There's Snow Place Like Home

[Jade Harley]

Impenetrable white streaks of salted blue and frigid, weeping green crept towards the homey cavern that Solomon Grundy had excavated for the expedition party. Outside, lofty tiers of ice that looked to have been shaped by some malignant force’s hand curved into wickedly jagged peaks all across the frost-shadowed beyond, seeming almost otherworldly in appearance.
 
Jade shivered somewhat despite the many fluff-accented layers she wore, busying herself with dabbing at her cheeks and eyes as the tiny pearls of frost that clung to them melted. The fire was pleasant and warm, though— she sure was glad Tartaros has been so quick to get one crackling for the group to share, and it wasn’t long before the peppery-sweet aroma of sizzling foodstuffs encircled the stony chamber.
 
The pot was gently stirred, red velvets and soft milky-whites gradually spun into a nutty brown revolving and bubbling nearer to its top. The scent was ecstatic and faint, flaring like burning timber and sizzling pleasingly with gelatinous warmth, all the while dispersing its calming trail similar to the breeze-traveling seeds of a flower.
 
Wondrously conjured dishes, cups and bronzy saucers were passed around where the merry company sat upon crumbled boulders and stone seats, generous platefuls of spiced maple-nut pudding paired with thin slices of crispy bread serving as the main course. Melted droplets of sparkling snow, carefully simmered atop the rootless, wandering flames of the fire pit, swilled and gurgled within glasses as the few gathered individuals shared mystic legends and stories from their pasts, some tales having been whispered upon deaf ears for fleeting millennia.
 
"Settle down, and let me tell you a story." Tartaros began over the suppertime ruckus, and everyone minded and went quiet so that he could be heard over the heavy snowfall pitter-pattering outside.
 
"It was the... hrm...", he paused, "Ah. We were on Arton Extremis. A frontier mining world. It had been silent for almost a decade, and the scout escorts reported unknown patrols around the edge of the system, so we were sent to check it out. Turns out the governor had seceded, and carved out his own little empire around the sub-sector..."
 
The rusty marine paused again, feeling to a certain degree encouraged by the multitude of eyes glimmering wonderingly at him in the firelight. He continued, the voice emanating from within his helm ringing with knowledge that had taken several thousand years to fully solidify.
 
"We'd taken one of the major foundries in the north, but my company and a dreadnought talon had been left on garrison duty."
 
"Bastards swept in from the west. Managed to get past our auspex somehow. We had a militia of ex-miners and hired guns barreling down on the walls in minutes. Insane sods even tried fitting weapons onto their mining loaders." The marine remarked, sounding wry.
 
"They weren't worth half a toss each honestly, but there were thousands of them. I was forced back into the refinery with half a destroyer squad and a wrecked dreadnought."
 
"Just as they were overwhelming us, we heard someone breaking in from the outside. The Emperor-damned Justaerin with Torgaddon and Sejanus themselves leading at the front... Beautiful bastards. We managed to catch the militia at both sides and swept up the survivors, just in time to rejoin the rest of the company."
 
"After that, the rest of the expedition fleet arrived, and the system was taken inside a week. Now, who wants to hear the story of the time Loken managed to break some preening gak's nose in? Ah, I'll never forget that day…"
 
After that rousing tale, Valerie had a story to tell of his own. A smile twisted upon the plant mage’s lips as he leaned musingly into one upturned palm, his green skin seeming nearly effervescent in the soft orangey-yellow glow of the fire.
 
“I had once met a boy who had kicked his ball into a bush of Stinging Jasper; a nasty plant covered in needle-thin barbs. The child had rushed forth into the bush and was painfully stung many times over. He had trampled in foolishly, refusing to take the proper time to truly absorb his surroundings,” he sighed then, suddenly wistful. “A fallen branch or a well-thrown stone would have been all it took to knock his precious ball free. Alas, the poor miscreant blamed the Jasper for his misfortune, rather than his lack of patience. Truly a shame.”
 
The dark-haired Witch hummed softly at that, reaching down to give Bec a quick head rub. At some point the enormous canine had decided to splay himself across her legs, all of his fluffy warmth seeping into her and roasting the wintry chill into nonexistence.  Jade didn’t mind.
 
Rebecca sat a short distance away, singing a discordant song under her breath as she played with a few grains of granite rubble. She hadn’t touched her food at all, declaring that she needed to be able to eat as much candy as possible when the time was right, but happily fed it to Becquerel. Her glowing yellow eyes crinkled up at the corners when she smiled, looking up in anticipation just as Grundy began to speak.
 
"ONCE UPON A TIME, GRUNDY WANT GOLD. SO GRUNDY BREAK INTO GOTHAM NATIONAL BANK. THEN, BATMAN SHOW UP AND PUNCH GRUNDY UNTIL GRUNDY GET BORED. SO GRUNDY GO BACK TO SWAMP. THE END.”
 
The undead man grinned a yellow-toothed grin. Most everyone else couldn’t help but grin along with him. You just had to.
 
“There was this really gruesome fight broadcast across the Dataverse,” Rock mentioned with all the unruffled composure of a professional news anchor, prodding at the questionable lump of sugary pudding in his cup. “A fiery skeleton curb stomped a couple of primes.”
 
“Brutal,” those gathered murmured in agreement, nodding along and eating light spoonfuls of pudding even as the news of a few— apparently unbelievably violent—deaths sank in. Those who perished were primes, after all; surely they would all return within three days’ time.
 
Howling gales continued to tear across the windswept ice just outside of the cave entrance, the sky having grown impossibly dark mere hours before. Truly, this place was a stomping ground for ice spirits. At a distance, through the whistling blues and greys that swirled all around, the light that stemmed from within their little campsite flickered only faintly, seeming much like a firefly caught in the worst of the terrible storm.
 
As dinner waned into nothing but drowsy, heavy-lidded conversation, Jade’s gaze singled out Karkat from all the rest. He had hardly touched his meal, the still-full cup settled beside his shoes as he glowered severely into the smoke-spitting flames, and unlike Rebecca he actually needed to eat. Overcome with concern, Jade drifted around several who were seated with a few murmured excuses so that she could flounce down beside him, a heartening smile lighting up her green eyes.
 
“What’s eating at you, hmmm?” she asked, looking over at the others as she spoke. This was, in all probability, the happiest she had been in years.
 
Karkat looked at her, considering the prospective benefits and drawbacks of telling her that it felt as if someone was trying to carve out a jagged hole in his chest cavity. Instead of spilling his guts in a despicably grotesque display of trust, however, the troll wrapped his arms around his knees and grumbled something nigh incomprehensible.
 
Jade’s soft-tipped ears twitched. “Uhm, what?”
 
“I said,” Vantas sighed, wincing as a headache twitched behind his right eyelid. “That you should probably be more up in arms about what’s going on with these jokers, not me. Did you even hear the kind of nonsense they were spewing earlier? Hired guns? Flaming skeletons with a penchant for ass-kicking? Batman?”
 
Shaking her head, the Witch laughed incredulously. “Quit redirecting my attention! I’m not going to give up until you’ve told me about what’s bothering you, okay Karkat? Maybe I can help you figure some stuff out.”
 
“I don’t think so.”
 
“I know so.”
 
“No, you don’t. Unless you’ve somehow miraculously turned out to be a Seer, which I highly fucking doubt.”
 
“Hah, well, you’ve got me there!” Jade twittered, kicking her feet up on a sloping pile of stones. Things descended into a slightly less than companionable silence, the starry-eyed Witch occasionally stealing quick glances at her nubby-horned troll friend out of the corner of her eye. Good-natured chitchat continued to proceed among the other members of the crew, with Jade being content to simply watch and let the time fly by.
 
