Chapter 2

You wake up to your alarm going off. Except, when you check the time, you realize it's been several hours since your alarm actually started going off. You must have been extremely tired to have slept through it. Groggy and half awake, you shut off the alarm and check your MOBILE DEVICE. It seems none of your friends have made any attempt at contacting you while you were out. You can't say you feel too bothered.

After setting your phone back on your nightstand, you roll back over and decide to go back to sleep. Or, you would, were it not for the knocking sound coming from downstairs. A rhythmic "tap tap tap, tap tap tap". Must be the cat.

Then you remember you don't own a cat.

Scrambling out of the bed, you yell down the stairs to let your visitor know you'll be there momentarily. You hadn't changed out of your outfit from yesterday when you went to bed, but you don't feel like continuing to wear such a dirty outfit. You might be depressed, but you're also deeply afraid of being called out for such things. And really, what point is there in wearing the same thing every day when changing clothes requires only a thought?

You decide to change into your old KNOCK-OFF GREEN SLIME GHOST shirt and your old shorts. A classic look, not one you're particularly fond of, but it does the job of clothing you without being too outstanding. Thankfully they have grown with you over the years; one of the benefits of your god tier wardrobe has been that all of your clothes magically resize themselves to fit your growing body. How convenient.

After spending far too long contemplating your outfit and staring off into space thinking about your wardrobe, you head down the stairs and open your front door. You are greeted by - is that Dave? What's Dave doing here?

DAVE: sup

JOHN: dave?

JOHN: what are you doing here?

JOHN: you don't usually come all the way out here.

DAVE: oh yeah i just yknow like

DAVE: happened to be in the neighborhood

DAVE: and all

JOHN: yeah?

DAVE: yeah

DAVE: you know the way i do

DAVE: i just kinda hang out and go wherever the bitches are

DAVE: and by bitches i mean karkat i love that bitch

DAVE: hes not actually here i dont even know why i said that lemme back up a bit

DAVE: ahem

DAVE: im in the neighborhood

DAVE: as i just happen to do

DAVE: and i figured yknow why not go see my best bud john i bet hes probably up to some shit but who knows maybe he would be down to hang out and shit

DAVE: yknow?

JOHN: uhhhhhhhh i guess?

JOHN: that still doesn't explain why you're all the way out here though?

DAVE: look idk dude

DAVE: my best buds not responding and shit and a guy gets worried

DAVE: ive been kinda tryin to get a hold of you for a while about stuff like

DAVE: for a while

DAVE: not important stuff i guess its just like we dont talk that much anymore and i kinda miss my best friend and all yknow?

JOHN: i... think?

JOHN: i don't know dave i kind of just woke up and i'm a little tired.

JOHN: i mean i woke up a little while ago i'm just still kind of tired.

DAVE: yeah dude thats cool thats fine

DAVE: look im sure you dont got time to listen to me go on and on about stuff i just figured id come see my best friend and say hi and stuff and see if maybe you wanted to hang out and all

DAVE: karkats back home still he doesnt like going out during the day

DAVE: its the whole trolls are nocturnal thing

DAVE: i kinda got used to it too but i happened to be up a little earlier than usual today which is like weird but i figured hey lets go see if egberts doin anything

You love Dave a lot. He's one of your closest friends, probably second only to Rose. Though she might be tied with someone else. But man does the guy tend to go on and on about stuff.

JOHN: i'm not really doing anything i guess.

JOHN: but i'm good.

JOHN: sorry to make you come all the way out here though.

JOHN: and don't worry about me i'm fine.

JOHN: just kind of forgetful lately i guess.

DAVE: yeah ok thats cool i probably could have called you or something first thats fine

DAVE: oh i do have something important though

DAVE: you should go see your sister

Oh. Jeez, Dave too? Does everybody want you to go see her or something? Are they all planning something?

Wait, no, that's what he was messaging you about the last time he tried to get a hold of you. Something about how she kept bugging him? Calling him gay for you? You hope that's not the case. It would be flattering but you're pretty sure you're not gay.

... Right?

JOHN: ok yeah alright fine.

JOHN: she's still living with you guys right? maybe i could come back with you and we could hang out and she and i could talk or whatever.

DAVE: nah she moved out last night

JOHN: oh.

JOHN: really?

JOHN: did something happen?

