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The World Ends With Us

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Terezi Pyrope was blind.


This was new information but it wasn’t surprising. She had been told her ‘entry fee’ would be her sight. Now she was face down on what felt like a road.


She reached out and her hand fell on something and suddenly her mind burst to life. She could, for want of a better word, see everything. It wasn’t detailed as actual sight; lots of things were just blocky grey shapes. In exchange though she wasn’t limited by her eyes any more. She was aware of everything going on all around her. Her view was a full 360 degrees around her. One of the more interesting aspects of all this was the bright light shining out of the heads of each person. She didn’t know what was going on but she didn’t have time to work things out.


Picking up the things she had put her hand down on she got to her feet. Feeling them in her fingers she pricked her finger as one of them opened. They were pins obviously but she couldn’t ‘see’ the design. Nonetheless one of them was letting her see so she pined them both to the inside of her jacket’s collar.


That done she took stock of her location. She was in her home town that was for sure but she didn’t recognise the road. The man who had put her in this game had told her she would need a partner or she wouldn’t survive past the first day.


Seven days without your most precious thing. One week of struggling. Survive and you will be brought back to life.


Yes another piece of information that was relatively new.


Terezi Pyrope was dead.


She effectively was a ghost, invisible to the people passing her and forced into a weeklong game to be reborn. She didn’t know what the Reapers got out of hosting this game but it didn’t matter to her.


It was then that the rustling started. From the sides of her vision she caught glimpses of something moving. How something could be on the edge of her vision when had no blind spots she didn’t know but they were there. It was almost like they were gathering, waiting, circling like vultures. Whatever the shadows were they would be the things that would kill her if she didn’t find a partner soon.


“OK anyone out there that can hear me looking for a partner?” Terezi called out.


From out of an alley she heard someone respond but couldn’t make out the words. They sounded like they were in trouble though. Taking a step forwards Terezi stumbled. It was harder to get used to this new way of seeing than she thought. She moved over to the wall and put her hand up to support herself from falling and made her way into the opening of the alley.


“Hey dumb ass hurry it up would you!?” the grey blob in front of Terezi was on the floor and for some reason didn’t have a burst of light around her head. Assumedly that meant that she was a player. She was also surrounded by the shadows. “Look just get over here and we can make a pact and get rid of these noise ok!?” She was pushy but Terezi was in no position to argue so she moved over and held out her hand.


As soon as the two girls’ hands met there was a flash of light and the shadows stopped lurking around. They bulged out from the wall and floor and formed into a snarling vicious pack of animals ready to attack them. Before they could move however the other girl raised her free hand, something on her glove glinted and lightning burst down to strike one monster after another until they all just faded away. “Been waiting to use that baby since I joined this game.” She got up and dusted herself off but was heavy on one of her ankles. She looked Terezi over and made a face. “Looks like I didn’t get much in the way of a partner but that doesn’t matter with me here we already have aaaaaaaall the luck. What not gonna say anything dumb ass?”


As each word was spoken the shape in front of Terezi flashed blue at the rough location of its mouth. Since she couldn’t ‘see’ people’s faces it would be good to have a way to see who it was who was speaking. “You really are a loud mouth. But I guess we are partners now. The name’s Terezi Pyrope.”


The other girl moved forward and pushed Terezi hard into the wall of the alley. “That’s a fine way to greet someone you need to live.” Terezi clicked her tongue at the hypocrisy on display here. “Well listen up dumb ass my names Vriska Serket and I’m your only hope.” Her eyes flicked down towards Terezi’s chest momentarily and her mind wandered momentarily but then she forced herself to focus. “Wait! You have a cure pin!? Then why didn’t you fucking offer to fix my ankle!?”


Terezi kept her face calm as Vriska stared her down. “To be honest I didn’t know that was what the pin was.” She held out her hand and a can of drink formed in it. “You want it take it. I can’t very well have any dead weight on me. And you would make for plenty of weight.”


“YOU CALLING ME FAT! Ugh what the fuck ever.” She snatched the can and broke the seal with a hiss. Gulping it down she felt her ankle reknit and the pain faded out. Crushing the can she turned her attention back to Terezi. “So how could you not see what the pin was? You blind or something?” Terezi just smirked and cocked an eyebrow. “Oh man, I’d apologise but I’m not even sorry.”


They stood there for a while neither wanting to be the one to back down. When their phones buzzed Vriska was the only one to reach for hers. Terezi figured she wouldn’t be able to read hers anyway so there was no point. Vriska stepped away before reading out the words “ok day one and I have to give you something to do. I don’t know go get me some fucking beer or something.”


“Well that should be easy enough. This guy setting the missions is either incompetent or underestimating us.” Terezi moved towards the entrance of the alley. Walking was getting a lot easier now that her brain was getting used to taking so much more input.


“Hey dumb ass you can’t see this but we have timers on our hands! We only have ten minutes to get this done!”