It was really only a matter of time until something weird happened at that point. One minute they were all having a grand old time, and the next there were strange cyan green growths climbing along the cave walls. Valerie, in a moment of seeming inconsequentiality, had leaned back and lightly touched the rocky wall with the very tips of his fingers.
 
Faster than one could bat an eyelid, brilliant plumes of vibrant color erupted along the artificial cavern’s insides, gleaming such a wondrously luminescent blue mottled with iridescent green that it was nearly impossible to tell if what their eyes were seeing was real.
 
Yet there was a method in the madness; the sharp, crisp lines of color formed a noticeable pattern. They spiraled out in exquisitely meticulous frond-like extensions, countless circling fractals and signs of plant matter made readily apparent. There were bones, too— the scattered remains of several alien species none of them had ever seen before, their structures nicely illumined and cut in smooth relief from the earthen wall. Dotted loosely throughout it all, little stipples of sapphire gleamed like glowworms against the dark stone layer above, each shining with their own personal light.
 
“Oh,” Valerie breathed, running his hands across the ancient stone. “Oh my.”
 
The group staggered in a vaguely inward direction, the untended embers of their fire sputtering at their backs, each personally taken aback. This was strange, unusual, intriguing— beautiful.
 
“What is it?” Jade asked of their little gathering at large, a completely enamored smile tugging at her lips. In all honesty, she didn’t expect an answer, but the verdant mage pleasantly surprised her with one.
 
“Plants,” Valerie said, the enunciated pace of his words quickening as his excitement grew and flourished like the flora he so loved. “Old ones. I daresay that I have never seen anything quite like these before— they are unknown to me, but very, very ancient!”
 
One of his hands traced loosely along the wall, following a particularly angular streak of winding root systems older than time itself. The mage paced and bit his lip, clearly onto something.  A creased line of confusion appearing between his brows, Valerie began to trail after the line along the wall, his every footstep and murmured word taken note of by the bewildered primes and secondaries keeping step behind him.
 
Valerie arrived at an abrupt standstill. His head slowly, measuredly, tilted to the side, as if he were listening for something that not many could hear.
 
All eyes were on the green-skinned magician as he delicately placed one hand upon the damp, ceaselessly glowing cavern wall, upon which a vaguely round pattern with radiantly shining petals circling all around rested.
 
Nothing happened.
 
“Well that was anticlimactic.” Rock said, echoing the exact sentiment of many in the room.
 
Crrck! Unexpectedly, a hairline fracture in the shape of a lightning bolt pierced directly through the engraved flower, causing its glow to fade with alarming quickness. An identical crack mirrored it not even a foot away, and another, until the faintest rectangular outline was impressed into the wall. One by one, every previously luminescent line of color faded seamlessly back into the granite surface, as if nothing had ever changed.
 
Only the door-like carving remained. Valerie removed his hand, retreating a step.
 
Jade was practically buzzing with excitement as her sense of Space expanded outside of the little personal sphere she had narrowed it down to. “It’s— it’s hollow.”
 
Turning his ceramite-plated helm to peer at the slightly taller Solomon Grundy, Tartaros gave a short nod. “It’s all yours, friend.”
 
Obviously delighted by the opportunity to smash more things, Grundy punched the hollow sheet of rock separating them from assured adventure.
 
Adventure, and a long, winding darkness.

[Harlan Higgs]

Chips of brittle, blue stone flew outwards as Grundy easily smashed through the outline door in the wall, showering his compatriots with shiny flecks of rock and bits of the strange, luminescent moss. A satisfied grunt punctuated his powerful blow, and he stepped away from the hole in the wall to reveal a long, winding tunnel leading further into the mountain. Subterranean moss, glowing a pale and sickly yellow lined the stone walls. Said walls were oddly smooth and contoured, looking like they had been worked with tools unknown to man or Prime.

"HOORAY! GRUNDY FIND SECRET!" A wide open palm gestured towards the revealed hallway, the big man letting other, perhaps smaller traveling companions through first. He would be a tight fit, and woe betide him if his bulk managed to collapse the entrance while there were still friends outside! Better to get everyone in first. He could always just smash his way out again, since the stone gave way easily under his meaty attacks.

As the party piled inside and their eyes adjusted to the gloom, Grundy squeezed himself into the narrow tunnel. The jagged edges of chipped stone takes his undead flesh, moss staining the alabaster skin slightly turquoise. It was barely a flesh wound and the zombie paid it no mind as he brought up the rear.

The tunnel stretched ahead near endlessly, although as the adventurers moved forward the walls drew back, as if the mountain itself was eager for guests. The passageway split many times, as did the group, although they never parted for more than a hundred feet or so. The winding holes merged back into each other further down, although they were different from each other. All along the branch tunnels were runes, markings, and drawings of figures, shapes, and other interpretations. Jade even pointed out a section of script written in the same odd symbols that had drawn them there, although there was no understanding to be found this time.

Grundy had been bracing his bulky frame against the tunnel walls, and so was not surprised to see the turquoise moss growing a thin film over his fingers and hands. He -was- made of plant matter, and the giant had also found that mushrooms occasionally grew on him as well, so he was not too bothered by it.

".....haven't the foggiest idea where he went, all he said was that he would be back tomorrow..."

"...It's not like him to be late, Mister Hendy....do apologize..."

Faint, echoing whispers sounded in his dead skull, although the lumbering revenant paid them no mind. Voices in his head were nothing new. Raising a dirty, moss covered fingernail, he picked at his ear reflexively. The moss now stained his earlobes and neck, worming it's way into his pumpkin sized skull. The zombie continued marching obediently forward, and it seemed that they were finally free of the confining and winding tunnels. They had opened into a humongous chamber, a wide bridge of ice, stone, and snow drifts from a gap in the ceiling high above them. The walls of the cavern were sheer and reflective, illuminating the dark spaces with near blinding light, and something else too...

Hundreds of reflections of the motley group of adventurers stared back at them from the shining crystal walls. Jade held up a hand and they came to a stop, marveling at the sight of so many copies of themselves upon each other. Squinting, the alabaster hulk recognized copies of himself every few feet along the wall and bellowed out a playful greeting. "HELLO, GRUNDY!...ELLO, GRUNDY.....UNDY...UNDY....undy.....undy..." Solomon's booming timber reverberated around the chamber, jostling chips of ice and stone from the edges of the platform they were on, the scree dropping into a deep deep void below them. 

"Hrm....would you look at that...now?"

Tartaros had cautiously approached the edge of the chasm, and was staring down intently into the dim gloom. He pointed at a spot about two hundred feet down, at what could be recognized as a medium sized group of people. Very familiar looking people. "Is that....us?" The marine intoned aloud to the rest of the group, and those who had braved close enough to the edge seemed to agree. Just as soon as the sight had been noticed, the phantom group of travelers far below had walked into another section of the deep gulf, beyond the sight of those higher up.

However, while the others had clustered around the marine's observation, something was happening in the center of the platform to Solomon Grundy. He tried to move his legs to join the rest of his compatriots, but the turquoise moss that had been growing on him was crawling up his dead skin, pooling from underneath his ragged clothes and his spongy flesh. It slithered into his eyes, his ears, his mouth, and his nose, freezing his movement and action. Not a sound came from the undead man as he stood there, ramrod stiff, his eyes glowing bright blue in contrast to their normal hungry yellow.....

In Dread Carcosa, Dead Men Dream...

[Gamzee Makara]

Karkat glanced down, down, everwards down into the abyssal abyss. The troll boy’s grip on the clawscythe at his side tightened, tightened until his slate knuckles turned white. As if he didn’t already have enough on his mind, there was some downright creepy shit going on down below. When the motley bunch first entered, well, whatever the fuck this tomb was, the grey kid wanted so very badly to point out what an awful fucking idea this was. However, he decided he would bite his tongue and keep his trap shut, a very rare occasion indeed.

