances towards the siblings. They all understood what that meant.
"So, is this Muse and Lord thing related to classes? I thought that part of the whole Aspect thing wasn't real." Redglare remembered the debates written on that. Some people believed that some people were put into certain 'roles' involving their Aspects, but no one had been able to reliably make a system for it. "At least, I thought those two classes didn't exist."
"They are reportedly the rarest kind, and the most powerful. Lord English was a Lord of Time, someone who could be everywhere in every timeline." Frostbite shivered. They were getting closer to the temple now, and he felt a bit of its power wash over him. "The Muse is much the same. However, her presence can be much more… subtle."
As they made it to the entrance, the chill was spread to everyone present, some taking it better than others. Some hesitant, others curious, none of them were particularly eager. Well, maybe except one.
"Come on, let's go already!" Caliborn was starting to tire of the adult's hesitation. If this was important, he wanted to get this done. "I have things to do, and you won't be keeping me here much longer."
Despite receiving some disapproving looks, everyone else was quick to follow behind. They couldn't let him go in alone.
They were able to enter with little difficulty, a surprisingly few amounts of safeguards put into place for the temple. The hallways leading inside were filled with inscriptions of various scenes, many of them similar to the prophecies written in the Far Frozen's walls. Standing before, below, or above Lord English depending on the inscription was a figure in a large amount of robes. Compared to Lord English's presence, her face was obscured, and her role seemed superfluous.
Calliope instinctively moved to hold onto her father's hand. Caliborn could only scoff, giving the ones related to English a more in-depth look. He seemed… unusually interested.
It would've provoked a comment before they got to the center.
Surrounded by a row of guards was what appeared to be an obscured, black coffin. Images of stars appeared and disappeared at random intervals, shining briefly in its black expanse. The image of the Space Aspect was engraved on every wall, and if they kept it in the corners of their eyes, they would it was turning.
"Uh, boys, this doesn't look like a temple. This looks more like a tomb." Nebit squinted at the coffin. She could feel the pulse of power that came from it and felt uneasy. "I know we're ghosts and all, but does everything have to be about death?"
"We would've had nice décor, but we didn't exactly have the time. I'm surprised we even made it in without any trouble." Signless didn't appear happy about that, even thought that made their job much easier. "This place is usually locked. What opened it should be our main concern."
"That's assuming the temple didn't open itself up." Frostbite figured that wasn't a good sign either. Especially if he was right about what was going to happen next. "Recent happenings must be speeding things up. We can't let- children, stay away from that!"
Caliborn and Calliope stopped at their father's command, inches away from the dark coffin. Calliope seemed entranced by it while Caliborn seemed to be looking at it with open curiosity.
"I think I can see someone inside of it." Caliborn tried to look over the edge of the coffin, barely seeing a face. And a fairly familiar one as well. "It kinda looks like you, Calliope."
"It-it kind of does. It really does." Calliope moved closer, getting a better look at the woman's face. It was disturbing to look at something more physical rather than a random drawing. "Why does she look like me?"
"It's... It's complicated, dear. We just need you here to keep this sealed." Frostbite moved behind the two, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. "If you wouldn't mind doing the thing we've been practicing? It'll only take a moment."
They obeyed, standing back-to-back almost in sync. The two sat down, crossed legs supporting them as they got into a meditative stance, closing their eyes. The situation was eerie due to the surprising synchronicity, but it only got worse when the floor started to glow around them.
The Space symbols on the wall started to glow softly, spinning slowly clockwise as a Time symbol quickly enveloped them. The twins began to mumble, the gear beginning to spin in the counterclockwise and causing the other symbols to slow. The Space symbol got smaller, as if Time was beginning to reverse on itself.
"What the hell is this?" Redglare could hazard a guess as to what they were doing, but the sight was making it hard to speak up. "I'm not sure I want to watch kids commit another occult ritual again after the Fright Knight debacle."
"It's making sure to seal the Muse under for a longer period of time. While she is benevolent, her help was also rumored to be counterproductive at times." Frostbite kept a close eye on the symbols as Space retreated within itself with Time moving backward. "Her arrival would also speed up Lord English's return in some fashion. We can't let her go free again- hold on."
The symbols stopped moving, the action becoming jerky. It was similar to watching pixels glitch and freeze in the middle of an action. It was jarring and it looked like the kids were having a hard time judging from their twisted faces.
