Chapter Text
Minutes Earlier
"Janey wake up!" Was what Jane Crocker awoke to, along with a strong and firm shake to her person. "R-Roxy..?" She mumbled as she came to, squinting through tired and wary eyes and feeling sore all over. She felt battered and felt like she had been in a blender set on puree, that aside she jolted when she heard her best friend's relieved sob and the distinct sound of crying.
"R-Roxy?" She asked stronger as she pried her eyes open, the shaking stopped as Roxy let out a mumbled 'Oh thank sweet jegus' underneath her breath. "Roxy- what, what happened?" The Maid of Life asked as her vision cleared to see Roxy's relieved but somber face.
"Janey!" Roxy started, hugging her tightly, "Jane-Janey bring them back please, heal them!" She pleaded, tears being soaked into her godhood. Before Jane could ask who, her eyes strayed to Dirk and Jake and instantly she understood though she didn't seem to notice the elder Strider shaking Dirk, too focused on her dead friends, she bit back a gasp and swallowed, she stood with Roxy following her.
When she managed to get on her feet, it was then she noticed the adults in the room. "I-I, what?" She glanced between the adults quickly with a shocked, confused and disbelieved look, double-taking when she noticed Johnathan, "Poppop?" She questioned faintly.
Before Johnathan could even say anything Roxy interrupted her, "Adults later Janey, please, before we're too late!" She reminded her with a hurried look. Jane looked back to Dirk and Jake and very much noticed the two teary adults weeping over both dead males and flinched before her expression settled into determination, she stepped away from Roxy and towards Dirk and Jake.
"Jane?" The old Crocker called out to her, feeling confused and a little hurt when his granddaughter seemed to ignore him, "Jane, what are you doing?"
Jane gently nudged both Jaiden and David, "Please step back if you would, I can fix this." She told them with a gentle reassuring smile, at their faces she gently pushed them away, holding back winces at their devastated looks as she did so. "Don't worry, everything's going to be okay." She told them as she stepped back and took out her Red Skaian Battle-Fork, ignoring but slightly confused by the gasps she hears from the sidelines as she focused entirely on both of her best friends, dead on the floor.
"Jane, h-how did you-- wait, what are you-?!"
Johnathan and the adults could step back at the behest of three teens and only watch in awe, fear, worry, concern, confusion and more as one Jane Crocker stood before the dead teen boys, wreathed in glowing blue flames as Terezi and Roxy stood to the side with them with big wide smiles as the teenage girl pointed a giant red trident-like weapon with a blue-orb at the end towards the general direction of the two very dead, nonmoving and not-breathing boys.
"Yes! Go Janey!" Roxy cheered in relief as the flames traveled Jane towards both Dirk and Jake, quickly engulfing the two and... healing them?
The two rose into the air as the flames licked their bodies, bright blue flames entering and exiting quickly closing wounds. As fast as it started, the flames died down and both Dirk and Jake were laid back on the floor, unmarred and injury free. Their chests were moving steadily, a sure sign of their status of living, faces relaxed, asleep and unconscious as Jane stopped doing... whatever she was doing.
Roxy laughed and cried in relief, quickly tackling the other into a hug, dragging them both into the air and staying there. Flying in the middle of the room and floating as both girls laughed in apparent triumph, relief and joy. Terezi seemed content, crossing her gray arms as the two girls celebrated, forgetting about the group of thoroughly stunned adults that were in the same room as them.
Karkat was the one who reminded them about their existence, "Excuse me... but what the fuck?!" He shouted.
Jane and Roxy exchanged looks as they dropped back to the ground, emotions passing their faces while Terezi sighed and walked towards them.
The three girls turned to the group of adults, well, explaining things would be a hassle and confusion.
Jaiden and David rushed to their boys, checking their pulses. Both adults let out relieved sobs, Jaiden more vocal than David as they clutched the unconscious pair of Dirk and Jake.
Jaiden gently let go of Jake, laying him down and went up to Jane, taking her into her arms and crying. "Thank you, thank you thank you thank you." She sniffed. Jane awkwardly returned the hug, patting her back comfortingly.
"Um, you're welcome?"