DAVE: nah thats just her thing dude

DAVE: she floats around between us and rose some times like she stays a week with us and then hangs with rose and kanaya for a week or sometimes she goes back to her own place

DAVE: its kinda weird but i mean she does what she wants thats cool i get it

DAVE: you know for a while she was talkin about living with you like "oh man what if i spent like a week living with my bro every now and then thatd be cool" and i told her "yeah thatd be cool maybe then we could all hang out more often like youd get him to come out of the house more and all"

JOHN: huh.

JOHN: i mean yeah that might be cool. i guess.

JOHN: i'll try to go see her today maybe.

DAVE: you know egbert that would be a brilliant idea like i love your sister and all but she literally would not stop bugging me about this

DAVE: im all like "hey leave me alone im clearly over here tryin to sweet talk my boyfriend yknow"

JOHN: daaaaaaaave!

JOHN: i said i'd go see her!

JOHN: can you give me some space to prepare for it!!!!!!!!

DAVE: oh shit my bad dude sorry you know i get carried away like that some times

DAVE: wait was that a question

JOHN: yeah, why wouldn't it be!!

DAVE: idk dude thats a lot of exclamation points for a question

DAVE: dont tell me you got her on your mind again

JOHN: bye dave i'll talk to you later.

You close the door before he can suck you into another one of the classic Dave Strider ramble sessions. His voice was starting to get just the tiniest bit grating. Not to mention did he have to keep repeating your name? Or calling you "dude"? Not that you mind of course. You haven't ever minded before. It's just strange. Hey maybe don't think about it actually. You decide maybe instead you should see what your sister has actually been trying to say, she might have left you some messages or something. Who knows? Maybe then you don't actually have to leave the house.

Heading upstairs and back into your room, you sit over at your computer and scroll through various chats she's left you on your favorite INSTANT MESSAGING CLIENT.

-- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] --

GG: hey i love you

...

-- gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] --

-- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] --

GG: thinkin about you...

...

-- gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] --

-- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] --

GG: hey, jhon

...

GG: never mind i didnt say thhat im sorry i msorry

-- gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] --

Wait, what?

Didn't say what?

-- gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] --

GG: hey, jhon

EB: hey it is three in the morning

EB: what are you talking about?

EB: are you really doing this at 3am?

EB: i've told you why!!!!!!!!

EB: look just fuck off ok?

GG: never mind i didnt say thhat im sorry i msorry

-- gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] --

Glancing at the times those two were posted, you guess she must have typed out a whole thing and spent a solid half hour talking about something before deleting most of it. She also normally doesn't make typos like that. Maybe she was drunk? You certainly can't think of another reason someone would message you with spelling that poor at three in the morning.

And why are there responses from you in there? You don't remember this discussion at all. How long ago was this? Were you drunk too? No, of course not, you don't drink. You've thought about drinking but you would rather wait until after your birthday. Even though most such Earth C laws don't apply to you. You aren't really sure why, but you've always assumed the various kingdoms don't care enough to apply laws to deities. Unless those deities are causing destruction and mayhem across town, or summoning monstrous horrorterrors in the middle of parks.

What were you talking about again?

Dave visiting must have gotten you stuck doing the ramble-y thing again. You know that's not your thing. Your thing is the windy thing. You should stick to doing that.

---------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of the windy thing, you are currently doing that. Not quite at the same pace as yesterday, though. No, today you're a bit more relaxed. You decide to follow the breeze and become one with it, letting it slowly and casually guide you to your destination.

That destination being the outskirts of the Troll Kingdom, roughly at the other end from where Dave and Karkat's hive is. House. Not hive. Why do you keep thinking in troll terms? It's a house. It's not even built like a Troll hive, it's built like your own house, but with the interior built to look like Dave's old apartment pre-Sburb. It's a house.

And on the other end of the Troll Kingdom from that house, you find a grand tower. Grand in size. It's actually quite a modest tower, almost reminiscent of those you vaguely remember seeing on Prospit and Derse, but painted white instead of yellow or purple. It belongs to your DEAR SISTER, and she lives here when she is not living with your friends Dave and Karkat, or your other friends Rose and Kanaya.

Settling in front of the tower, you approach the door. You almost knock, but decide it might be a good idea to message her first. You don't want to surprise-

JADE: john?

JOHN: oh, h-hi jade.

Damn, how did she do that? You're almost positive you didn't make any noise or anything.

