Chapter Text
It's an average day, same old routine. Firstly i get up at 6:45 in the morning, get on the bus at 7:30, plug my headphones in my ears and shove my face in a book. Arrive at school at 8:30 then same old boring classes, although i don't mind art, that's fun. And then it's a 25 minute wait for the buses to arrive again. I sit next to my best friend on the bus, Raine, and she basically copies my position. I'm eager to get home, yet nervous at the same time, as i know once i get home i'll do my chores as usual, and then i'll get on my laptop and read the ending of Homestuck. I really don't want it to end, but who really does?
Raine doesn't read Homestuck, so when i blab on about it at school she just smiles and nods, pretending she knows what the fuck i'm on about. I have two friends over on the mainland of my home country, Australia. We met over Tumblr. and soon became friends over Facebook. Unlike Raine, William and Alec both read Homestuck, so i can talk about it with them and they'll know exactly what i'm talking about, it's about time i found somebody who reads it.
The bus arrives at my one-kilometer-long-driveway and i wave goodbye to my friend and thank the bus driver. I hitch the one-strapped bag on my shoulder and I wait for the bus to drive off before shoving the headphones in my ears once more. There's a reddish tinge in the sky today, the sun must be setting early tonight, well, it is daylight savings. I begin my fifteen minute walk home, 'Plastic Soul' and 'In My Arms' blaring in my ears.
Once i reach home i kick my boots off in the porch and dump my bag in my room, mum must be out on the farm with my older brother, and my younger brother is slouched on the couch with headphones in his ears and face firmly placed in front of his ipad AS PER USUAL. I sigh and go on the search for the two cats i have to switch over before nightfall, as there might be tom fight overnight.
Once all my chores are done i walk to my room and shut the door so no one bothers me, and fall onto my bed and open the lid to my laptop. I open the Firefox browser and, firstly, check Tumblr. to see what's going around, and then open the MSPA bookmark. There are five new slides, i begin to read through them all. But as i get to the fourth page it concludes the comic, i'm intrigued to se what the final page is. I click the next slide and see a blank, white slide, as if it were loading something. But my cursor was not spinning like it normally would, indicating that it has indeed finished loading. There are four words under the slide.
'Look out your window.' I furrow my eyebrows and spin around and almost scream.
It's raining meteors in the horizon.
I sit there in shock, how did he know? are the words running through my head at that moment, and i turn back around to the monitor. Then i realise the pesterlog, and i click it open.
AH: I have prepared you all I can.
AH: I hope you were paying attention.
AH: Farewell.
And there’s a link, and my jaw drops when I see what the title of it is.
‘SBurb Beta.’
I open the Facebook bookmark.
Riana Hall: Alec!
Riana Hall: Alec, have you read the update?
Alec Meyer: no. why?
Riana Hall: read it. Just read it.
Riana Hall: William, have you read the update.
William Spencer: Yes.
Riana Hall: It’s real, everything is real.
William Spencer: we all joked about it but we never thought it would actually happen.
Riana Hall: What do we do?
William Spencer: I guess there’s really only one thing we CAN do.
Riana Hall: you’re right.
Riana Hall: hold on.
Alec Meyer: Well. We’re all going to die, there’s no doubt about it.
Riana Hall: Click the link, I’ll be back in a sec.
Riana Hall: Raine.
Riana Hall: you have to read the final slide of Homestuck.
Riana Hall: your life depends on it.
Riana Hall: and no this isn’t a sarcastic fucking joke okay?
Riana Hall: it’s a life or death situation here.
Riana Hall: follow these instructions:
Riana Hall: First, type ‘Homestuck’ into Google. Click the first link. Scroll down a bit and you will see a blue list of things that look like ==>. Click the top one. And follow the prompts.
Riana Hall: please don’t ignore this Raine.
Raine Stasse: jeez, you really want me to read this comic, don’t you?
Riana Hall: Raine! Thank god. No, no like I said this is a life or death situation here.
Raine Stasse: hey, did you see the awesome sunset?
Riana Hall: Yes I did and it was no sunset! Please Raine, just follow my instructions!
Raine Stasse: okay okay I’m reading it.
Riana Hall: Well?
Riana Hall: Raine, are you still there?
Riana Hall: Raine?
Raine Stasse: Holy fuck!
Raine Stasse: We’re all going to fucking die!
Riana Hall: Raine, calm down. Click the link supplied.
Raine Stasse: what good will that do?! We’re going to fucking die!
Riana Hall: CLICK THE FUCKING LINK!
Raine Stasse: Fine!