Vriska shared a look with Tavros and turned to the three girls, "Heartwarming as this is, I and the others would like to know what the fuck is exactly going on." She said bluntly. The other adults looked like they agreed at her, so confused at the moment, confused, wary and just over all wanting some answers to what was happening.
Terezi sighed, "You think we know? I mean, we do know some of it but we don't know what's going on with you guys... You're not Vriska, not my Vriska anyway." She mumbled, swaying in place. "Fuck."
Jane looked alarmed, "Terezi! You're still injured," She broke out of Jaiden's hug, going towards her, "Here, let me." She pointed her fork at her again. The flames came back, engulfing Terezi who only let out a sigh of relief. Her wounds healed and she felt immensely better than before. She still looked ruffled up, Terezi wiped the thin line of teal that they could only guess was somehow blood?
"Thank you Jane."
Jane gave her a smile, "No problem Terezi, it's the least I could do."
Vriska cleared her throat, gaining their attention once more. "Answers? Please?" She added as she looked between the two of them.
"Alright."
Minutes later, they were all gathered in one of the more comfortable places. Dirk and Jake laid on the soft nest pile of pillows, blankets and other soft things. The adults watched, stunned as their clothes cleaned themselves with the exception of Terezi who briefly changed out of her bloody clothes.
Roxy squirmed as she sat besides Jane and Terezi, sat right in the middle of the two of them. She was staring, she knew that, she was staring at Rosaline. The woman who was suppose to be her ancestor and mother figure.
"Roxy, you've been gazing at me this entire time." Rosaline finally says, patient and curious, "What's wrong?" Roxy fidgets breaks her stare, looking down and gripped leggings.
You know, you'd think in other situations Roxy would be thrilled at the chance of meeting her mother figure, the one woman she worshiped and looked up to as she grew up alone even though she was surrounded by chess people but they weren't humans. But at the moment, all Roxy could feel was nervousness and some dread, she had expected Rose, her sister-mother, the Seer of Light who was her age, who also lost her mom, the other Lalonde girl she had bonded with ever so briefly before everything went to shit.
She had felt, comfortable, with a girl her age, having no real adult in her life aside from the Dersites and the Prospitians that she grew up with but they probably didn't really count. The first thought of having a mom was, amazing, invigorating, she wouldn't be alone anymore and she had someone to look up to personally who was right there in front of her, but giving it more thought? It was... complicated. She grew up hearing and learning about someone who had died years ago,
The very same someone who had been a heroine, a tragic one but a heroine nonetheless. Someone she wanted to simultaneously impress and hide from, because for all the things world she was only Roxy Lalonde: a recovering alcoholic 16 year old girl who only became a hero of Void just earlier that day, she had died, then she was alive again and she nearly died again, met Rose and the others, battle through enemies and planning to win the most complicated and important game of her life. Her friends died, Rose and the others were gone and now the mother of her dreams was right before her.
Quite frankly, things were just going so fast for her and sure she had adapted with the fact the mother she imagined ended up being a mother-daughter-sister clone from alternate dimensional session, but right now? With the actual woman before her... She felt overwhelmed.
She could only pretend she was comfortable and adaptable to everything for so long.
Rosaline stood in alarm as suddenly her daughter was fading from sight, eyes wide and shaking, "Roxy!" She called out, Roxy was gone from her spot on the couch.
Jane watched her fade with a worried look, she couldn't really blame her. As strong as Roxy liked to portray herself as, as flexible and carefree she could be, everyone had their limits, even her. Especially her. Roxy would appear again when she wanted to, all Jane could do is hope that she would stay away from any soporific substances, not that she didn't trust Roxy to get drunk again, she was just worried.
"Where did she go? Where's Roxy?" Rosaline practically demanded, for once in a long time, she was flustered and was far from her calm and collected composure. She had seen Dirk and Jake's death and resurrection, and then out of nowhere her own daughter -who had been acting quite strange and perturbed- started to fade away into nothingness.
Terezi sniffed the air before shaking her head, "Sorry, I can't smell her. I have no idea where she went, she's a Void player, she'll only be found if she wants to be found." The tealblood told her bluntly with a frown. "You'll have to wait for her to show herself."