Chapter Text

So it turns out being blind would be a much bigger hindrance than Terezi had thought. The magical pins used for the game each had an attack or spell sealed into them but without being able to see the designs she couldn’t see what they did. She would have to count on Vriska or experimentation to use them. Added the fact she couldn’t see the missions they had to complete each day or the timers imprinted on her hand.


“Here take this and run!” Vriska yelled shoving a pin into Terezi’s hand and starting to move. “I know where we can get beer nearby!”


 Following along as fast as she could Terezi pinned the new pin next to her cure pin. “You know that really doesn’t surprise me at all. Anyway what the fuck does this pin do?” Terezi’s partner turned her head, probably glaring at her, but otherwise kept quiet. Well this was great she was handicapped and had the worst partner. Terezi would never trust Vriska at this rate and she didn’t want to get close to the bitch. “WAIT! We’re surrounded by those noise creatures but they don’t seem to be closing in on us!"
Vriska stopped dead and whipped her head around. “What are you on dumb ass? There ain’t no noise anywhere near here.” But there was. Terezi could see them all around, creeping crawling shadows on the fringes of reality.


Then it hit her. She was being an idiot. She could see them because she wasn’t really seeing them but rather she was using her player pin’s psychic powers to replicate the idea of sight. Clearly these noise were only visible when they were in attack mode but in lurk mode they could only be seen this way.


“Yes. They were waiting for the signal to attack. My signal.” Terezi couldn’t see much of the speaker behind her. He had a hoodie on and she couldn’t make out his face beyond a blank grey shape.


“Serket. What’s our time looking like?” Terezi muttered without turning round to look at the man. She could still see him fine so turning around was pointless. He was a reaper that was for sure. One of the referees of the game. The shop Vriska had been leading them to was dead ahead but how could they reach it in time to get the beer. Terezi had to think here but she needed all the info she could get.


Vriska on the other hand was more interested in arguing with the reaper. “You wanna call them out to fight us then!? Bring it! We could take on eight hundred of them!” Well this was going badly.


“You foalish girl. Ok then you can waste your time here.” Clicking his fingers the shadows rose up into snarling wolves. “I shall take my leave now.”


Terezi sighed as the reaper shook out his wings and took to the sky. “Ok ok so you got us into trouble again but will you please tell me what this pin does.” Her partner ignored her again and flicked out her hand. Lightning shot from the sky and entirely missed everything. “Thank you for proving your incompetence but about this pin…”


Vriska shot out her hand again and hit a wolf dead centre. “HOWS THAT ONE FOR YOU!? I’m sorry but it’s hard to aim sometimes you know!” This had the remarkable effect of having the wolves lunge at them. Using her sight to her advantage Terezi weaved through the mass and gave up trying to tease any information out of her useless partner.


Only thing for it was to sweep her hands about and hope it did something. A line or fire burst to life on the ground following the line she traced in the air with her finger. In her wild flailing she had missed everything but luckily Vriska didn’t seem to have noticed.


“Now who’s the dumb ass dumb ass?” Or maybe she had.


“At least I’m blind I kind of have an excuse.” That surprisingly shut Vriska up. In fact she was moving oddly stiffly. But Terezi had no time for that. Moving her hands deliberately this time she drew two lines of fire that surrounded her in a circle. Now she was safe to think and attack on her own time. Vriska seemed quite happy to just zap away like a loose cannon. I was a good thing too since she only hit about a third of the time so the more shots she took the better.


Then her palm buzzed and pain shot up her arm momentarily. The wolf noise backed off and faded back into shadows. Terezi picked out Vriska’s muttered swear over the crackle of her rapidly dwindling flames. “So I’m to assume that our time is up?”


“What do you think? Well I hate to say it…aaaaaaaactually no I don’t give a crap. You are the worst partner I could have got out of all the possibilities. All of them.” Vriska stomped around in anger. It was understandable since they failed and now would be erased.


“I don’t mean to wicked interrupt bro but you aren’t gonna die.” The speaker was a boy about their age and he was carrying a tinkling box with him. Behind stood a girl that was practically bouncing from excitement. “Well no more than you already wicked have.”


“Yep! Doesn’t matter who does the challenge long as it gets done!” The girl actually did bounce when she spoke. Terezi wasn’t sure at all what to make of the pair. The new girl ran up to them and reached out a hand to both of them. “Names Feferi and I’m EXCITED to meet you both!”


 “Terezi.” She said shortly taking the offered limb. Oddly the two seemed to keep throwing glances at Vriska but neither brought up anything so Terezi guessed the girl had made an odd fashion choice


“Vriska Serket at your service. We’re the Scourge Sisters and we are going to win because we have AAAAAAAALL the luck.” She swept her hat off, bowed and kissed Feferi’s hand like some kind of pirate. Terezi subtly kicked her in the shins for deciding on a team name alone. It wasn’t that bad really though. Thinking about it she did have a real flair for the dramatic. Vriska let out a little growl at her before leaning around Feferi to look at the boy still laden with the beer. “And you?”