But, what happens when he decides to be silent for once in his life? Creepy shit. Creepy shit happens. Just his luck right?

Whatever, odds are, his opinion wouldn’t have prevented the situation that they currently find themselves in. He would have gotten outvoted, because for some reason the archaic system of democracy is what passes for law in this dysfunctional community.

As he watched the dopplegangers fade from view, Karkat decided he has grown tired of dysfunctional communities. Turning on his heels to march straight back to the entrance of this mausoleum, the Knight of Blood finds his path blocked by an undead wall of decaying flesh.

Karkat also decided in this moment that he is tired of dead things.

“Hey, dead-ass, get out of the way. I’m gonna go sulk like an abandoned wriggler until you guys get finished dying off in this cavern. Then maybe I’ll grace you with my presence and save everyone,” He pauses a moment before adding, “or maybe I’ll just walk in and die with you guys.”

Despite the use of small words for the sake of lacking intelligence in present company, the zoned out zombie responds with a blank, blue stare.

“C’mon guy, just get out of the damn way.”

Blank and blue.

Karkat furrows his brow and grits his teeth. Hefting his weapon, the cherry-blood prods the mass of flesh none too gently with the flat of his blade, a wet, hard, smacking sound echoing through the caverns as a result.

“Uh… Guys? Anyone want to take a moment and perform an autopsy? Or can we just leave his ass in the freezer?”

[Strazio Rockwell]

Something was awry, but Val was too busy entertaining thoughts of ancient floral leviathans to pay the creeping feeling any mind. He danced through the decaying stone walls of the catacomb-like structure with an almost wanton glee. Rope-like vines weaved through the stone and split in large fractal patterns. To the Verdant Mage it seemed almost like a lichen of some sort, but the occasional serrated-edged leaves proved him otherwise. For but a moment he paused to pluck one of the bladed leaves, and without sparing a moment he pressed it against his tongue and swallowed.

“Oh my.”

Stronger than any liquor the leaf submerged Valerie’s senses. It was both a moment of great clarity and one of frightening obscurity. In an instant he learned of the plant’s true nature, and in an instant his mind was too clouded to react. An “out-of-body” experience one might call it, he was merely a spectator as his body lurched forward and followed the pack of adventurers. Jade glanced over her shoulder and asked, “What is it Valerie?”

He tried to say ‘ We must abscond from this dreadful place!

Instead his body spoke for him, “I was just surprised at how expansive these caverns are, this wondrous plant has made quite a home for itself!”

“We should be careful,” Tartaros noted, “We’ve no idea what lies ahead.”

Eventually the party came to a massive atrium, with a gaping pit in the center. Above and below extended deep into the reaches of darkness. The walkway they stood upon was only wide enough for single file and they slowly poured out onto it. The vines seemed thicker here and a hard bark, similar to a coconut shell, covered the meatier portions. In a spiral along the walls the walkway led deeper into the abyss. Caverns, much like the one they entered through, branched out from the main pathway. An unmistakable heat vented out from deep within the pit, and a sweet aroma permeated the air.

“Ohkay, yeah I think we should head back, pit of despair? No thank you.” Karkat said, edging his way towards the back of the pack.

Valerie wanted to agree with the young troll, but his body spoke for him “We must see where it leads! Or our adventure would be all for naught!”

“I can tell you where it leads,” Karkat responded, “it leads to death.”

“Oh come on Karkat,” Jade mused, taking a few steps ahead of the group, “It’ll be fun, besides I’m sure we can handle anything that comes up!”

And so the expedition trudged ever forward, deeper into the cavern. Time had a curious way of flowing. Every now and again the group would stop for a breather, but no one could rightly remember how long they had been below the surface. Their bodies felt strangely heavy, moreso than general fatigue. Hell they hadn’t even been walking for more than maybe an hour or two. Still they soldiered on. The deeper they climbed the hotter the pit became, and the thicker the vines. In the walls they passed by several holes, just big enough to walk single file, They all led upward, branching out into smaller passageways and in some cases coming to abrupt dead ends.

It was at one of these branching paths that the group paused to rest. Valerie peered into the hole and was met by two glowing yellow orbs. Eyes. Angry ones. Val yelped as the creature burst from the darkness and tackled him to the ground. The eyes belonged to an emaciated troll, one native to the Frozen Fields. Only tattered scraps of cloth covered its gaunt body. It slashed at Valerie with yellow-stained claws, tearing into the mage’s clothing. Tartaros’s heavy boot slammed into the feral troll, flipping it off Val. Without a moment of hesitation the marine let loose a few bolter rounds, decimating the blue-skinned creature. The scuffle ended as quick as it began, leaving a bad taste in the group’s mouth. The troll was no grand warrior and certainly no assassin hiding in the darkness. It seemed more akin to a starved dog lost in the darkness.

[Jade Harley]

An unwelcome seedling of doubt crept into Jade’s thoughts, suspicion turning over and over like a puzzle she just couldn’t crack. She stared down at the decimated body of the troll seized by madness, its withered, ribby frame pickled with blue the very color of veins stretched under human skin, its face and chest shredded into unrecognizability.
 
The Witch’s eyes then swiveled towards the tunnel that slanted ahead of where they stood, ears pinned back and her hair sparking up a bit in staticky rings and curls. Countless wall carvings slithered across the long passageway under vines thicker than her forearms; green tinted an almost silvery, polychrome white from mingled breaths of frost and heat bungled and rolled in a phlegm-like haze. A palpable, horror-movie sort of gloominess dithered in the air, soundless as it glided across the bizarrely cut stone pathways.
 
“Are you okay, Valerie?” Jade asked, her expression flooded with worry. As she clasped his hands and assisted him to his feet, she was dimly aware of Grundy’s bulk shifting towards one of the larger passageways, lumbering steps mediated and slow. The others stood at odd places around them, hefting weapons while on their guard. Fuzzy and marred by the humidity, Jade’s sense of Space wound down seemingly endless trails that delved further and further within the mountain, searching for something which she could not place.
 
A sincere sigh came from Valerie as he regarded the shredded state of his splendidly green robes. “Oh, yes,” her friend chirped, an easy smile aimed her way. Jade had a distinct feeling that, if Valerie were to wander into a forest somewhere, little cute bunny rabbits and flighty sparrows would flock to him like something out of Disney. “I am none the worse for wear, Miss Jade, you needn’t fret. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for my garments.”
 
Genuineness warmed every word, his airy tone teasing the pitch ever higher, but there was a tension in the mage’s shoulders that Jade was not accustomed to. An unbidden apology leapt into her throat but, as if sensing her unease, Valerie’s shoulders relaxed, and Jade’s worries once again flew out the window, trailing behind on disturbed curtains of dust and slanting light.
 
They ventured on, footsteps echoing in light, muffled drafts against inwardly slanted walls which were smothered with vines. The painful knocking of Jade’s heart against her rib cage eventually abated, replaced by a bright curiousness and astonishment that simply grew and grew.
 
Still, she couldn’t completely brush away the feelings of apprehension stewing in her mind, stifled though they were by tremendous wonder. Tuberous frills, which might have glinted like intricate stained glass in the full, steady glow of the sun, fanned out across the ceiling, shining with all the magnificent hues of a peacock’s train. Jade’s Spectagoggles gleamed with a fretful, blurred red in the near-total midnight blue, wavering amongst the long, curving whorls of iceberg shades, constantly on the alert.
 
Ghostly, tattered shadows seemed to trail behind them at every step, claws which were yellow and gnawed down to the quick in slobbery crescents scraping against the slick granules that seeped into the rock of the tunnels. Eyes gleaming a hazy greenish-blue drifted in and out of the darkness and vine-covered passages, like roadside reflectors through a fog-muddled evening drizzle.
 
