Chapter Text
John looked at Jade and Rose before knocking on the Strider apartment door. A thud and soft footsteps were heard before the door opened to reveal a familiar face. Dirk raised an eyebrow and then opened the door wider so that he trio could get in. Once they entered he turned around and put a finger to his lips before tiptoeing past the sofa that cradled a snoring Dave.
John, Jade and Rose quietly followed the Heart player to Dave's room and sat down on the surprisingly clean floor. Once everyone was inside the room, Dirk closed the bedroom door and also sat down. John cleared his throat then spoke.
"How has he been?" The question sounded caring and concerned.
Dirk sighed, "He's gotten worse. He just fell asleep for the first time in about two days."
"Those alternate timelines hit him pretty hard didn't they," Jade asked with the usual enthusiasm missing from her voice. Rose nodded and didn't say a word; she instead seemed to be calculating every inch of the room.
"What do you think we should do?" John asked Dirk. The older brother of their Time Player shrugged. The silence that had settled was broken by the only blonde girl in the room. Ignoring her friends' questioning stares, the Light Player slowly walked over to the bed and kneeled to peer under it. Her eyes soon lit up with amusement as she reached under her depressed friend's bed, and when she rose, revealed a stack of papers which had Dave's handwriting on them. Bringing them back, she placed them on the ground in the middle of all her friends.
At first no one moved despite hat fact that it was obvious how much the pages needed to be read. No one knew if they were ready to hear what horrors their friend had seen and tried so hard to pretend didn't exists or bother him. Dave had tried to be so strong but the things written on these pages had eventually caught up to him. No one seemed to want to know what had that much strength over their strongest friend. Though eventually one of them gave in. John Reached forward into the pile and pulled out a poem he was prepared to read. With a sigh he did just that as he began to read his friends writings in the calmest tone he could manage...
"SBURB
Their souls are all dead.
Three are left sad.
Hearts hurting and broken,
Their lives seemingly gone,
They feel alone.
As they remember waterfalls of trickling blood.
Sitting in the mailbox waiting for blood,
Waiting for payers to end up dead,
Thousands played whether together or alone.
They watched very sad.
Earth was gone.
It was broken.
The game was almost broken.
It would have if it weren't for blood.
She was gone.
She was dead.
She woke up glad she wasn't alone.
He was alone.
Hiding behind shades while broken,
Watching time flow while trying not to look sad,
Seeing his bro's blood,
And seeing him lie dead,
Wishing hope wasn't gone.
She was already gone.
Before it even started she was alone.
Her dream self dead,
She was broken.
As she saw many colors of blood,
It was pretty yet sad.
He couldn't be sad.
He couldn't be gone.
He also saw blood,
But he knew he wasn't alone.
He couldn't be broken.
He had to give a goofy smile even though they seemed dead.
He could not be sad as he tried to help his friends feel not alone.
He smiled and tried to cheer them up even though they were gone and felt broken.
He still was there for them even after seeing the blood of the dead."
After John was done the kids looked at each other.
"They're doomed timelines," Rose simply stated.
"And they're poems," Jade added in a small voice. Dirk and John both nodded softly in understanding. The exchange was silent but the four teens knew exactly what they were all going to do.
Jade looked at the stack and picked up another one...