Rosaline looked confused, conflicted but reluctantly sat down. David gave her a comforting hand on her shoulder as she clutched at her skirt. The other adults looked at her in concern but she resolutely looked at the two remaining teen girls before her, "What's a 'Void Player' and what is happening?" She asks after a moment.
From behind the pile that cradled Dirk and Jake, Roxy curled up and cried, silently berating herself. She stayed invisible though.
She was such a coward.
He was such a coward.
This was Tavros' minor thought as he jogged that morning. Human disguise up and enjoying the cold breeze of the morning. It was a habit he took to do after they ended up in this universe. Or well, even before that, he used to take jogs around the meteor whenever he had nothing to do.
Why was Tavros thinking so lowly about himself around, oh about 5 in the morning?
Well, he rarely went outside the house or go into public like the others. He preferred his solitude within his room or the comfort of nature and animals as well as the comfort of the others, especially his moirail Gamzee, of course with the exception of Vriska who he frequently avoided and ignored to the best of his abilities.
The Taurus was glad that the Scorpio troll was no longer after him in any quadrant, he never really felt that much for the ceruleanblood anyway, so when news hit that she had become Rose's kismesis, Terezi's matesprit and John's moirail? He was happy. Meanwhile, he was content with his role with being Gamzee's pale and ashenmate. Mediating between he and Nepeta when things got too rough for everyone's liking.
He found that the thought of going red or black for someone was... uncomfortable and he didn't really experience anything like that aside from his pale feelings for Gamzee and the ashen mediating for him and Nepeta. Something that was unheard of for trolls but apparently for humans, they called it 'aromantic' and 'asexual'? That was nice. For a race that didn't have the complexity of troll quadrants there were a startlingly huge variety for their, uh, 'romances' and 'sexualities'.
When Gamzee confessed red, Tavros felt a bit bad turning him down but after that it seemed that things flipped and suddenly Gamzee had a startling realization that he was in fact not red for Tavros and was instead pale, and was actually red for Karkat. Who in turn thought was pale for Gamzee and was red for Dave but it was actually flipped as well and he was pale for Dave, red for Gamzee...
It had been a long meteor trip as feelings, relationships and more went abound and bounced off the walls of the meteor like a fucking rubber ball.
Anyway, that aside, back to thinking why he was a coward.
He wanted to avoid everything human aside from the humans he already knew quite well, he didn't like going out into public and the thought of human Rufioh, his dancestor who already had trouble approaching in the dream bubbles, was his, what was the human relationship? Son? Brother? He always kind of got those confused, even when Rose, Dave, John and Jade made it clear they were siblings.
When Vriska and John came back with their tales of confrontations, Tavros wanted to suggest running for the hills or just getting the hell out of dodge. But he kept silent, either out of guilt or fear, he doesn't know. Maybe it was because of Vriska being there and he didn't want to get mocked for his cowardice and running ability again by the cerulean who now platonically hated him, which was... good he guessed since she was no longer seeking a kismessisitude from him, fully satisfied and faithful to the spade she shared with Rose who felt just the same.
Honestly it somewhat surprised him but at the same time didn't at how the two Light players felt for each other. At any rate though, he didn't want to risk staying and getting caught, he liked their peaceful life away from the game, from the others and more.
As much as he would hate to admit and would never willingly say out loud, Vriska was right. He was a coward.
Tavros sighed, stopping his jog to sit down at a nearby bench, panting lightly as he took a break from his jogging. The brownblood in disguise leaned against the bench's back,
"Hah..." He took in a deep breath and let it out as he relaxed. "I wonder if... things will ever be peaceful again..." He said aloud as he looked up towards the sky.
Because no doubt with this whole thing, it was all going to go to shit. Looking at all their pasts, there was no shadow of a doubt that shit was going to hit the fan. And it was going to hit hard.
Tavros smiled slightly as he continued to look at the sky, oh how he wanted to fly, there wasn't anyone around so maybe- no, he wasn't going to risk it. He was still in the park and even though it was really early in the morning, he didn't want to risk some early-rising human to see him flying, much less see him flying in his godhood.
He stood up after a few minutes, yawning a bit as he stretched for a little while. Well, time to continue jogging and then go back to the house before his disguise's time runs out.
Craning his neck, he ceased stretching and continued his jogging pathway.
At any rate, as long as they were together, Tavros was sure that they'd make it.