Her earlier relief after ensuring Valerie’s health, Jade recognized, was almost strikingly similar to shock, and the tips of her fingers jittered incessantly the further they descended, the scent of mildew and sickly sweet rot coiling stickily in her lungs.
 
Maybe that troll was just lost, she debated against the chill of dread sliding down her spine, noxious and purely mortal, And he went a little insane while trying to find a way out, which made him attack Valerie. There’s nothing that could have been done for him, he was just skin and bones…
 
Jade swallowed thickly around the vitriol regret churning in her gut, turning to look sadly up at the luminescent geometries of the prickly creepers coating the stalactites, their jutting shapes plentiful and glistening with crystal dew. A fleeting, irregular halo of light shimmered around her every once in a while as she walked, a winding, yellow-mottled vine inching noiselessly across the floor until it was far too close for comfort.
 
Unless, another part of her brain observed, in a know-it-all kind of voice that Jade immediately despised, Unless he was being influenced by something. The cold and the pressures of hunger, maybe, but look at those carvings— do those seem like natural cave formations? Does this feel like ordinary spelunking to you?
 
No, Jade supposed, not particularly. But it was too late to turn back— she couldn't even feel the surface anymore, no matter how hard she tried to scrape the surface with her spacial awareness. In all truth, Jade was not entirely certain if they could find their way back out, even if they truly wanted to. So, jumpy as she was, she took ahold of Bec’s bristly neck ruff in one fist and lightly gripped Rebecca’s hand with the other, only slightly uneasy about the Little Sister’s tuneless humming.
 
But, then there was Valerie. Valerie, who spun round every glittering, humidity-speckled cavern that they found themselves in and murmured sweet words to the intricate greenery lacing over the rock, his face radiant and turning towards each luminous twig with all the special attention that a flower’s petal crown usually reserves for the sun. Balustrades of vines tickled with thorns trailed his every step, not precisely moving in any obvious way, but shifting still in veined, fluctuating rhythms of chilly color after him.
 
It was during one of their frequent breaks that Jade decided to ask him about just what the bioluminescent plant life was doing, here of all places, residing within the depths of a mountain in the very heart of a frozen wasteland. Their vast greenish-blue looseness settled in coils and springy layers across the rounded chamber of cavern space that they had paused to rest in, a bridge of flat, almost glassy stone dividing the abyssal drop-- a chasm, unfathomably deep-- on either side into halves. Jade approached him and slipped down beside where he sat with a rustle, legs dangling over the void.
 
“Valerie,” Jade ventured, the picture of seriousness; a keening whine presently came from Becquerel, the wolfdog’s paws scraping bitingly into the side of her leg. Swatting her errant woofbeast away, she continued, “Is there anything you can tell me— us about these vines? They’re everywhere, they have to mean something!”
 
Valerie’s mellow gaze drifted with some difficulty away from the multitude of climbing vines to meet her own. He fixed her with a dazed, almost sleepy look, a trickle of blue film flashing briefly, illumined and cool, over his eyes. “Mm? It is wonderful, yes? How, even in such a hostile place as this, a cosmically huge, perfectly tangled being can thrive?”
 
Nibbling idly on her bottom lip, Jade felt awfully confused by the sudden string of— in all likelihood rhetorical!—questions that had been asked of her. “Uhm. I guess?”
 
Bec nipped earnestly at her sleeve, tugging, and Jade once again had to physically coerce him into quitting it by lightly whapping him upside the snout. Really, he was getting senile or something, her canine guardian never would have been so anxious back at home! She silently thanked her lucky stars that he hadn’t decided to teleport them all to the moon yet, if he was even still capable of such a thing.
 
“And—“ Valerie mused whilst spreading his arms outward in a grand, all-encompassing gesture, seeming entirely undeterred by his conversation partner’s wriggling barkbeast, “Would it not be simply splendid to have such a vast consciousness spread out so very far, embracing all the world in its tender caress? To be enveloped in such a warm, friendly presence?”
 
The young girl’s hands, tangled up in a fistful of Becquerel’s snowy white fur as they were, stilled. For the first time, it seemed, she noticed the tension in her furry guardian’s body, the pulse of vibrant granny smith apple-lime electricity trickling along his stiff spine, warning and dangerous. A growl and the briefest flash of neon gums and long, shining incisors clued her in.
 
“To become a…. a tanglebuddy, if you will.” Valerie finished, smiling, always smiling, and all at once that single lost puzzle piece at the back of Jade’s mind clicked wretchedly into place.
 
For a moment, restless green remained level with serene blue. Then, a cold and wet brush of Bec’s snout along the underside of her ear urged Jade to jump to her feet, half-stumbling and nearly tottering into the long, black abyss stretched out before them. Blinking wildly, she scrambled hastily away, breaking the stalemate.
 
“If— if you’ll excuse me, Val, I’ll be right back, Karkat and Tartaros are at it again with the— the, ah, human communication ritual known as bickering,” she decided to judiciously ignore the fact that the aforementioned bickerers were actually on opposite ends of the bluestone bridge they were standing on, the void-black chasm pitching ever downward on either side as her ringing steps clattered on. Soldiering forth, Jade brightly chirped, “I’ll be right back!”
 
Grinning painfully, the lovely flower Valerie had given her feeling immeasurably heavy in her front pocket, Jade practically tripped on her way over to where Tartaros and— Brick? Stone?— Rock stood, the both of them milling about in a decidedly awkward silence. Rock, a vaguely interested look in his bright blue eyes, peered curiously at Jade as she shakily approached, the sunny smile on her lips fading fast.
 
Out of the corner of her eye, the Witch warily observed as Grundy and Valerie continued to be off in their own little worlds of distressing unanimity, their expressions blank and perfectly, horribly tranquil. They were on the same end of the little bridge, nearest to the dark entrance the group was to duck into next, while Jade, Rebecca, Tartaros and Rock all stood scattered about its center, Becquerel sitting loyally at the Witch's feet. Karkat, straggling behind as always, pitched a stone into the chasm on the total opposite end.
 
“Something’s wrong with Valerie and Grundy, you guys,” Jade said, careful as anything. How on earth could she ever hope to explain this to them, this funny notion that slipped in her head silent as a cat burglar? It felt disturbingly as if her heart might just stop beating altogether, what with how hard it was beating against her chest.
 
“You are just now seeing that?” Tartaros asked, not unkindly, but Jade tossed a nervous glance over her shoulder anyway at the pair of bleary-eyed whackadoodles, the steady gleam of the plants not unlike a hospital’s impersonal glow all around them.
 
The dog-eared girl wrung her hands together, the stars of her pajamas unusually dim under the fractured bluish light. “No! I mean, yes, but... It’s complicated. They’re acting different. Haven’t you noticed?”
 
They stared at her for a long moment, long enough for Rebecca to grow bored and attempt to braid some bulbous flowers she had picked into Bec's fur. Then, as if unsure about how much he should admit to keeping track of, Rock shrugged his blue-clad shoulders and opened his mouth to speak—
 
A loud, resounding crick-clap-snap rang out like the vulgar blaring of an air horn during a fancy garden party. Once the initial split-second shock had worn off, all heads swivelled towards the source of the unholy sound just in time to see the section of ground separating the bulk of the group from Karkat dissolve into a gaping, open-mouthed fissure, sharp rocks echoing on their way down into the tumbling blackness. The wideness of Karkat’s eyes, distant from where the rest stood, appeared almost rust-colored.
 
