Chapter Text
I
“Jooooooohn!”
Shadows clashed against the burning green light of a massive sun. The Darkness and Light fought against one another with neither side gaining any ground. Between them was a small group of gray skinned humanoid creatures. They were huddled together, clinging against both the darkness and the light. One of them, a girl with one hooked horn and a pincer like horn called up to him.
“John Egbert! Get away!”
He wanted to tell them to run instead. A strange white wolf creature was looming out of the darkness coming towards them on white wings. Its sword was out and it was diving at them. The girl's face was focused on him though and she looked terrified.
That's when he felt something breathing on his should and smelled... something. He turned and saw a black wolf like creature standing behind him. It reminded him of Anubis. One eye was narrowed in anger and he was showing razor sharp teeth. His sword went through his chest and then...
John woke up, drenched in sweat.
He had been having dreams like those for five years, since his thirteenth birthday and the Beta that never came. But the dreams had been getting more graphic, more detailed lately. And that girl. He had been dreaming of her more too.
Ring! Ring!
His cell was going off. He whipped some sweat off his forehead and grabbed his glasses before getting out of bed. Hm, Dave Strider was calling. He accepted the call and pressed the phone to his ear.
“Hey Dave.”
“John. We have to play SuBurb.”
He sighed. They had this conversation before. “I don't want to play Suburb. Not after the Beta never came.”
“I know its a sore subject for you but we have to play the game. Its very important that we play.”
“Why?”
Dave didn't answer for a few minutes. He could hear noises in the background like he was looking through a lot of papers. When he spoke again he sounded frustrated
“You wouldn't believe me if I told you, bro. But if we are friends you have to believe me that we have to play. Don't make me beg anymore.”
John hesitated in answering. He had heard a lot of strange things about SuBurb, but also a lot of good things. And he felt this feeling like he should have gotten and played the Beta. He knew it was a silly feeling to have but he couldn't shake it. And he couldn't shake those dreams.
“Are the others going to play?”
Dave sounded confident. “Yeah. Rose can not wait and neither can Jade.”
“Alright, I'll play.”
He heard Dave sigh in relief. The paper shuffling stopped and he heard someone say something in the background. It sounded like Dave's Bro but he couldn't be sure. John hadn't really had a whole conversation with Bro.
“Good. Great. I've already got the copy of the game for you. Well, Rose did. She's the one that bought it for you.”
John was shocked. “I should have bought my own copy!”
Dave laughed. “She's getting almost as good as Jade at this whole prediction thing. She said she knew that eventually you would say yes, so she bought you a copy in advance.”
“Yeah, its almost... supernatural.”
“You know that's stupid bro! There is no such thing as magic or supernatural shit.”
“I know. I was just joking with you. So, when are we playing?”
“Soon as you get your game. Should come in a week or so.”
John and Dave talked for a while but when the phone was hung up John thought for a while. He hoped that the game actually got to him. Last time, when he had gotten to order the Beta for his birthday it never came. It was just as well he supposed. He turned his focus to school and was doing rather well. Now that he was eighteen, or about to be, he was ready to do one last thing to finish off his childhood.
And say goodbye to his friendships. They were drifting apart, and though John knew that they would always be friends he also knew this might be the last time that they did something together. And he planned to take full advantage of it.
Meanwhile...
Vriska Serket sat on the roof of the building that Karkat had rented from some forgiving humans. In other words, Rose's mother Roxy Lalonde. It was nice of her to let her, Kanaya, and Karakt to stay at her house while the others watched the kids elsewhere. Vriska only wished that she could have been on the team watching over John, but fearless leader had to keep an eye on her. But at least Kanaya was with her and they managed to repair their relationship.
Vriska looked out into the night, running a hand through her black hair. It was a quiet night, and the city in the distance was lit up bright. She wanted to go back to the city for a while but Rose insisted that they remain at her house. She guessed their gray skin, fangs, horns and over all not quite human appearance wouldn't go over well with most of the other humans. But at least she had found that Convention and Karakt had let them go. It was kind of fun. She missed John though.
“Vriska? There you are.”
Kanaya came up on the roof, moving past the industrial sized air conditioner until she was right behind her. A little shorter then Vriska, but still tall, Kanaya was built like some earth model. Her hair was short and done wavy today. She wore a jade green top, and a long black skirt. Her symbol, Virgo as it was known on Earth, was on a silver necklace she wore around her neck.
“Hey, what's up?” She scooted over so Kanaya could sit on the edge with her. She sat down and looked out for a moment before turning towards Vriska.
“Rose says that Dave got John to play SuBurb and that they are playing soon.”
She grinned, slapping both hands against her jean covered legs in excitement. “Oh yes! Finally, we can get back on track!”
Kanaya smiled and nodded. “I thought you would be excited. When the game starts, Sollux believes we will be able to talk to them.”
“Has Karkat decided who will be the patron Trolls?”
“Well... I will help Rose along with Eridan, Equius, and Nepeta. Terezi will help Dave with Sollux and Aradia. Gamzee, Tavros and Feferi will help Jade. You and Karkat will help John.”
Vriska laughed and hit her knees again. “Good! Gooooooood! About time fearless leader let me get back to doing something useful.”
Kanaya nodded her head, though a strange expression came over her face. When Vriska asked what was wrong it took a moment for the jade blooded troll to respond. “I am just worried that we will end up in the same mess as last time. We will kill one another again at the tiniest problem.”
“If anyone tries it, Karakt will go nuts and stop them all in their tracks.”
Kanaya let out a silvery laugh and nodded. But her face quickly turned serious again. “I know that we-”
“Calm down! Don't worry about the negatives for once! Everything is going to be alright. We're going back to the Medium!”
Rose shut the door silently, shaking her head as she did. Yes, she barely remembered these trolls, but what she did remember told her that Kanaya was right to worry. The trolls were dangerous and five years on Earth did little to temper their darker natures. But she could only hope that Vriska's hope was well placed.
Back to SuBurb she went. She could feel Lord English looming.