He took in a deep breath of fresh air.
It was going to be a long day.
It was going to be a great day!
This was Jade's main thought as she and her girlfriend, or as Nepeta would mostly refer them- her 'matesprit', went out for a nice relaxing date out in the park.
Though, they weren't the only ones within the park. Dave, Karkat and Gamzee were with them, the others were staying back at the house.
It was polyamorous-like-ish date, with Nepeta as Jade's matesprit but was also Gamzee's kismesis, and Gamzee was Karkat's matesprit who was moirail's with Dave who was also her best friend and practically her adopted brother from how Dave had her name now- Dave Harley!
Their social circle was very complicated, but fun!
"Gamzee, Nepeta, behave!" Jade scolded but couldn't help but giggle at how Gamzee and Nepeta aimed a few hisses before trying to ignore each other while hugging their respective matesprits. With Tavros back at home, it was up to the rest of them to temporarily auspistize between them.
Karkat snorted, affectionately papping Gamzee's face and kissing his cheek. "Play nice you idiot." He told him sternly. Gamzee huffed but reluctantly nodded, smiling at the kiss he had in reward.
Dave mimed gagging from behind them making Jade and Nepeta giggle. He wished John was there with them but he was spending some 'pale time' with Vriska being her moirail and all.
Jade turned to Nepeta, "You too Nep." The cat-loving troll sighed but nodded.
"Alright, just for mew Jade." She said before literally pouncing on her with a giggle, peppering her with adorable little kisses, this time Dave mimed gagging to Karkat who rolled his eyes at his childish action. Jade laughed brightly, trying to stop Nepeta's attack of kisses.
Had she had her tail exposed, Jade was really sure her tail would be wagging furiously. Her own dog ears were twitching underneath her hat. While she was okay with her tail temporarily disappearing with the help of her First Guardian powers, as well as Space aspect powers, but it felt weird without her ears. She only had them disappear in times of emergency.
They would enjoy their day together in the park, staying at the more secluded parts of it just in case.
Later on, Karkat, Gamzee and Nepeta went to a nearby ice cream cart to get something sweet, Karkat making sure that Gamzee and Nepeta wouldn't get caught up by their caliginous moments as Dave and Jade hung back.
Of course, all good things must come to an end...
"Tesseract! Consarn' it, come back here!" Jake shouted after the big fluffy dog with a small huff, "Tesseraact!" From behind him, he heard his father giving an amused chuckle while his aunt laughed boisterously.
Jude and Joey English were the best family Jake could ask for, his father was the proud successor to his grandmother, unfortunately. Not that his father was a bad successor, not at all! It's just, it had been abrupt. When his own mother was declared missing, possibly even dead but Jude dealt with it admirably.
Joey hadn't really dealt with the disappearance well, though she coped and had the help of her dearest older brother along with her nephew so now she was smiling freely like she had used to before their mother disappeared.
Jude was an astute tall 6'2 man in his mid early thirties with thin, square shaped glasses perched on his nose and tussled black hair. Jake got most of his looks from him. He wore a light green button up shirt and a pair of nice brown pants. He had light green eyes and a very sharp mind. Like almost the rest of his family, he had quite the aim and interest in guns, Joey was an exception since she was a dancer and preferred to fight in self-defense and even then, she preferred to fight with punches and kicks instead of weaponry but if she did, she was very handy with a baton.
Speaking of her, Joey was a lovely 5'6 woman in her late twenties, she had not inherited the need to wear glasses almost all the time but she did need them occasionally. She had short black hair and dark green eyes. She wore a light dark green blouse and a nice black skirt. While the younger sibling, she tended to act as if she was the elder sibling out of the two, which was fine with Jude.
"You know, for an old dog, he's quite lively." Kevin hummed to Jude, he and Kevin had come to meet up with the two and have their charges meet. Dirk himself was helping Jake in trying to stop and trap the white dog, laughing slightly when it didn't quite work and all it did was have Jake nearly crash into him. They laughed it off, well, Jake laughed it off while Dirk just let out an amused chuckle and smile since Striders apparently had to control their expressions.