JADE: holy shit youre actually here!

JADE: come on in and grab a seat ill make us tea!

JOHN: oh, ok.

She seems unusually chipper? Either way you follow her into the house. Tower. House. Tower-house. Let's go with that. You follow her into the tower-house and decide to sit in her living room. It's remarkably tidy in here; you vaguely remember seeing this room as a mess almost eight years ago. You also vaguely remember an elderly Jake English-looking stuffed man standing in front of the fireplace, but it seems he's gone missing.

JADE: oh yeah i moved grandpa to another room

JADE: he kept scaring people whenever i had anybody over

JADE: so i just moved him to the attic where stuffed me used to live

JOHN: oh yeah, i remember that.

JOHN: the "stuffed you" that you prototyped, hehe.

After a few moments of you looking around the room at the various objects still hanging on the walls, Jade returns to the living room with two mugs of tea. She leaves one in front of you and takes the other for herself.

JADE: so whats up?

JADE: its been a while since weve actually talked!!

JADE: ive missed you a bunch!!

JADE: howve you been??

JOHN: oh, i've been fine.

JOHN: just, y'know, busy.

JOHN: irons in the fire and stuff.

JADE: yeah i know what you mean! ive been kinda busy too

JADE: ive spent like all day getting settled back in, i was living with dave and karkat for like weeks!!!!!

JADE: i think its the longest ive spent in one place in a while, im usually only around for like a week?

JADE: i just didnt feel like moving around again for a while yknow?

JADE: but daves been kinda weird lately so i figured id get out of their hair and just stay by myself for a bit

JOHN: yeah i know what you mean about dave.

JOHN: he's been acting weird, he actually showed up at my door today.

JADE: really?!?!

JOHN: yeah, it was strange.

JOHN: he never just visits unannounced like that, especially not without karkat around.

JADE: honestly?

JADE: if i didnt know any better id say he had a thing for you

JOHN: yeeeeeeeeah, i was kind of thinking about that yesterday.

JOHN: or was it yesterday?

JOHN: i don't remember.

JOHN: but yeah he told me to come see you.

JADE: oh huh thats weird

JADE: did he say anything about why?

JOHN: he just said you needed to talk to me about something?

JADE: oh

The expression on her face turns sour. You might have struck a nerve.

JADE: honestly i dont know why he said that

JADE: i mean

JADE: i did tell him i needed to talk to you but

JADE: i didnt want him to tell you that

JOHN: why not?

JADE: ummmm

JADE: cause i umm

JADE: actually wasnt ready to talk about it

JOHN: ohhhhhhhh...

Well that got awkward fast. Maybe you should leave?

JADE: i was actually kinda just umm...

JADE: hoping you were here to say hi and hang out?

JADE: i really miss you

JADE: and i miss being siblings and stuff and getting to hang out and do things with my brother

There's that feeling again. That feeling you got when Dave kept calling you "dude" and "bro". What's with that feeling? And why is she calling you that?

Oh. Yeah. It's because you are her brother. You forget some times. It's rare you actually hear that word. Well. When it's said in full like that. You've gotten no shortage of "bro" over the years from several of your friends. But the only person who actually calls you "brother" you hardly ever see anymore, so you hardly ever hear that word.

But that still doesn't explain the weird feeling it gives you when you hear it. Why does this keep happening lately? You don't remember ever getting this feeling before, right?

JOHN: ok well, we don't have to talk about it then.

JOHN: it's fine.

JOHN: i'll just head back home.

JOHN: it's all good.

JADE: wait!!!!!

JADE: you dont have to leave yet we can still hang out!!!

JADE: well find something to do and have fun together like we used to!!!

JOHN: oh i.

JOHN: sorry i kinda don't really want to.

JOHN: i'm not actually feeling that well today, i only really came over cause i thought you needed to talk to me. i figured i'd go ahead and do that so we could talk about it.

JOHN: but if not i'd kind of rather just go home, and lie down or something.

JADE: but john you like

JADE: just got here!!!

JADE: john please dont leave already i missed you!! ;-;

You wince a bit hearing your name. Just like when Dave kept saying it over and over and over again. Where is this coming from? You don't have time to think about it, you decide to just get up and start heading out so you can go home.

JADE: john why do you keep ignoring me???

JADE: why are you still ignoring me???