"…Something is going wrong!" Signless flew upward, shooting forward at the kids to grab them. "Everyone get to cover!"
As if on cue, the symbols resumed their movement once again, twisting in the opposite direction now. The Space symbol suddenly got bigger, eventually overlapping the Time symbol before spreading across the walls, causing them to crack.
The temple shook, and the coffin shined brightly as a hand emerged, grabbing one of its sides. A large figure slowly rose, robes scattering around the place as if enveloping it.
The walls crumbled and everything turned dark for everyone when a voice whispered into their souls.
"Thank you."
Sollux figured that life couldn't get any worse than this.
Aradia had disappeared after Karkat went off while he paid for their food, and if he was right, Karkat would most likely be going off somewhere to cool down. Aradia would probably still be trying to track him down. And that left him by himself to stew in his own self-pity.
"Everything has to be so complicated now." Sollux morosely kicked at a pebble while walking in the center of the park. Nobody gave him a second look as he kept walking, and he preferred it that way. "I can't believe this shit. This is all bullshit."
Sollux would be the first to admit that he was adverse to change, despite knowing it was an inevitability. He liked his routine to be consistent, he liked his relationships the way they were despite occasionally wanting more, and he didn't necessarily care about the idea of living somewhere else.
Of course, ever since The Accident, there were constant amounts of changes that Sollux didn't couldn't reliably take in any of them. Before, he was just some asshole who liked to play on his computer and not admit a crush on a friend. Now, he wasn't sure what the hell he was doing. Going through alternate dimensions, being a sidekick to Karkat's superhero, and just… just chaos.
Sollux made it to the fountain situated in the middle of the park, sitting down near its edge. He thrust his hand into the baggy he'd taken when he left the Nasty Burger, grabbing the leftovers of his meal so he could finish it in peace. The few people there generally stayed away from him, so he could mope without interruption.
Honestly, he could understand Karkat wanting to hang up the cape once and for all. It wasn't like it brought them any joy anymore if it ever did. If he and Aradia had been faster, he felt like everything could've been avoided. Hell, if that portal hadn't been made at all, there wouldn't be any trouble in Amity Park, period.
That fucking portal had ruined everyone's lives here the moment it turned on, starting with Karkat.
"That stupid thing shouldn't have worked in the first place." Sollux scoffed, putting his food down. He wasn't feeling hungry anymore. "I wish it never turned on."
While he was wallowing in his misery, he failed to notice as the sky above him seemed to gain a black dot to it. Starting at the size of a coin, the dot grew and grew more, gaining attention as it expanded.
Just when it reached the size of a small tire, the thing exploded, causing the ground to shake. Sollux nearly fell off of his seat before getting back to his feet, turning to face the noise. He could hear the screaming of regular citizens as something emerged from a dark portal.
Sollux's sight was taken by a woman wrapped in robes with a green skull for a face. And for a second there, he could almost think that it gave him a motherly smile.
"Well, hello there young one," The being spoke. "I believe I can help you with that."
Aradia had put away the ecto-gun, but the look she was giving them almost convinced Kanaya and Feferi that she wouldn't need it. She'd been distressed when they explained everything had been explained to her, but her face had settled into a blank, angry look that put them off.
Then again, they did just explain that they knew her friend's darkest secret, so it wasn't unjustified.
"You could've just said something to us after the possession thing. We would've understood just fine." Aradia wasn't being accusing, but the fact she was speaking in a monotone was worrying. "I can't say we would've been happy either of you figured out, but it would've been nice to know earlier."
"To be fair, it isn't like you guys usually have a lot of time to chat. Not your fault but considering all the crazy stuff..." Feferi waved her hand vaguely. "There's also no good way to ask if someone is technically dead or maybe a science experiment. What is Karkat exactly again?"
"We do apologize for this. We were aiming to talk before the situation with the ghost circus- a strange sentence I really wish didn't exist- but things got a little hazy afterward." Kanaya fiddled with one of the edges of her shirt, trying to gauge the other girl's reaction. "We understand if you're angry, though."
"I'm not. Sorry, I've been told I can get a little stone-faced when I'm overwhelmed," Aradia tried to relax her face, but it wouldn't budge. God, this was almost as bad as when her mom died, and she could barely emote for months. "To answer your question, Karkat isn't fully dead. He got some superpowers after an accident. It's hard to explain."