Stepping forwards he smiled. “I’m Gamzee. Pleased to motherfucking meet you bro. We don’t have a cute nickname like you two motherfuckers though.” Terezi had to admit it was nice to know there were friends among the other players. Or at least people that seemed to be on their side and would be dependable in the future.


Then Feferi’s eyes shot open wide and she fell to the floor gushing blood. “I figured I better come greet the brats who got me my beer all personal like. You can call me Jack Noir.” Said the man dressed in a sharp suit that was stood where before there was only empty space.

Chapter Text

Terezi looked around the hallway.


Everything was green but otherwise it looked like a normal hallway from an apartment block. Since she had appeared facing the door in front of her she obviously had to go in there. Well in that case she raised her hand to knock when it stuck her what had been bugging her the whole time. The door had no peephole. In fact her eyes went searching along the other doors in the hallway and they all did, they also had knockers and that was another place this particular door was lacking.


She was just raising her hand again and the door opened to reveal a tall man in a pristine white suit. “Hello Miss Pyrope. I have been expecting you and you have arrived exactly when I knew you would.” He stepped back and opened the door wide.  “Please do come in I have some things to discuss with you.”


Terezi stepped forwards in to the room. It was also entirely green but otherwise was just a fancy apartment. There was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that there was something very wrong with the place but she couldn’t place it no matter how hard she tried.


Then she noticed that the man was holding a chair out for her at the table in the middle of the room. She hadn’t heard him move and she was pretty sure his path would have crossed right in front of her. This was getting to really freak her out. But then considering what had just happened…


“I’m dead aren’t I?” She said as she flumped down on the chair and looked over to see the man was sat opposite her and was steepling his fingers before him. “I got stabbed and I died now I’m here in what I can only guess is some twisted purgatory consisting of a visit to the guy my mother always told me not to take candy from.”


The stranger didn’t move and with his hands positioned where they were she couldn’t even see if his mouth was moving as he spoke. “In a way yes you are dead and this could be considered something akin to purgatory. I am here to offer you a chance to come back to-“


“I refuse.” Terezi hadn’t had to think about her answer. To do so would go against the very core of her being. Her most basic philosophy. “Dead means dead. That right there is a fundamental law of nature. And while the laws of nature are illogical and created willy nilly they are laws and laws are laws are laws. Sure I’d have loved to have had way more time than I did but I’m dead. That’s it, end of story, shut the book and turn off the lights. The end.” Her face was unreadable. She meant every word with every fibre of her being. Was she sad? A little but she didn’t have much to live for anyway. And besides that didn’t make a difference because if you changed your stance based on human emotions then it wasn’t justice. Start justifying your actions and that was a slippery slope that you could never come back from.


“Yes yes I guess I should have started differently but I knew this was what I was going to say so that’s what I did. Anyway think of it this way; you are not dead yet but rather you are accused of being dead and this is your trial. Or better yet since the game takes place in pairs then think of yourself as your partner’s lawyer. Think you want to take part now?” It was exactly the right thing to say and that worried Terezi. It was almost as if this strange man knew her as well as she knew herself.


A lawyer doesn’t not live for themselves but rather for the people. You surrender your selfishness and walk into the comforting embrace of justice and truth. You want to chase after me? Then that’s what you have to do and maybe you will one day stand at my side.


The words echoed in Terezi’s head from so long ago. 6 years old and not understanding the meaning she had nodded willing to do anything to be like her hero. In the years since she had learned just how much pain one had to shoulder to live for everyone but yourself. She nodded her assent again in the present. “Fine I’ll do it. What are the rules? How do we play?”


It might have been easier if the man had relaxed when she had agreed. But he didn’t. Terezi was really starting to believe the implication of his passing comments; that he was omnipotent. He knew how this would play out and was just stringing her along as a piece in his game. She was angry but she had to get as much out of him as she could. Surrender your selfishness. Gritting her teeth she nodded.


“First the game takes place over 7 days, 1 week. You survive and you get to live you fail and you are dead. Each day the ‘conductor’ or game leader will set you a task with a time limit that must be completed to advance to the next day. You will be aided by your partner that you must make a ‘pact’ with on the first day. If one of you falls you both lose so pick someone good. You will be hindered by creatures called noise and game attendants called reapers. You will also have access to great power via the medium of pins, so collect as many as you can. Now if you care to exit the game will begin as soon as you cross the threshold.”


Sounds simple enough Terezi thought. Take some getting used to but other than that Terezi was sure she could handle it easy enough given she could find a good partner. She soundlessly got up and walked to the door. Slowly she reached out and turned the handle. Beyond the door was no longer the hallway but rather a blank emptiness. It was odd but no more than anything else she had encountered today. “heh when you put on your socks this morning Pyrope did you ever think you would be here?” she muttered to herself.