Raine Stasse: there, now it’s loading some weird patterny circle thing.
I click the link and gasp.
Riana Hall: Cascade.
Raine Stasse: What?
Riana Hall: Cascade, the most important flash in Homestuck. That’s exactly what this looks like.
Raine Stasse: right, whatever.
Raine Stasse: but what good will this do? We’re all going to die!
Riana Hall: hold on
William Spencer: So it’s loading Cascade?
Riana Hall: appears so.
William Spencer: you know, this is actually really scary, but also really exciting?
Riana Hall: I know, right?
Riana Hall: oh, hold on again.
Alec Meyer: So I’ve clicked the link, cascade, huh?
Riana Hall: yep.
Alec Meyer: this is all so… weird.
Riana Hall: I know.
Riana Hall: just a sec, I’ll move this to the newsfeed so all four of us can talk to each other.
Alec Meyer: four?
Riana Hall: I’ve got my other friend who doesn’t read Homestuck on it too, you know, so she doesn’t die.
Riana Hall: well, we might actually all end up dying anyway so.
Riana Hall: so guys, this is it.
Riana Hall: this is really happening.
Alec Meyer: yep.
William Spencer: all we have to do now is wait for it to load.
Raine Stasse: who the hell are you guys?
Riana Hall: Raine, remember when I told you about my two internet friends? Well, these are them.
William Spencer: hi.
Raine Stasse: yeah, hi. I’m Raine.
William Spencer: I’m William, it’s nice to meet you.
Raine Stasse: yeah, you too.
Riana Hall: guys, we’ll have plenty of time to get to know each other later.
Riana Hall: maybe.
Alec Meyer: yeah, this is no time to be getting all friendly with each other.
Alec Meyer: this is serious business.
Raine Stasse: um, hey, my thing just loaded.
Raine Stasse: it’s showing me a picture of a guy in his room.
William Spencer: what does he look like?
Raine Stasse: well, he has rectangular glasses, shoulder length brown hair.
Raine Stasse: with a dinosaur on his white t-shirt
William Spencer: dude.
William Spencer: that’s me.
Raine Stasse: you just waved at the camera.
William Spencer: yep that’s definitely me oh hey look cascade just loaded.
William Spencer: Alec I got you.
Alec Meyer: cool
William Spencer: Dude, I want your shirt.
Alec Meyer: and that so totally did not sound creepy.
William Spencer: shit, shut the fuck up. It’s cool.
William: it’s black with a pair of glow-in-the-dark red eyes.
Alec Meyer: how did you know they were glow in the dark?
William: dude, you’ve got your light turned off, if you didn’t notice.
Alec Meyer: oh.
William Spencer: omg I want your house.
William spencer: he has clap lights everybody.
Riana Hall: Oh, hey, look whose thing just loaded.
Riana Hall: Raine, I’m your server player.
Raine Stasse: my what?
Riana Hall: *sigh.* A server player is basically… okay, let me put it this way, you are William’s server player, you will help deploy his shit before the game.
Raine Stasse: Deploy what? Game? Is this just a big game to you?
Riana Hall: *sighs again.* no. sburb is literally a game that destroys the planet and kills everyone except for the people who play it. If you read Homestuck you would know all this.
Raine Stasse: whatever.
Alec Meyer: Guys, cascade loaded on my browser.
Alec Meyer: dude I got you.
Riana Hall: me?
Alec Meyer: no the fucking snowman in winter wonderland yes you.
Alec Meyer: dude your room is tiiiiny.
Riana Hall: stfu
Alec Meyer: no.
Alec Meyer, dude, your HOUSE is tiiiny and oh shit you live on a farm?
Riana Hall: yes.
Alec Meyer: I did not know you were a farm girl.
Riana Hall: I ain’t no farm girl, I may live on a farm but it doesn’t mean I go out on it.
Alec Meyer: oh okay. w/e
Alec Meyer: I’m going to start deploying your shit.
Riana Hall: be careful of my brother.
Alec Meyer: dude the only thing I’m going to deploy inside your house is the totem lathe, and that’s going where your spare bed is.
Spare bed? I don’t have a spare bed… oh he means my sisters bed. She’s down south for the year, university. I watch as the bed disappears and a thunk on the roof.
Riana Hall: dude, did you just put the bed on the roof?
Alec Meyer: yep.
Riana Hall: how original.
Alec Meyer: shut up.
Raine Stasse: so what the fuck is a totem lathe?
Riana Hall: I’ll show you later.