"I can see that." There was more to it than that, and Kanaya figured she'd get it later, but at least it was a start. "I suppose that answers that question, but, uh, what are you three arguing about now?"
"Kanaya, we just admitted to listening to them through a bugged phone." Feferi pointed at Aradia, smiling good naturedly. It was fake, but it was almost convincing enough for Aradia to believe. "And, again, in our defense, Sollux bugged our phones first."
That actually got a snort from Aradia. She went back to being impassive, but it was the first positive thing that happened since they started talking.
"That's fair. I'd ask him to stop, but at this point, I'm pretty sure it's a compulsive thing." Aradia stared into space afterwards. She was just… so tired right now. "Any of you happen to have any connections within the government."
"Afraid not."
"My mom is rich, but not that rich."
"Figures." Aradia hit her head against the table. She let out a long breath before quickly getting onto her feet, heading off into a single direction. "Alright, this all sucks. Maybe he is right about quitting. This is all just getting worse."
"Hey, wait! Shouldn't we talk about this more?" Feferi got up, grabbing Aradia's shoulder. The disinterested look on the other girl's face didn't falter her. "I've been wanting to talk to Karkat about this for a while now. Shouldn't he know?"
"Honestly? I don't even know how he'd react to this. Considering he just decided to fuck off at random, I don't think he's in the mood to talk." Aradia was coerced into sitting back down. She put her face into her hands, starting to mumble incoherently. "I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do, this all such bullshit…"
"I think maybe you're getting a bit overwhelmed right now." Kanaya figured that "a bit" was a lie, but she wasn't sure how to acknowledge a complete and total breakdown right in front of her. "We do need to talk with Karkat, though. This is primarily his secret, so we need to make sure that he knows soon."
"…You're right. He needs to know. If we put it off, he'll just be pissed off later then." Aradia didn't two freak-outs in one day, so they might as well optimize it. "I don't know where he is, but if we look fast-"
Aradia's phone buzzed. She gave it a glare before picking it up quickly to check who in the world was trying to message them right now, hoping that it was Karkat.
Her blood chilled as she realized it was herself sending the messages again. The first one wasn't hard to decipher.
AA: head t0 the center 0f the park.
That was fine. She could do that. It was the message right after that made her want to throw up.
AA: i'm s0 s0rry.
"…We're heading to the park. Right now." Aradia was already moving fast, and she could hear Kanaya and Feferi scramble to get up. "Something is about to happen."
Feferi was able to get into step beside her, looking more confused by the second. "How do you know that?"
"Future me sent me a message on the ghost messaging app."
"A future what on the what?" Kanaya was starting to wonder if the girl was hallucinating. "Please tell me that was some kind of joke."
"It isn't. Now can we please move on before-"
Aradia was interrupted as something seemed to erupt at the park, a black energy suddenly encasing a part of the sky. The bang caused nearly everyone to jump, Aradia the only one unaffected as she stared open mouthed at the disaster in front of her.
She didn't know what it was, but she could feel it make her shudder.
Fuck. Today wasn't meant to be simple at all, wasn't it?
Karkat wasn't sure what was happening, but he was now starting to wonder if it was related to that phone call from earlier. Because something like this felt deeply and utterly wrong.
Flying over to a dome that was seemingly made of black stars, he noted that everyone had cleared out fast, something that was good for any fight. He couldn't see to well into the dome, though, which possibly meant some people were in there with the ghost that appeared. A hostage situation was probably going to arise, and while he wanted to hang up the cape, he couldn't let this happen.
"Karkat, down here!"
Karkat looked over to the voice, shooting downward to see who it was. He nearly choked when he saw Aradia standing close to Kanaya and Feferi.
"What the hell- Aradia, what are they doing here?" Karkat paused, realizing what he was saying. "And I also don't know who Karkat is, but maybe you should-"
"Quit the crap, they know. Don't ask how or why, we should focus on this first." Aradia was simply done, and that got him to shut him up. " Do you know what's happening here?"
"I don't. I just got here too, and I've never seen anything like this before." Karkat floated upward, questions crawling under his skin like bugs. However, she was right. They needed to put this away for later. "I don't know if anyone is in there, or what kind of ghost it is. Probably has something to do with what Frostbite called us about."