“Oh one more thing before you go.” She turned to view the man who had not moved from his position at the table. “Your entry fee will be your most precious thing. You will get it back after the week is up but you must play the game without it. For one such as you with great vision for the future it is a simple choice. I shall take your sight.”


 Terezi stumbled at the unexpected words and her foot moved past the doorframe. A bolt of energy shot up her leg and her body crackled with green sparks before everything went black.

 

Chapter Text

Gamzee’s reaction was instantaneous. The beer was thrown in Vriska’s direction and a punch was thrown at the man who identified himself as Jack Noir. The man dodged back and slashed out at Gamzee leaving a deep cut in his cheek.

Terezi’s reaction was more deliberate. First turn off emotions and look at the big picture. The most critical point was Feferi bleeding out on the floor but Vriska would be trouble if she didn’t handle that. She formed the cure drink in her hand as she spoke quietly “Serket hold back, make sure Feferi is safe, but be ready to fire your lightning on my mark.” Then she bent to tip the drink carefully down the bleeding girl’s neck.

Vriska was clearly about to give a retort when Terezi shot her a look that shut her up and then scrambled to her feet. Ok the wounded were stabilized and the bystanders were given their jobs. Going by her mother’s strategy the only job left was to defuse the combatants. Easy job she just had to…

Her mind, no longer distracted, focused on the knife.

She froze.

She could only watch as it flashed back and forth. Gamzee was losing because he was too consumed with rage to use his pins or fight effectively. Then there was a cry as Jack Noir dove in to attack. As Gamzee threw a punch Jack ran his blade along the inside of his upper arm and when it reached the elbow he drove it in.

Terezi stood rigid as the boy fell to the floor and did his best to shield his face and neck from the follow up attacks. Between him and Feferi there was now blood spread all over the place.

“Pyrope!” Vriska’s yell finally broke through Terezi’s stupor “Advance or abscond! Which is it!?” Yes Terezi was being stupid to let something like this hold her back from saving someone. Shaking her head to clear the last of the fogginess she burst into action.

 She ran forwards, grabbed Jack’s collar and yanked him back. He wasn’t ready for the attack and fell backwards. Terezi had been counting on that. “Nice move tasking us by surprise there, real brave.” Then backing off with Gamzee in tow she put down several walls of fire between them. It probably wouldn’t stop him if he was indeed the game master or even slow him down but it was better than just standing around doing nothing.

“Noooooooow is it me?” Vriska snapped. Terezi could only nod as her head was pounding and her breath was ragged from the excursion of lugging two big strong boys around. “Well ok then!” A flick of her arm and Vriska had sent a bolt of lightning down 3 feet behind the target.

By that time Jack had got to his feet and was brushing off his suit. “Girl that was crap. I have it easy if this is the level of the players I have to face. One went down simple as that.” He snapped his fingers to emphasise his point. “one is a slave to his anger, one is blind and you couldn’t even hit me it I held my knife up like a lightning rod.” He hardly flinched as another bolt stuck the ground in front of him. “Yeah you sure killed that ground good.” He gave a bawdy laugh and took a step forwards.

“Not so fast cause this time I have you!” Vriska flicked her wrist one last time and this one struck true. Terezi was amazed someone with such awful aim could get enough accuracy to hit someone in the eye. But it must have been a fluke. “Third time’s the charm!”

 Terezi was glad she couldn’t see the detail of the wound since it sounded painful from the agonised screams the game master was making. “YOU FUCKING BITCH! I’LL GET YOU! I’LL GET ALL FOUR OF YOU! YOU JUST MADE THE WORST ENEMY YOU COULD HAVE MADE IN THIS GAME!” And with that the shadows reached up to grab him and pulled him into the ground and he was gone.

“You going to be ok dogg?” Gamzee whispered from his position on the floor holding Feferi’s hand. She smiled up at him and nodded.

While that scene was playing out though Terezi was pulled aside by her partner. “What the fuck was that Pyrope? I can’t have you freezing on me when we get in trouble. I don’t want any dead weight on my hands.”

Terezi smiled and covered her nerves with a jab. “At least I can hit on my first shot.” She hardly stopped for breath so that she could carry on right over Vriska’s indignant response. “Ok to be straight with you I don’t like knives for reasons I’d rather keep to myself. Any other time I wouldn’t have frozen up like that.”

The taller girl crossed her arms and sighed heavily. “I really hate you ok? If you weren’t my useless partner I would drop you without further hassle.”

 “Hey motherfuckers you wicked done? Cause I want to thank you for what you did.” Gamzee was stood holding the four pack of beer in one hand while in the other was one can that he cracked open. Instantly the tension was broken and the four kids relaxed. They had fought the game master off. Not many other players could truly claim that.