The six of them were at the park, having a nice day together. Roxy and Jane would have joined them if they hadn't been so busy at the moment. It was unfortunate but they could join next time and bring their fathers with them. Though it seemed that both adults had kept the fact they had seen some familiar faces to themselves, unsure that they had really seen them, maybe it was just a very odd coincidence?
Jude chuckled, "Yes, Tesseract may be old, but his spirit is still quite young." He replied, watching Dirk and Jake try and catch the big white dog who, despite his age and size, was quite swift and agile. "Look at him go."
Damien snorted, nodding in agreement then looked over as Jake and Dirk once again ran after Tesseract. The adults smiled and followed after them, wanting to keep a close eye on the younger members of their family.
They ended up chasing the dog all over the park, until...
"Tesseract! Tesseract no!" "BARK!"
"Eep!" "Holy shit Jade!"
Jade had been minding her own business, chatting with Dave as they waited for Gamzee, Karkat and Nepeta to come back- hopefully unscathed, with their ice cream.
That is, until a big white dog barreled into Jade while they were about to go check on the three trolls in disguise because they were taking a suspiciously long time. They both hoped that the three were alright, that Gamzee and Nepeta hadn't made a public scene of caliginous intentions- those two were seriously violently black for each other, yet somehow it wasn't unhealthy, yet.
And just as they were about to walk towards where the three trolls went, out of nowhere, a giant fucking dog appeared out of nowhere and tackled Jade, causing her to yelp as the mysterious white dog- which reminded Jade dearly of Becquerel. "Eep!" Dave jolted from beside him, "Holy shit Jade!" He shouted in concern as his adopted sister was plowed into the ground with the canine animal. The dog wasn't hostile or violent however, he was actually quite affectionate and was currently slobbering all over Jade's face, furiously licking Jade with enthusiastic glee, his tail wagging so furiously Dave was almost sure that the dog would go lift off like Tails the Fox but only with one tail. Still, despite his apparent affection, he was still pinning Jade to the grass and was still attacking her with his licks.
Dave knelt beside him, "Okay dog, please step the fuck off of her." He said, trying to push the dog off of Jade.
Jade laughed, "I-I'm okay Dave! He's, oh wow you're heavy, he's adorable!" "BARK! BARK!"The Witch of Space giggled, gasping when the giant white dog got off of her only to tackle Dave down and lick his face.
"Shit!" "Dave! Oh gosh!"
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!! He's never done this, oh dear, this shouldn't have happened! I'm-I'm... sorry?"
Jade blinked, her laughter stopping as two teens stopped in front of her and Dave...
Shit.
Jake English and Dirk Strider stared at her and Dave, a look of shock settling over their faces as they stared at her. "Um..." Jade said with a small awkward grin only to focus back on Dave who flailed underneath the white dog.
"Dammit stop licking me!" Gone was the Strider facade, Dave just wanted the dogdamned dog off of him!
Jake snapped out of it before looking over to Dave with a panicked look, "Uh, Tesseract! No! Bad dog! Worse friend! Get off of him!" The green-eyed male teen shouted, trying to get the giant white canine off of him- Tesseract was his name apparently. "Tesseract! Come on!" Eventually the dog got off of Dave, the blond groaning and sighing in relief when it does. Dave absentmindedly accepted Dirk's hand when he was offered some help to stand up, not noticing the owner's hand until he was standing up correctly about to thank him only to jolt slightly when he realized it was Dirk's hand he had grabbed.
Dave resisted the urge to take his hand away, and just smoothed his face, nonchalantly tugging his hand away, "Thanks." He said, sound as casual as he could be. Jade decided to go with Dave, attempting to look casual as well with most success.
That is, until the adults show up.
"Dirk! Jake! What happened? What--" Kevin's voice faltered as he, Damien, Jude and Joey stopped right behind them.
Double shit.
It was somewhat tense as the four adults plus two teens stared at the two other familiar teens that stood before them, Jude and Joey English stared hard at Jade Harley while Kevin and Damien Rider stared hard at Dave St-Harley.
And their day had been so great too... The question was, however, was where the hell the other three were?!
Jake groaned, slowly coming into consciousnesses, his mind was muddled as he tried to think what happened before he had blacked out. He couldn't remember for a solid minute but soon enough he was gasping for air he didn't need as he remembered-
"JAKE!" Someone shouted as Bec Noir's sword buried itself in his side, he thinks it's Roxy but he can't remember, not with his vision blurring. Dirk was suddenly right behind Bec Noir with an enraged look on his face.