"Who in the world is Frostbite?" Kanaya received a few looks, causing her to back down. "Right, not the time. This dome doesn't seem have any cracks to it. Any idea how to get inside?"
"I don't know if we can." Feferi squinted. She could practically see everything around the dome avoid it, like as if it was an open wound on the world. "I think I see the ghost and someone else inside. I don't know who though."
Karkat moved close, squinting as he looked into the dome. He could make out the shape of a large ghost inside, but the second figure was younger and human. It honestly looked a little like…
"Sollux?"
Sollux looked up at the ghost, feeling a mix of primal fear and comfort as he looked into her eyes. He could feel her power, but every part of her made it feel like she only wanted to help, to keep him safe. A laugh made him tense, but also smile as she swept around him slowly.
"Well, I don't believe I've ever seen someone so upset before. Is everything alright, little one?" The Muse said soothingly. He didn't know how he knew that name, but it was instilled into his brain instantly. "What kind of troubles have befallen you?"
"It's- it's nothing." Sollux found himself trying to mentally defend himself from whatever this was. Was he being possessed, or was this some form of mind control? "I'm going through a tough time right now. What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to help those that need it the most. I've been denied that right for a very long time, and I happened to find you first." The Muse stopped in front of him. Her hand was in his hair, and he didn't know how to feel about that, the action being more invasive than comforting. "And no one has to go through any tough times if they can help it. Tell me, truly, what troubles you."
"I…" Sollux hesitated, feeling something forcing his reluctance down. He started speaking without thinking about it. "So many things have been going wrong for a long time now. I don't know what to do anymore and I don't think I'm ready to deal with it."
"Nobody needs to be ready for anything. I can fix these issues you're having with just a snap of my fingers." The Muse snapped to prove her point. She stopped ruffling his hair, tilting her head at him. "Would you like me to do that?"
"I-I would. But you can't." Sollux grit his teeth, forcing himself to stay present. His mind was foggy, but he didn't want to succumb to it. "You can't just fix my problems that easily."
"Oh, but I beg to differ, young one. I can make many different things happen, as long as someone asks me to do so." The Muse sighed. She looked down at her hands mournfully. "I haven't been able to do so for so long. So many lost souls that I could've helped, and now I'm weak."
"How is that my problem?" It sounded harsher than Sollux meant it to be, but his emotions were going wild. "Bad things happen to people every day. You can't just help them all, despite how much you want-"
A hand went through Sollux's head, causing him to freeze. The Muse tilted her head once more, her intangibility and other powers giving her a glimpse into the boy's mind.
"Ah, a Doom Aspect. Your types are always so negative and set in your ways. I can understand why, considering what you're born with." She leaned downward, capturing the boy in a hug. She rand a hand down Sollux's back, causing goosebumps to form on his skin. "But that doesn't have to be this way. Nothing bad has to happen to anyone. Especially not you."
Sollux's mind became foggy again and he felt himself slip into a euphoria. He didn't know why he was angry a second ago, but he didn't really care to figure out. Maybe she had a point-
"Sollux!"
The boy heard something bang against a forcefield, prompting him to look at the noise. He could see Karkat hitting the dome surrounding him and The Muse. Sollux didn't understand why he looked so worried.
"A friend of yours? I sense quite a bit of misery from him as well. I'm assuming your troubles are connected?" The Muse pulled back, looking him in the eye. Sollux realized her eyes weren't the same color they were seconds before, constantly changing as if it was a kaleidoscope. "I can help him too. If you let me."
Sollux remained silent, remembering everything that had happened to lead him to this point. The ghosts, the fighting, the accident. Everything had brought him here and he could end it all right now.
He felt himself nod before his rational brain can keep up. The woman smiled, putting a hand to his chin.
"Good. All you have to do is start with two simple words, and I'll fix everything." The Muse said slowly. The instructions were branded into his brain as she said. "I wish…"
Sollux heard more banging this time, more voices joining Karkat's in a chorus. He didn't pay them any mind, though, focusing on his one wish.
"I wish," Sollux started carefully, the words coming to him naturally. "That the portal accident never happened."
The Muse smiled. "Your wish is my command."
And with a snap of her fingers, the world went dark.
Yeah. Probably going to get some hate for that.
See you all next chapter!