Terezi clicked her tongue. “And hold old are you mister?”

“Motherfucking 18 bro.” He grinned before taking a swig from the can. “And loving every miraculous minute of it.” Terezi smiled, he was being weird about it but he was within the law.

“I’m not but I’m ok with this.” Feferi held up the cure drink and smiled weakly. Even though they had just met seeing her act so subdued was heart wrenching. Jack had really done a number on her. 

“That’s alright then” Gamzee waved a can in her direction but she waved him off. “no I’m only 17”

The loud mouth Vriska had been surprisingly quiet till now but at that she piped up again at last. “you going to stop me Pyrope I’m only 17 as well.” She took a beer and defiantly cracked it open and took a swig. Terezi didn’t speak and just moved up to slap the can out of her hand so it spilled all over the street. “What the fuck Pyrope!?”

“You drinking would be breaking the law.” She said simply as if that was that.

Vriska grabed her shirt and pulled her  right up to her face. “WHO IS GOING TO KNOW!?”

“IT’S THE LAW THAT’S ALL THERE IS TO IT!” Terezi spat back.

Chapter Text

Terezi woke with a start. Once again she was lying in the middle of the road. It was a good fact that she didn’t exactly have a physical body otherwise she would be stiff as a board from this sleeping arrangement.

Groaning and rubbing the back of her head she sat up and took notice of her surroundings. She should have seen the truck that was now bearing down on her coming really but she hadn’t been paying attention. Her body tightened and she flinched, there was no way she was ever getting out of way in time. The truck wouldn’t even slow down because as far as the driver was concerned the road was clear. He couldn’t see Terezi or, further back and still asleep, Vriska.

But then the impact failed to come. “oh man am I an idiot.” She muttered as the massive vehicle passed through her. As with all the other players in the game she was out of sync with the rest of the world. Not only was she invisible but she could pass through things like trucks and people.

Sighing in relief she crawled over to her partner and started shaking her. She had to wake her up and get ready for the day. Gamzee and Feferi had obviously been separated from them since they weren’t around. Then a buzz went off in her pocket and Terezi redoubled her efforts. “Come on you need to read the mission to me.” It had been someone else that had solved the mission yesterday but they couldn’t count on that every day.

“Well you sure got a purty lazy partner there don’t you?” Terezi hadn’t spotted the girl behind her till she spoke. Even if the girl hadn’t made it clear she could see Terezi then it would still be obvious that she was another player. She didn’t have the light around her head that signalled a non-player. “Too bad fur you then.”

Terezi managed to jump out of the way of the girl’s surprise attack just as the ground where she had been sat exploded. Whatever pin she was using it seemed like some kind of powerful slashing attack. Grabbing Vriska’s arms Terezi hitched her up around her shoulders and started to run while keeping an look out for the girl’s partner. Why the attack she had no idea but she could figure that out later once her god damn stupid partner would get up off her fat ass and help.

Thankfully she didn’t have to turn around to look behind her with this special vision. So when the girl knelt down in a runner’s pose her brain went into slow motion as adrenaline began pumping through her veins. Even then the girl burst forwards at high speed and at was all Terezi could do to dive to the side. The wind from the attacker’s passage still roughly battered them.

With a groan Vriska finally woke up and looked around blearily. “What the hell is going on Pyrope?” Then the attacking girl was charging up her slash attack again and Vriska reacted by instinct by launching a bolt of lightning at her. She dodged but her slash discharged harmlessly into the air.

Terezi grabbed Vriska’s hand and after laying down a wall of fire to cover their escape bolted away from the attack. Ducking down several side roads and alleys at random they had soon got away as far as Terezi was aware. The pair panted away trying to catch their breath hoping they were in the clear.

Vriska took the chance to check her phone. “Er hey looks like we got a bit of bad news. The mission today is a simple ass cross town trek but a side mission has come through. It lasts the whole game and is worth bonus points.” Her voice was grave. “The four of us from yesterday are on a hit list, our pictures are here and everything.”

That explained why they had been attacked without explanation. Obviously the game master hadn’t taken them defying him the way they did well. In fact he had taken it quite badly and was now out for revenge through the other players. Terezi just smirked “Now that doesn’t sound like you. Almost sounds like you are scared of all the other kids. What happened to having all the luck huh?”

“Oh that’s how it is? You know me for a few hours and suddenly you know me inside and out? Well news flash you don’t know a single fucking thing about me!” Vriska spat at Terezi’s feet and then turned and stomped a few steps away.

“Oh man you two need to cut out this crap before you make me puke up several buckets of puss and bile.” Ok this was getting ridiculous. Terezi clicked her tongue and wondered how many times people would sneak up on her before the week was out. What was the point in 360 degree vision if she couldn’t see anything? Terezi took a real good look around and just as she expected there was a figure in the shadows behind the new boy. Terezi couldn’t tell with her featureless grey vision but she was willing to put good money on it being the girl who had attacked them earlier.