"D-Dir-"
"DIRK!" He yelped, frantically looking around, trying to look for his ex-boyfriend. Nearly flailing in his panic, it increased when a pair of arms grabbed on to him.
"Jake! JAKE! It's okay, you're okay!"
The voice was familiar, where had he heard it before?
He forced himself to be calm, breaking away from the arms to look at the owner of the voice- only to falter at the sight of the owner.
"G-Grandma?" He gasped, scrambling back from the pile, he noted that Dirk was still unconscious on.
There, sitting on the side of the pile, was his previously deceased grandmother, Jade English, not Harley, but English.
She looked like just like he remembered her. Old wrinkles of laughing lines on her face, her circular glasses perched on her old but firm nose and a gentle buck-toothed smile on her face, though she looked very concerned for him, just like she used to whenever he scraped a knee or get hurt back on their island before she would reassure him with a laugh saying that he was fine and help him patch himself up, teaching him what to do. Her teachings helped him a lot on Hellmurder island whenever he had gotten hurt.
But how was she alive? Sure, he had been expecting to meet his own grandma but that was Jade! Jade Harley, the Witch of Space.
Jaiden smiled reassuringly at him, "Hello Jake, are you feeling okay now? You and Dirk, gave us quite the scare." She said softly, resisting the urge to wince as he remembered him almost dying in her arms hours earlier.
Jake gulped, "We?" He asked before looking around, only to gape as he sees Dave Strider, not the Knight of Time but the celebrity, Dirk's older brother! He was sitting by Dirk's side, looking all too stressed as he cradled him- how had he not notice him before?
"I don't- I don't understand, how? How can you two be... be..." Jake sputtered, test tightening as he tried to make sense of everything.
David chuckled bitterly, "Alive? Well, that's complicated and doesn't exactly make any fucking sense." He said, shades off and really revealing how stressed he was over the whole situation. Jane and Terezi had explained on what they could, currently it was just the four of them within the room. The others had gone to explore the... meteor that they were in. Roxy was still missing and Rosaline was trying to find her.
The Page of Hope gulped once more before slowly stepping forward to Jaiden, the old woman just smiling reassuringly and waiting patiently. She wouldn't rush whatever Jake was doing, from what she's heard, what he was experiencing right now was intense shock- she had been dead in his perspective for years. She could only imagine how Dirk would react when he woke up since David has been... dead for centuries. And no wonder Roxy was...
Their kids -it didn't matter that this was some sort of alternate dimension or universe or such, they were their kids- had gone through so much all by themselves. It was, worrying and amazing all the same since they had accomplished through so much but also experienced things that they shouldn't have, they were too young.
Jake slowly approached her, tentatively reaching out for her. He started sniffing as tears began to cloud his eyes, "You're... really here..." He whispered as he began to touch and cradle her face.
Jaiden's reassuring smile turned into a sad one as suddenly Jake threw himself at her, hugging her tightly as he began to cry.
"I missed you so much Grandma!"
Even after all these years, he had missed her terribly- having found her corpse at a young age, and forced to being independent on an island filled with monsters. His happy personality was stripped away as the young boy cried on his previously dead grandmother who cradled him in her arms. David smiled slightly at the sight but sighed and looked down to the still unconscious Dirk laying beside him.
"Come on Dirk, wake up. Your big brother's here now..." It wasn't his Dirk, but it was still Dirk, who had grown up all alone in the middle of the fucking ocean.
'Come on Dirk, wake up. Your big brother's here now...' Dirk 's hands clenched as he heard his brother's voice whisper from the back of his mind- only, it happened the moment he looked at... his brother's younger lookalike? The teen was around his age, maybe younger, he literally looked like his brother, only younger, the same blond hair, black shades, hell- he recognized that shirt he was wearing, it was kind of different, the record was scratched instead of whole but, it was an almost identical version of it.
Besides him was a younger version of Jake's grandma, Jude and Joey's mother.
He had doubts over Roxy and Jane's exclamations but now...
He wanted to know what the hell was going on.