Adrenaline jacked up in her skull, Jade raced to the edge of the ravine, a sinking feeling rising within her chest once she realized that she couldn’t teleport such a great distance. Before she could even consider the option of flight Karkat had begun to vehemently pace and grumble, an explosive sigh whistling through his teeth.
 
“Of course this kind of bullshit would happen to me of all the hapless adventurers the universe had its pick of. I hope you’re happy, Harley, because being stranded has got to be one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve had with this happy-go-lucky group so far! Totally life-changing. I am having so much fun, trapped over here, while you all gawk at me like a bunch of well-oiled fuckcrumpets. Look at my face, I’m even smiling! Just perfect.”

He trailed off with a slightly hysterical hand gesture, which was made all the more rude for its hystericalness. Jade shook her head, grinning despite her nerves, carefully eyeing up the distance and backing up a bit so that she could maybe take a running leap. It was a pretty big gap, but she supposed she could manage it.

 And then the decision to cross over was taken from her.
 
“— FUCK, WHAT THE FUCK IS—”
 
The cherry-blood’s long stream of words and demonstrating was soundly cut off as something leapt suddenly from the obscurity of the tunnel behind him. It was a new troll similar to the one from earlier, all ribs and with a ghastly, nitrogen-chilled pallor to its skin, but this time it seemed that the troll had brought friends. Six pairs of fever-bright eyes glistened in the dim light, moving impossibly fast as their scrabbling, withered limbs wrapped Karkat up and dragged him away, the horned kid wildly clawing and slicing with his sickle in the dark.
 
It lasted for all but a few seconds, enough time for the report of a bolter to ring close to her ear, the lingering curls of dissipating shapes barely decipherable across the divide before dissipating entirely, like smoke. A fluttering, rabbit-kick panic flared up in Jade’s stomach, her skin crawling as she threw herself forward, a furious array of green sparks tearing up her limbs—
 
Only for her long hood to be caught up in a strong, clammy hold, her suddenly explosively violent expression turned to face the bland, sawdust eyes of Solomon Grundy.

Blank and blue.
 
“Let - me - go!” Jade shrieked, taking ahold of the fabric of her hood and wrenching it free from his grip. Abruptly, horrifyingly, Jade thought she might be liable to try and take his head off, but was able to calm herself in time. A deep, shaky breath rattled in her chest, accompanied by a fervid glance directed across the rift, and then inevitably back towards the faces of her friends.
 
The faces of her friends, and also the strange, uncharacteristically empty stares of Grundy and Val. It was dreadful that, even though Jade knew that on some level her friends were still there somewhere, she could not bring herself to refer to them as such in the privacy of her own mind. Not when they looked so vacant, so assured and with their true natures coolly, securely hidden behind their eyes.
 
“Where have they taken him?” Jade asked, tremulously, fear and disbelief budding in her mind like a poisonous seed.
 
Valerie smiled, the peacefully composed façade neatly covering up so much more that was sinister, murky, and aligned with the steady drip, drip, drip of melted snow off in some dank corner of the cavern. His voice resounded with a pleasant, lyrical certainty when he answered her, breathy and simply delighted.

“Why, to the Spring, of course.”

[Tartaros]

“The Spring is the source from which we came, my dear, and that to which we shall all return.”, Valerie replied in an flat, saccharine tone, “It was the beast hidden in the shadow of man’s first fire, and will dwell here until the end of all ti-”

“CUT THE BULLSHIT! WHERE THE FUCK IS CANDYCORN KID!?”, a familiar piercing voice echoed through the darkness of the cavern. Monkey T, quiet as he had recently been, seemed to have taken the first chance to reply, in his usual manner.

Intuitively, Tartaros pointed the barrel of his bolter towards the young man ahead of him. He’d heard and seen enough. “Answer him.”

“Settle down.”, Valerie raised his hands calmly. “Your friend is safe with us. I can take you to him, if you would like.”

The puppet turned toward Jade, and she nodded.

Valerie smiled wryly as he began to lead the group deeper into the tunnels, his feet gliding along the rough mountain-stone terrain and clumps of damp blue moss without a care in the world, even as the stygian darkness of the caverns grew ever more oppressive. The group continued further into the depths, everyone’s eyes shifting frantically from left to right, fuelled by their own paranoia and confusion. That is, everyone barring Valerie and Grundy, their expressions still blank and blue… 

-----

After what must have been at least an hour spent wandering, Valerie stopped. The man raised his hand and pointed into the depths of a larger part of the cavern, towards a small, glimmering crack in the mildew and vine covered stone. 

“Well, friends… We’re here.”, he said as he approached the crack, the spite in his voice barely covered by its honeyed tone. Valerie waved his hand gently across the crack, before pulling out a single, crimson-tinted flower out of it with a hand motion. In a moment, the cave floor began to crumble, the crack spreading further and further along with the sickening, wet sound of snapping plant stem and stretching flesh. In moments, all that stood before the party was a pit, and a gust of wind howling upward from the abyss below.

Tartaros gripped his boltgun tighter, the flickering targeting array in his helmet pointed square towards Valerie’s temple.  

“What now?”, the marine grumbled through clenched teeth.

Before the young mage ahead of him could begin to form an answer, he was interrupted by a soft rustling. As it grew louder, he simply looked towards the ancient wanderer, and smiled blissfully. Blissfully and blankly.

“What in the world?...”, Jade said, “I… I think it’s coming from under us!”

The rustling became faster and faster, louder and louder until it was almost unbearable. As the group approached the mouth of the cavernous pit, a gargantuan figure lept up from the darkness, brandishing a pair of massive, bloodstained talons. Their erratic scything slashes carved a jagged tear through the slate-grey ceramite of Tartaros’ chestplate, and barely skimmed past the helmet of the blue-armoured child beside him.

The armoured marauder sprang into action immediately, unloading a hail of bolts into the beast. The rounds impacted into its scaled hide, and a strange sap-like substance began to pour from its flesh as it let out an atrocious, deafening screech. However, the pain only seemed to incense it further as it thrashed around in the darkness of the cavern, knocking against the stone walls and striking carelessly, almost blindly, with its claws.

Still reeling from the cries of the great beast, the party began to scatter into the frigid darkness, hurling all manner of spells and gunfire towards the clawed abomination. None dared to approach it however, except Valerie and Grundy, who simply stood idly by, blank and blue.

Tartaros tried to gather the thoughts racing through his mind as he raced across the vine-covered ground, dodging strikes and blasting away at the beast in the dark. It was suicidal. Completely suicidal. He didn’t know if it had a chance in hell of working, but hey, that’s the job of a legionnaire, isn’t it? Take to the front lines and fight, no matter the cost, for the Emperor, for humanity and the Imperium.

His pace quickened. His hearts began to race. The din of battle was pounding in his skull. Without a moment’s hesitation, he charged head first towards the rampaging monster. The marauder slammed his right pauldron into the arm of the beast, splintering carapace with an awful wet crack and knocking it backwards into the vegetation-covered stone, before driving the whirring teeth of his chainsword into its flesh. It flailed wildly and cried out once again before ripping into the helmet of the astartes with its claws, drawing blood and scratching across his eyes.

While the sensation was certainly familiar to him, Tartaros had never quite felt something like this. The pain seemed to spread through his entire skull, pulsing and writhing as if it was almost sentient. But it mattered not. He didn’t have time to bleed, not now. Powering through the haze, the armoured marauder drove his blade deep into the flesh of the beast as it continued to stab at him, and let forth a roaring flame from the exterminator cartridge. The abomination spasmed, screamed and jerked as the white-hot flame burned its entrails to cinder. In one final display of defiance, it drove its talons into the back of its killer before falling to the ground, dead.

“Pah… Pahahahaha…”, Tartaros laughed as blood seeped from his wounds, “Well, would you look at that?”