JADE: why don't you ever fucking talk to me anymore????

What?

Ignoring her?

You stop in your tracks and turn around.

JOHN: ignoring you?

JOHN: is that what you think i'm doing?

JOHN: i'm not ignoring you jade!

JOHN: or at least, i'm not trying to!

JOHN: fuck it, you know what jade? i'm AFRAID of you!!!!!!!!

JADE: wh... wha?

You start to vaguely recall the details of your three in the morning argument from the other day, only too late as you start to rehash the exact same argument. But you just can't help yourself for some reason.

JOHN: jade i've been reading your messages constantly!

JOHN: every day i check and read them!

JOHN: i just don't know how to respond!

JOHN: because every time i try to i just, sit there!

JOHN: i sit there and stare at my computer

JOHN: or my phone

JOHN: and i just

JOHN: freeze.

JOHN: i try to say something and i freeze and nothing comes out and i don't know how to respond.

JOHN: and it's not just you!

JOHN: do you really think it's just you?!

JOHN: it's EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!

JOHN: when dave came by it wasn't just to tell me about you, he was worried about me!

JOHN: because i can't ever talk to him either!

JOHN: because i haven't been able to respond to him in days!!!!!!!!

Her expression gets angrier as you raise your voice.

JADE: yeah well

JADE: what about me?!?!

JADE: im worried about you too!!

JADE: john im worried fucking sick about you!!!

JADE: you could have at least told me you werent feeling well!!

JADE: you can tell your friends you arent feeling well you dont have to just

JADE: ignore everybody for fucking years!!!!!! >:(

JOHN: oh my gooooooood jade you don't fucking get it do you!!

JOHN: you don't understand!! you're not LISTENING to me!!

JOHN: you don't know how hard it is for me to talk to anyone!!

JOHN: it's not just you i'm afraid of, it's not just you i'm afraid to talk to, it's not just fucking you i'm afraid of saying anything to!!!!!!!!

JOHN: i genuinely cannot talk to ANYBODY anymore jade!

JOHN: i can't even leave my house anymore!

JADE: john i-

There's your stupid name again. The fire in your chest suddenly burns even hotter, and your tone shifts from one of defense to that of someone on the attack.

JOHN: stop CALLING me that!!!!!!!!

JADE: what?!?

JOHN: that fucking name stop it!!!!!!!!

JOHN: first dave and now you what the fuck!!

JOHN: this is part of it!! this is fucking part of it!!

You start angrily pacing around the room, growing less aware of your surroundings as you continue to shout at your sister.

JOHN: first you tell me that you're worried, but you never do anything to help!

JOHN: nobody does!

JOHN: everyone keeps telling me they're worried but nobody actually bothers to do anything about it!

JOHN: and then you keep calling me...

JOHN: THAT.

JOHN: or you keep calling me "brother" or "bro" or "dude" or "bud" fucking.

JOHN: EVERYONE keeps saying all of these things and it just-

JOHN: it makes me feel fucking WRONG!!!!!!!!

JOHN: jade every time i talk to you i feel wrong.

JOHN: i feel like i don't belong.

JOHN: like i shouldn't fucking exist!

JOHN: i don't know how to explain it but the way you keep saying that stuff!

JOHN: i don't even know WHY but it just feels wrong!

JOHN: it makes me feel wrong and it makes me feel SICK and it HURTS and i don't even know WHY and i just

JOHN: FUCK!!!!!!!!

You stand there, panting, heart racing. Something is wrong. Why did you lash out like that? Why did you say all of that? Is she crying? She looks like she's starting to cry. What did you do?

JADE: john, i- im sorry, i didnt-

JOHN: no.

JOHN: i shouldn't have come here.

JOHN: this was a mistake.

JOHN: fuck i shouldn't have come here this was all a mistake i shouldn't have fucking said all of that fuck.

JOHN: you're gonna fucking hate me now i shouldn't have said all that i shouldn't have said any of that i shouldn't have yelled and screamed at you like that i fucking-

JADE: JOHN!!!

The breeze begins to swell. Gusts of air begin to fill the room.

JOHN: fuck you're gonna h8 me now fucking i shouldn't have fucking said any of that

JADE: john i dont fucking ha-

The air swells and knocks her off her feet. She sits back up, but when she looks in your direction, you're not there.

The breeze begins to dissipate as you fly away, once again one with the wind.

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