Vriska growled out her words. “And who are you two kiddies? Hardly out of nursery school and here you are making fun of us.”

The boy walked forwards and the girl jumped out to fall in step behind him. “My name’s Karkat and you got pretty well acquainted with my partner Nepeta already. Now if you don’t want to be erased by her then you better agree to help me in my goal.” Karkat held his hands out flat in a peace offering.

Terezi knew better than to agree without know the full terms and opened her mouth to ask more questions but Vriska had already charged forwards and Nepeta had reacted by darting forwards. Terezi sighed as they clashed and knew today would be a long day.

Chapter Text

Nepeta hated dogs. They were either small and yappy or big and brutish. So when the big dog attacked her she wasn’t entirely surprised. She and some friends had been visiting the next town over when a vicious dog had got off its lead and ran straight at her.  The last thing she remembered before entering the game was the dog pushing her to the ground and its teeth biting into her face.

Now she was wandering around trying to work out how to find a partner. She had got almost instantly lost and was now pretty much wandering around trying to get the attention of the passing people. But everyone ignored her, so she really was invisible to normal humans. Nepeta stood at the side of a busy street and just looked at everyone passing. Then she heard a noise from the nearby shop window she was standing by.

Turning she saw it was a pet shop and a bunch of kittens were mewing at her through the big glass window. Smiling she tapped the window gently and watched the kittens jump up at her finger. “So you guys can see me? Just one more bit of purroof that cats are better than any other animal!”

“Not only them, there are rumours that some humans can see the underground as well.” The voice sent a shiver down Nepeta’s spine and she spun round to find herself face to face with an angry looking boy. “My fucking god how am I the only one that knows anything about this game and the ass bandits who run it? It’s all over the internet if you pussy lickers would take the time to peel you fucking eyes and look.” He crossed his eyes and made an annoyed noise deep in his throat.

Nepeta backed up till she was against the wall. He was a player but was this really the kind of person she wanted to team up with? But before she could say anything he had stuck out his hand. He didn’t say anything but he was looking away as if he couldn’t meet her eyes. So he was just a shy little baby then. Grabbing his hand in both of hers she shook it hard and grinned at him. “So what’s your name mister purrtner? I’m Nepeta!”

He pulled his hand from hers and turned away from her. “You can call me Karkat but you are just another jackoff that I’m using to achieve my goal so don’t expect a friendship between us.” Before Nepeta could respond to that her phone chirp the upbeat tone that told her she had a text.

***

The two of them watched from the shadows of an alley as four players fought with a man that Nepeta didn’t recognise. “Who is that guy then?”

“My guess would be that he’s the dick rider in charge of our missions.” There was a grating anger in his voice that wasn’t there normally. Clearly Karkat knew more than he was letting on but Nepeta didn’t press him on it.

She decided instead to get him away from the fight. Grabbing his hand she gently lead him down the alley and over to a nearby bench. “So you seem to have something you want other than winning the game?”
 The boy was still for a long time before he scratched at the back of his hand and spoke. “I have to win to do what I want. I’m going to kill the shrew fucking shrivelled up asshole that is my father.”

“Your…father?” Nepeta gulped and tried to keep her hands from shaking. Karkat had died just to get the chance to kill his father but even then it was his family. What could the man have done to force his son to hate him that much? She continued in a soft voice “Erm ok well I’ll help how I can but I really think you should reconsider killing him.”

The only response was a steely stare. “Oh in that case let’s talk about something else. You mentioned the underground befur, what is that?”

Karkat seemed to collect himself and when he spoke he was back to his usual crabbiness rather than the genuine anger that had almost radiated out of him. “It’s pretty fucking simple the underground is just the plane of existence we’re on. That’s what makes us invisible.”  Nepeta didn’t really get it but she smiled and nodded glad she had got Karkitty to cheer up a little. She giggled at her secret cat pun.

***

Nepeta was flexing her hands as she watched the two girls get out of sight. The pins had made her fingers go to sleep. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad when she had got used to channelling a huge amount of light energy through her hands.

She had run off to take out the special mission. She wanted to help Karkitty win so he could at least confront his father. Besides she had convinced herself that these weren’t actually people since all of them were dead and from the way Karkitty talked very few of the winners were even going to be revived.

Speaking of Karkat he was running down the street towards her. “And what the feather winged flying fuck do you think you are doing?”

“I was just thinking we could do with all the points we could get to make sure we win!” Nepeta held up her hands to try and calm him. “I’m really good at finding people and I thought this would help! The mission is really easy today so it won’t take any time at all and some other players can handle it.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose Karkat sighed. “It doesn’t matter how many points we have as long as we finish the week and beet the game master. But those two might be useful so let’s head after them and try to get them to join up.” Nepeta nodded meekly and followed after him.