The astartes stumbled back towards the group for a few steps, before falling flat onto the cave floor with a thud. 

Men cannot escape the ghosts of their past...

[Jade Harley]

In that first dizzy moment Jade saw only Tartaros, blood oozing from in-between the plates of his armor, lying prostrate in what might as well have been an ocean of sticky red. Tartaros and this indigo morass of movement churning behind him, innumerous and tapered emerald-blue eyes glittering from within the gloom–

She felt the screech rather than heard it, frozen air torrential and clapping into her face like a wave of saltwater, and then the floor opened up under their feet. It was too fast, too goddamn fast, Jade’s grip on Rebecca’s hand gave way to empty space, and her flailing attempts to search for the Little Sister in the dark were all for naught. A surge of breath whistled through her parted lips in a shout, the sound lost to the buffeting of the wind and the dark chasm walls sealing them within the depths of the earth.

Her powers were lost to her, caught up within the confines of the shock trembling through her limbs and pure, unadulterated fear. If Jade couldn’t get out of this hairy situation, couldn’t fly or even teleport away, then how were the others supposed to escape? What about Tartaros, injured and bleeding out all over the floor? What about Karkat?!

How could she have let this happen? How could she have done this to her friends?

Thorny rosebush murmurs coiled inside of her inner ear, soft and welcoming yet at the same time excruciatingly strident. The young Witch shut her eyes against the interminable darkness falling like dusky velvet curtains all around her, teeth gritted and a thin trickle of something wet dribbling over her lips, down her chin.

“Bec!” Jade shrieked, the tangles of her hair nearly strangling her, the pit of her stomach bottoming out somewhere that was down, down, down – rag-dolling her way through a raw, bleeding void in space and time. The cry came out as little more than a sobbing plea over the howling winds and discordant shuffling, but it did the trick.

There was a lightning-green flash and a hazy blur of warmth. Noticeably not at full power, Becquerel could do little more than slow their descent to something more cushiony and buoyant – but just as noticeably, this was not at all what Jade had wanted. The First Guardian was weakened, however, and it would be unfair of her to ask for him to try once more. Luckily, the ground did not seem to be too far below; within the next two minutes, the group was unceremoniously deposited on a thick, luscious jumble of vines.

A cold nose immediately pressed against Jade’s cheek, prompting the dark-haired girl to flinch away from where she lay on the crest of a particularly thick vine. Her green eyes glanced down from some high, imperceptible apex of the long passage they had just tumbled through, fixing upon a blur of fuzzy white sparking furiously beside her.

Everything was a muddle of colors generously sprinkled with swimming darks and lights. After another nudge, Jade reached out with shaking hands to gently take her glasses from Bec, pushing the slobbery and slightly mugged-up lenses onto her face.

Her eyesight refocused to find Rebecca sitting atop Becquerel’s back, thankfully safe and sound, peering inquisitively down at the Witch’s rumpled clothing and appearance. Dizzily, Jade rolled her right shoulder and sat up, rubbing at the juncture between her neck and arm that seemed to have developed a serious case of the aches. She would have to see about applying a hot pad or something after this lousy excuse for an adventure was over and done with! All in all, though, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

But then Jade recalled the last few moments before their fall and oh, fuck, Tartaros –

“Here we are,” Valerie said chirpily, jaunting across her line of sight in a sweep of vibrant green. He didn’t appear to have been fazed by their descent in the slightest and Jade – almost – hated him for it. “Home sweet home!”

His hands were upraised towards something, like some weird rendition of the Pride Rock scene from The Lion King. A wave of despair seemed to wash over everything within the immense cavern they were at the center of, painting the rocks and plant life in blues and rainy day grays. Jade had to blink hard to keep from staring too closely at the all-seeing gloom settling within every spare crevice, pooling in places where shadows shouldn’t be– dancing, Jade thought, gleeful and spilling their spiny thorns and tangles everywhere, reveling in the rank fear of their captive audience –

Tearing her eyes away from the crew’s surroundings, Jade stumbled to her feet and kicked her way through several obnoxious loops of plant matter, desperately clawing her way towards where could see Rock and Tartaros were, Grundy keeping a motionless vigil over them. She was vaguely aware of her Guardian and charge following close behind.

“I’m so sorry,” Jade gulped around the lump in her throat, only then becoming aware of the stream of gore trailing down the front of her dress from her nose, mouth and ears as she knelt beside the fallen Astartes, hands splayed uselessly across his scratched chestplate. “I didn’t think this would happen, could never have dreamed it, I just—“

A rattling sigh interrupted her babbling stream of apologies. Jade blinked as the armored tin can suddenly shifted, exchanging a distinctly concerned glance with Rock. Perhaps Tartaros was delirious; movement was the last thing he needed to put himself through in his delicate condition. How much blood had he lost? Too much, for sure. What could he possibly be doing—

Then a gun was leveled squarely at her face. Only, no, it wasn’t— the nozzle careened a bit to the left, the bolter’s slug intended for something behind her.

Her chin turned just slightly towards it, a blur of slim movement thrashing in the corner of her eye.

The gunshot sounded sharp and clear in her ears. What little strength Tartaros had left he had used to plunge a round into a purple-webbed tentacle snaking towards across the cavern floor, an eruption of viscous green fluid splattering over them. But there were numerous others, strewn across every available surface in profuse, slippery lattices of vegetation, and they assuredly could not evade or fend them all off.

Tartaros’ arm slumped to the ground with a resounding clang soon afterward. For a few seconds Jade stared blearily down at where the legionnaire’s weapon lay, discarded and bereft.

Realization spilled over her like hot tar. A panicked gasp rattling within her chest, Jade fumbled to lean close enough to his helm so that she could listen for the passage of breath. She sighed when she heard it, steady and full, albeit very, very faint.

Jade directed a fierce glare towards where Valerie and Grundy stood a few paces away. Valerie gazed serenely back at her, the hulking form of Grundy seeming especially imposing beside the mage’s more dexterous trimness, completely unbothered by her ire.

“How unfortunate. Well, I suppose there are other games we can play, if tag truly isn’t to your liking! How about hide and seek? We’ll even give you a head start!” Valerie asked, voice bright and syrupy, his palms clasped over his heart.

“There’s nowhere to hide and you know it,” Jade snapped, words splintering woefully about halfway through, split open like an egg knocked from its nest. Thousands of eyes watched from the cavern walls and floor, flickering open one by one in little butterfly flutters upon vines and the emaciated remnants of things that appeared to have been long shriveled and dead, painted thickly with briny acidblood.

“All too true,” the plant mage sighed, tapping one perfectly-manicured nail to his chin. “Though it is fun to pretend every now and again—“ He turned quite suddenly away, then, the springy green sweep of his robes rustling in the void left behind by his chatter, head tilted as if he were listening to some private radio signal.

The Witch blinked once, then twice for good measure at Valerie’s abrupt silence. Her green eyes found Rock’s blue ones over the apparently unconscious body of Tartaros. In a way that wasn’t consoling at all, he appeared to be just as mystified.

An irritated huff chirped through the silence, effectively shattering their shared confusion.

“If you’ll excuse me for a moment,” Valerie said, flapping his perfect lyrist hands in their general direction. He seemed distracted by something, the blue of his eyes curving and appearing artfully narrow in the hazy lighting. The plant mage prowled towards what appeared to be a large, stickily oozing bellflower that looked as if it could fit at least three fully grown people inside, bestowing it with a bemused stare once he drew nearer.

It was at that point Jade noticed that the flower was freezing. It turned completely crystal-white, petals becoming brittle and fringed with an unforgiving glimmer of frost that glinted like diamonds. By the looks of the hair-line fractures splintering along its curved shape, it seemed as if something was trying desperately to break free.