Alec Meyer: okay, alchemiter is going outside in your front/backyard I got no idea what one. The one with the driveway.
Riana Hall: the backyard.
Riana Hall: shit, watch the dogs!
Yelp!
Riana Hall: shit, which one did you hit?
Alec Meyer: I only got it’s tail. It’s a brown one.
Riana Hall: dude we got two chocolate labs, boy or girl.
Alec Meyer: I dunno, but it’s thickly built?
Riana Hall: Comet.
Alec Meyer: nice name.
Riana Hall: I know.
Alec Meyer: okay so the Cruxtruder is going next to it.
Raine Stasse: guys I’m reading this but I got no idea what the fuck you guys are on about.
Riana Hall: I told you I’ll explain later, when I get into the medium, seeming I’m going be the first in there.
Raine Stasse: the what?
Riana Hall: I’ll be back.
I unplug my laptop and take it with me outside and I almost laugh at the dogs staring at the giant machines. I look around and type,
Riana Hall: Alec, drop the table onto the cruxtruder.
Riana Hall: the shit on there isn’t important, only a few potted plants.
Alec Meyer: on it.
I see the table magically begin to float in the air, and then it drops over the top of the cruxtruder. It flings in my direction. I run out of the way just in time for it to tumble right where I was standing.
Riana Hall: watch it!
Alec Meyer: sorry.
Alec Meyer: oh dude, you might want this too.
He sits a card down next to me, and i don't have time to look at it, i just tuck it under my arm. A big, bright blue sphere begins to hover out of the barrel, it’s the same colour as John’s kernel sprite. I turn the wheel to release the totem. Holy shit, they’re bigger than I thought they were, they come up to my thigh, but are light as a feather. I hold my laptop in one arm and the totem in the other, taking note of the time on the cruxtruder: 07:34 I have seven minutes to do this, can’t be too hard. I run back inside and my brother calls my name.
“What the hell’s going on here?” he asks and I bite my lip.
I'm not going to be able to look after him, he'll be kidnapped by the underlings and then... I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle it if he dies.
“I’m sorry.” Is all I say and run back to my room. I clamp the totem in and shove the card in the slot, and pull a lever, the process is slower than originally thought. I tap my finger against my thigh and look at my laptop screen again, then type with one hand,
Riana Hall: So I’ve got seven and a half minutes left before the meteor destroys my suburb.
William Spencer: I’m going to start setting your stuff up now, Alec. You’ve got tonnes of room.
Alec Meyer: cool.
Raine Stasse: somebody really needs to tell me WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON.
William Spencer: read act one, skip the first few tens of slides, they are basically pointless.
Riana Hall: there’s no time for that! I. will. Explain. It. La. Ter.
The totem is now fully carved and I take it from between the clamps and run back outside, shit, now there’s only four minutes left. I shove the totem onto the small platform of the alchemiter, the big laser thing comes down and scans it. It’s getting quite hot out here, beads of sweat begin to roll down my face and I look up towards the sky. It’s red like fire, and meteors shoot across the sky, but I can see one large one heading right towards my house. I look back at the alchemiter and shout
“Hurry UP.” There’s only two minutes left on the cruxtruder.
Finally, FINALLY, the laser finishes scanning and a large, blue flame licks up, creating, no not an apple tree as I first thought it would be, but a large egg, which cracks open into a… dragon? But it was smaller than the egg, way smaller, small enough for me to fit my hand around. I take it and the egg shell disappears.
Alec Meyer: big ass meteor heading in your direction.
Riana Hall: no SHIT Sherlock!
Riana Hall: I’m not blind.
Alec Meyer: just thought I should warn you.
I run back inside and my brother is just standing there with his ipad tucked under his arm, he’s staring out the window. My eyes search the room for something, a weapon, to give to him, then my mind clicks and I run back outside. I tuck the dragon thing under my arm and pick up a one-handed axe and run back inside.
“Hey.” I say to him, he spins around and I can see he’s crying. I shove the back of the axe just in front of his chest and I say,
“Take it, and never, ever let go of it.” His fingers slowly wrap around it and he hugs me. He actually hugged me. He never, ever hugs me. Not once in my life has he ever embraced me. It sends me into momentary shock but I shake out of it and pat his shoulder, but then break away from him.
I bite my lip as tears begin to flood my eyes, there’s nothing worse than knowing your brother’s going to die.
“I’m sorry.” Is all I say and walk away from him, out the door.
Ten seconds left, I type one last thing into my laptop.
Riana Hall: Goodbye guys.
I toss the dragon head on the ground and it erupts in a fit of flames...
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