Chapter Text

Feferi looked over at the historic dockyard from her hiding place. That was the target of the mission but they weren’t moving forwards just yet just in case someone attacked them. They had got there quickly since the sea front was where she used to spend most of her time so she knew it like the back of her hand.

“I don’t see any motherfuckers lurking around.” Gamzee whispered as he seemed to simply appear behind her. His sneaking skills where honestly quite scary even when they were being used to help her.  “So if we bomb it over there we should be able to complete the mission wicked easy dogg. Then we can lay low for the rest of the day.”

Feferi got ready to move. She had wanted to head to the meeting spot they had set up with Terezi and Vriska but since the four of them were going to be hunted down they couldn’t risk it and hopefully the other girls would be smart and not show either. “Let’s get going then.”

It was a short sprint across the road and getting past the ticket booth was easy when they were invisible. The mission said to go to the crow’s nest of one of the ships moored there. “I’m starting to get worried. We haven’t encountered any noise yet at all today.” Feferi said as they slowly clambered up the rigging. Any answer from her partner was swept way in the wind.

“Whale we’re here, now what?” Feferi asked but Gamzee just shrugged. The mission obviously wasn’t over since the timers on their hands were still there. So they waited to see what would happen. Her question was soon answered as the boat rocked and a huge tentacle burst out of the water towards them. It was the biggest noise they had seen yet. Feferi clung to the edge of the crow’s nest to avoid being thrown into the sea. “Oh cod how do we fight this!?”

Gamzee quite calmly grabbed her round the waist and jumped. For a moment they were in a terrifying free fall, tumbling end over end. “No worries dogg, ain’t no way any motherfucker is going to lay a wicked hand on you.” He raise a hand and blasted the nearest tentacle clean off with an energy bullet.

The recoil sent them flying off in the other direction and they bounced a few times on the surface of the water before sinking below the surface. There they could truly see the bulk of the noise they were fighting. It was not going to be easy.

***

Terezi jumped forwards to pull Vriska out of the scuffle. She felt her face get raked by a set of sharp claws and winced. Her mouth moved to yell at Nepeta but before she spoke she noticed that Karkat already had her on the ground and incapacitated.

So the one who had clawed at her face was her wonderful partner. Terezi sucked air in between her teeth and grimaced. Vriska would pay for that one that was for sure. But first the two of them had to finish their wrestling match. Luckily Vriska was little more than a flailing ball of grasping limbs at this point so it was a simple task for Terezi to slam her against the wall and pin her arms behind her back.

Vriska was yelling something but Terezi just spoke over her. "Shut the fuck up Serket or I'll set your hair on fire."
Vriska bucked a few times trying to get away but soon realised it was a futile effort and settled down. "Fine whatever; just get your filthy claws off me Pyrope."
Nepeta moved up to them and shuffled her feet nervously. "I'm furry sorry for attacking you. Karkat told me off fur it. Don't blame him fur my stupid idea to grab extra points." She twisted the fake tail attached to the back of her trousers in her hands.

Vriska flicked her head and grunted. "Just don't do it again brat. Now shorty over here wanted something so hurry up and talk before I get bored and decide we could do without the competition." Nepeta's only response was to hiss.

Terezi butted in front of her to try and keep a barrier between the two bickering girls. "Let's all just relax and hear the guy out then we can go our separate ways and be done with all this hassle."

Karkat clicked his tongue "Yeah sure but first I have a question for the bitch on her fucking period; what in the fuck happened to your eye?" Terezi focused on Vriska a moment. There was something wrong with her eye? That was news to her, she would have to ask her later what it was, probably just she had two different colour pupils or something simple like that.

Vriska merely grunted something that sounded like an insult and a request for Karkat to mind his own fucking business. When no actual answer was given the boy decided to carry on with his request. "Ok listen up I have one mission in this tight puckered asshole of an afterlife and that is to take out the game master. The way the game works is the players who survive all seven days are given points based on how well they danced and gyrated around on the game master's strings like some kind of shitty puppet. The points get totalled up and that decides how many lucky ass bandits get to go home out of the group. You help me and you three bitches can have all my points. I don't need them."

Terezi was very suspicious of that. He had said that he had no use for points and therefore no need for revival. Why? That was the million pound question. He didn't seem suicidal, but then no one ever did. What was the answer? Terezi gritted her teeth; she hated not having all the pieces to a puzzle.

Vriska however seemed to have recovered her head and clicked her tongue "Well the needs of the Scourge Sisters come first but if the team up doesn't interfere with us kicking all kinds of ass in this competition then we would be happy to join Karkat's angels. Just need you to draft a contract and we can all sign it and seal this deal." Nepeta was yawning at the business talk and Karkat was taken aback by how formal the girl had become.

Terezi was more focused on the shadows in the corners of her vision gathering in mass around them to object to anything. "Hey guys I think..." but she was cut off.