The Witch decided that they weren’t going to wait around to see if it was friend or foe, and even that decision further deepened the ache within her heart. There had to be some way to free from Grundy and Valerie from this mountain’s dreadful thrall, but how? Likewise, the more she continually searched for signs of Karkat about the icy, leaf-strewn prison, the further her lips turned downward when he was disappointingly absent.

Taking ahold of one of the Space Marine’s arms, surprised at the effort it took to lift it for even a second, Jade began to drag Tartaros further away from where the two eldritch mouthpieces were prodding at the rupturing blossom. It was significantly easier to disentangle themselves from the vines while whatever was controlling Valerie and Grundy was distracted, but one creeping plant remained stubbornly tied to the marine’s torso, pinning him to the floor.

Jade strained against the sticky wrappings binding Tartaros to the ground by engaging in a mostly one-sided bout of tug-of-war, grunting with exertion, and then slumped forward over him, breathing raggedly. She tried tugging at the vines themselves, but all that did was succeed in rubbing the skin of her hands raw until they were a painful, stinging red.

Her lips split into a strained toothy grin when the vine was abruptly loosened with Rock’s assistance. Together, the blue-armored kid and dog-eared starchild were able to tug Tartaros to an area not completely overgrown with vegetation, mysteriously dappled with shimmering patterns of ice and snow. As the blood from his wounds began to speckle the snow, Jade glanced worriedly over her shoulder as a high-pitched screech rent the air.

Whatever was inside that plant pod was very pissed. Soft blue whorls of light and gusts of cold air gushed out from between the— now completely frozen solid— petals, the rustling of what sounded like feathers beating against the uncomfortable warmth provided for the flora within the grotto. The forms of Grundy and Valerie cut a stark contrast against the sharp light, arrestingly swamped in shadow.

Forcing herself to look away from the sight to regain her bearings, Jade’s eyes alighted upon a much smaller bud, its folding still pink and plush with springtime splendor.

There.

---

Should’ve known we would run into some lousy eldritch dangerbeasts, Karkat thought bitterly.

He lay tucked within the soft-petaled bulb of a plant, stuck as if he were wedged between two couch cushions. Only the pounding headache hemorrhaging behind his eyelids pierced through the thick cloud of blackness surrounding him, painting glorious splatters of light where none should have been. Struggling was futile, pointless to an excruciating degree of inanity.

The cherry-blooded troll supposed it was a tiny miracle that there were no longer any rail-thin trolls wearing nothing but loincloths pawing at him, though. The clown would be thrilled.

Obviously the others would search for him. However, Karkat was fairly sure that those bumbling assholes couldn’t rally together to save him even if they had an entire flight of imperial drones at their beck and call, and he wasn’t about to hold out hope for them yet.

Hope was a mistake that he could not afford. He had to stay conscious, stay awake, but try not to be surprised when the very worst came knocking at his door. Even if he didn’t know what the very worst would be, yet, cocooned as he was in sweet-smelling petals.

A rustling— no, a scraping came from somewhere above him. Surely it was some unspeakable horror seeking to devour his squishy innards with its impressive multitude of stomachs on standby, scrabbling its way in. With any luck, his death would be quick and (mostly) painless and he would be crunched up in a single bite.

Karkat wasn’t exactly known among his peers for his incredible abundance of luck, but to say that the smiling face which greeted him from above was anything less than lucky would have been a gross understatement.

“Karkat!” Jade exclaimed, expression radiant and blooming despite the trail of blood staining part of her face a deep rust. “Boy, am I glad to see you!”

There wasn’t any substantial light to speak of in that dank chamber, none haloing about her head to make her seem the least bit angelic. That was perfectly alright; Karkat’s imagination could fill in the blanks just as well.

“Yeah, it's a Gristmas miracle. Help me up already, will you?”

[Strazio Rockwell]

Valerie watched helplessly as his body acted upon its captor’s accord. His mind was so painfully lucid, but so painfully impotent. Truly trapped within his own head. His biology metabolized poison in mere instants, hell even hallucinogens and magick-infused toxins never lasted for more than mere minutes. This thing was different. Its oppressive presence was intoxicating, drowning his free will in a heady mix of syrup. But there was hope. An infinitesimal, but not insignificant, amount of control was slowly being wrestled back from this horror. He was not completely buried, not quite yet.

Whatever was in this frozen flower was absolutely frightening to the devil that controlled Val. No more villainous taunting, this new threat had to be contained. Beneath Valerie’s skin vines twisted and wormed their way through his flesh. A spiderweb of thick vines erupted from his forearms and constricted the plant tightly. Large shearing cracks had formed upon its icey surface and the trapped being thrashed harder against its prison. Internally Valerie winced as frost traveled down the vines and into his veins. His puppeteer was even willing to sacrifice its new toys to keep this prisoner contained.

A burst of energy collided into Valerie’s shoulder, forcing him to stumble slightly and lose his footing. The verdant mage slipped and fell on his ass, but his tethers remained taut. Rock fired another burst, but Grundy’s massive frame stepped forward to absorb the blast. The robotic kid fired another volley, hoping to snake another shot past the wall of meat that was Grundy. Solemnly the guardian tanked the barrage, protecting the more vulnerable mage from harm. Against his will the verdant mage stood up and released another throng of thorny vines from his skin. Theses ropy plants wrapped around the prison, replacing the frozen ones with a shattering crunch.

“Bang!” Jade’s voice echoed across the plant-choked pit.

Green lightning cracked across the heavens and smashed into Valerie’s ribcage. He gasped and fell to the ground at the sudden impact. It was just enough to knock the wind from his lungs and lose control of his vines. Internally the mage cheered for Jade’s miraculous shot, but his body was busy gasping for breath.

“Sorry Valerie!” Jade shouted.

Now unimpeded from its escape the creature within the frozen bellflower erupted into the sky. The force of the frosty explosion was enough to knock down all but the most resilient. A beautiful blue phoenix spiraled high into the cavern, stretching its frozen wings for the first time in ages. Air crystallized into frost and snow, blanketing the cavern in a soft sheen of chill. The cryophoenix let loose a harrowing howl, and flew ever upwards towards the roof of the cavernous mountain.

Valerie’s body stood and spoke, “Very well, it seems things have turned quite sour. No matter.”

The green-skinned mage backpedalled deeper into the thicket of thorn-prickled vines. The bramble opened wide to accept him. Large petals bloomed around Valerie, creating an explosion of summer hues. A shell of twisted nature began to form around him. “We’ll just see how much fuel your friend here has to offer,” Valerie’s pleasant voice cooed as leafy walls sealed him tight. Only once the walls of his prison were complete did he regain full control of his body. His manicured nails scrabbled madly against the slippery slick walls of his cage. A smooth layer of sweet sap oozed from its fleshy walls.

“This is,” he spoke, frantically thrashing about, “this is a pitcher plant, wicked and devilish as they come.”

“Jade!” He yelled, “Grundy! Rock! Anyone!”

His normally vibrant skin grew pallid and he slumped over. Breathing was hard in such a confined space. No. Breathing was almost impossible. Life and vitality were being extracted from his very essence. This was the fate of those who trespassed within the mountains.

Withering death.

[Proto Man]

At the start of the fight, Mega Man had endured the lovely misfortune of being thrown backwards into a tunnel. When he attempted to right his equilibrium and bring his heavy ordinance to bear upon the botanical monstrosity, a shuddering in the walls around him was followed by the tunnel promptly collapsing down around and atop him. While he was resilient enough to withstand a flurry of swift blows to the face, the sudden and overwhelming shocking of a cave collapsing down onto Mega Man was enough to knock his systems out.