A crunch. A roar. And once again Terezi was splattered with blood.

Chapter Text

Nepeta was gone.

Terezi's cure drink wouldn't even do any good since her whole head had been crushed by the noise that had attacked her. It had the shape of a bear and its claws were now dripping with blood. A rumbling roar echoed around the alley as it flexed its vast arms.

"Think we can take this guy Pyrope?" Vriska cracked her knuckles and rotated her neck.

Terezi turned to Karkat "What happens to you when your partner dies?" But the boy was just staring at the body with a gaunt expression on his face. She turned back and patted her partner on the shoulder. "We can erase him easy; it's the others I'm worried about." As she spoke several wolf noise emerged at either end of the alley and moved to block their path escaping.

Vriska scoffed and clicked her fingers to bring lightning down on the wolves at one end and they whimpered and faded away. "All bunched up I can't miss if I tried" To avoid the brunt of Vriska's smug posturing after that display Terezi just set the others on fire. The bear noise was ignoring them and picked up the lifeless body in front of him and sniffed it.

That seemed to snap Karkat out of his stupor "You are still using those basic kid attacks? You can't take the big gaping asshole with those!"

The girls turned to each other and grinned "Well we did pick some new things up from the last day we could use."

"I don't know the bear seems content and docile."

"Yeah he wants to kill it he can do it himself."

The boy look appalled and started them down. Dropping to his knees he spoke in a hurt voice. "Please Nepeta was the fighter not me. I don't want her body defiled any more than it already is. Please help me."

Vriska chuckled and snapped her fingers, over her head this time, and a rock fell from the sky landing behind the bear. The noise was shocked enough to drop what it was holding and focus on them but Terezi had to snicker.

"You missed honey~" Knowing the domestic lilt to her voice would bug the shit out her Terezi pointed her finger at a dumpster and flicked it towards the charging bear. The lump of metal flew towards it and the weight knocked it back hard. There was a crash of metal against stone and the bear was crushed between the two. "And that is that."

Before the girls could react Karkat ran forwards and grabbed Nepeta before sprinting out of the alley and disappeared. Vriska moved to follow but Terezi grabbed her arm.

She shook her head "He's dead, way the reapers talk and he reacted a partner dies they both die" She pulled gently in the other direction. "Come on let's go deal with the mission, doesn't seem like anyone else is going to be doing it for us."

Vriska pulled her arm out of Terezi's grip and looked after Karkat for a moment. Grunting she turned around and headed towards the sea front in a huff.

***

Gamzee and Feferi burst through the surface of the water panting for air. They trod water in the middle of the bay. Even if they wanted to get away the octopus noise was in the way of getting to the shore. "Ok dogg what the motherfuck we going to wicked do?"

Feferi brushed her wet hair out of her eyes and looked at the tentacles curling up around the ship and lifting it up out of the water. She thought about the mission they had got that morning. Go check out the big one at the docks and stay out of my hair. "I get it, we thought he meant the ship but he was really talking about the noise!"

Gamzee was about to respond but he spluttered and disappeared under the water. Feferi yelp and ducked her head under to see him being dragged away in the noise's clutches. Surfacing for a second she filled her lungs with a big gulp of air and started swimming forwards. No sea creature was going to beat a master swimmer like her when her friend was in danger.

As one of the eight limbs wormed towards her she activated one of the pins on the bottom of her t-shirt. Blades of magic swirled around her and sliced into the grasping tentacle making it back off. 

Before it could get away she thrust her hand palm out and it began to freeze. Ice ran along it and weighted it down but she didn't have the power to freeze the whole noise. It flexed the limb and the ice started to crack but it held firm for now. The water around it started to freeze in a spider web like pattern but it was warm enough that the ice didn't get far.

In the midst of the bundle of writhing tentacles she spotted its beak open and cry out a gurgling wail. Meanwhile Gamzee seemed to have stopped struggling.

Feferi needed to pull out all the stops now she was running out of air herself. Holding both hands out she formed a light on the noise's tentacle and focused. The light got brighter and brighter until it burst and severed it off. 

Moving through the water like a fish she scooped up her partner and headed up as quickly as she could. Breaking the surface she gasped and pulled Gamzee's head up, she needed to get the water out of his lungs but she couldn't do that here. Getting to the wall of the docks she started looking for a way to climb out and she spotted a welcome sight.

Terezi and Vriska were waving at her "Need some help there?"

***

Karkat stumbled through the streets as Nepeta started to fade out in his arms. He needed to get her out of there so the girls didn't wonder why he was still around. He was trying to move so fast he wasn't looking where he was going. He slammed into someone going the other way. He tried to apologise but the man spoke over him.

"Well well what do we have here? A player without a partner is no good." He adjusted his shades and Karkat realised he was dressed as a reaper. "But you seem to be surviving? How ludicrous."