The preteen machine was unsure how long his systems were offline. One moment, he was surrounded by crumbling rock and ice, and the next, his HUD was black and marred by a few blinking red warning indicators. The least pressing messages were automatically minimized to the background as power was routed to the most important systems. Although he was surrounded by darkness, Mega Man was able to squeeze his hands, causing some of the icy rubble to crush in his grip. Once his limbs were responding to commands, he started to drag and shove his way through what was essentially a sea of stone and frozen dirt.

After the first handful of yards, a proximity sensor kicked off as Mega Man started to pick up audio once more. He heard what sounded like shattering glass and the cry of a large bird before there were some human noises. With his hand shifting into a buster arm, the preteen machine discharged a strong enough blast to clear a path back into the chamber. As he stumbled free from the rubble, his video feed kicked back on and he caught a glimpse of the blue bird as it rose up out of the cavern toward whatever freedom lay in the Frozen Fields.

Mega Man’s attention was drawn from the sight of the bird back to the drama unfolding in the cave itself. The human Valerie was entrapped within some type of plant that seemed to be feeding off his body. The smaller person, Jade, was the only one who stood against the plant. As the blue robot watched, the mage was sealed within some type of bulbous plant, but he managed a cry for help just before he felt silent inside the cage of acid and bile.

The preteen machine was no botanist, and while his stored data on plants indicated that he was looking at a very large ‘pitcher plant,’ something else told him there had to be more to the overgrown vegetation. It seemed to act with a degree of intent or sentience, and while he hadn’t been around for several minutes, Mega Man knew that this plant threatened their group.

“Plants,” the voice of Tartaros Castus seemed labored as the space marine stumbled back into the fray. A quick look showed that his armor had been compromised in several locations. The helmet he wore had been crushed in a few areas by the same talons that had cut at the android’s own headgear before being felled.

“Are you fit to reengage?” Mega Man asked. Memories of dragging the marine to safety flashed back into the robot’s mind. “You are still in poor condition.”

The helmeted marine glanced down at the blue robot and tilted his head. “Yea.” He replied as he brandished his boltgun as tendrils from the pitcher plant snaked toward them. “I’m not dead yet,” he added as he moved to avoid a sudden, lashing attack from the plant. Bolts screamed through the sky a beat later, stitching their way up the appendage until they reached the organic prison that contained the mage.

Jade was already springing into action to assist the marine. As the witch dashed forward, Mega Man backed up a few steps and leveled his buster arm with the creature. His weapon started to shudder as he built a charge within its barrel. Excess energy started to sputter out from the mouth of the weapon as it reached critical mass.

“You may all want to move for cover,” Mega Man shouted as he used his other hand to steady his weapon.

“Ultra Hyper Finish Buster Deluxe!”

[Gamzee Makara]

"FUCKING, FUCK FUCK!"

Plants don't fight.

Why the fuck is this plant fighting? Why is HE fighting a fucking plant? As fast as he could swing his crappy little scythes, as fast as he could slice and dice the creepy, grabby vines, more would be there to replace what he has already chopped.

Karkat Vantas, troll weedeater.

Scythey tornado of death that he was, the vines had a hard time getting close to him from any lateral space. What the thresher was not prepared for, was a particularly fleshy green appendage to coil itself around his throat mid-swing. The sudden restriction forced one scythe to go flying from his grey grasp. The vine then began to hoist him up and up, to the unseen dark depths of the cavern proper. His air flow constricted, Karkat begins flailing wildly with his one remaining weapon, hoping to find some sort of lucky purpose or contact or-

With a dreadful wet, slicing sound, the young Vantas severs his assailant.

He drops back to the cave floor in a half roll, half stumble, coughing and swearing and thoroughly wanting to die. His vision begins to unmuddle itself and his cognizance returns just in time for him to hear the desperate pleas of Valerie, his opinion of whom is fast deteriorating. A mutter here, a swear there, and the warrior brings himself to his feet after grabbing his fallen weapon, rushing for Valerie’s cage at a frantic pace.

“PLANTS! I HATE

FUCKING

PLANTS!”

In a rather impressive display of acrobatics, Karkat bobs, weaves, hurdles, spins, and jukes past vines and obstacles, swearing up a storm as he does. By the time he reaches the prison of foliage and flower, he begins hacking away at it, copious amounts of gooey chlorophyll and other various plant juices splatter and spray him.

Ew, some of it got in his mouth. Grody.

Around the time he actually makes some progress, and can properly see the mage’s form through cracks of thick branches and skinned petals, he hears the robot kid shout something that sounded vaguely like a warning. Letting out a cliche string of “shitshitshitshit”, the young troll doubles his efforts and-

Valerie finds the strength to yank Karkat by the collar and into the cradle of petals, right before a massive wave of energy is able to incinerate the boy.

One moment, he’s almost killed by a plant. The next, saved by a plant.

[Strazio Rockwell]

Valerie pulled Karkat tight as a wave of heat swallowed their prison. The troll thrashed about in the sugar slick confines of the organic prison. Valerie barely had the energy to move let alone thrash. "This will only hurt a bit," Valerie said as brown roots slithered out from beneath his skin. Muffled screaming escaped the prison, but could hardly be heard over the din of battle. The roots had burrowed beneath Karkat's skin and began siphoning energy into the panicked troll’s body. Strength flooded his muscles and, despite the pain, he felt unstoppable. Twin sickle scythes carved into the bellflower and tore long leaking wounds into the plant’s insides. A final slice opened up a hole large enough for the two to stumble through. The roots retreated into Valerie’s flesh leaving nary a scratch.

“Don’t you ever fucking do that again!” Karkat threatened through gasping breaths.

Valerie ignored him and threw his hands into the air. Fire red bulbs peaked out from underneath his green tinged skin. His muscles twitched and sweat poured from his flesh. The bulbs sprouted into scarlet flowers, each of them crackling with embers. In his home universe the fiery flora were known as “devil’s breath”. Once a year these plants would reach maturirity and like dandelions they would release their seeds into the air. In a matter of seconds Valerie forced the flowers to achieve this maturity. Hundreds, if not thousands, motes of cold fire erupted into the air. The petals produced no heat, but they illuminated the cavernous heart of the mountain. Above them, affixed to the interior walls of the mountain hundreds of bellflower prisons hung, bloated with their wards. Inside the flowers the shadowy forms of trolls, dwarfs, and other unfortunate travelers could be seen. Rope-like roots formed a system of veins that terminated at the base of the monstrous plant.

“My companions,” Valerie spoke and inhaled deeply, “while I was being controlled my mind briefly touched with its, and I have learned of its weakness. This gluttonous beast is no more mysterious than an over gorged pitcher plant, it slowly saps life from those it keeps imprisoned. Free them and it will wither and die.”

Val’s legs gave out from underneath him and he collapsed.

[Jade Harley]

Jade surged forward to catch Valerie, just barely keeping his head from cracking against the floor. She gently laid him down on the frozen ground, her body positioned defensively over him as she heeded his words and looked towards the roof of the cavern.

Dozens of pods hung from the ceiling, the bodies of trolls, dwarves and unfortunate travelers curled into the fetal position seeming almost like weirdly-shaped seeds through the greenish skin. Some were partly frozen from the cryopheonix's departure and glistened with hairline patterns of veins and ice. Trying to get a grip on them with her sense of Space was stupidly easy; the tentacles attempting to strangle herself and her friends, not so much.

They were just so wriggly, it was like trying to scrub an annoying speck of dust out from her eye! Her telekinetic hold fumbled and stretched in vain after the frisky flagella until Jade was red in the face from exertion, but still they continued to wave about and bar her from freeing the plant creature's captives. Tartaros' hail of steel rain sliced one tentacle apart that had managed to get close enough to wrap around her ankle, the amputated limb flopping uselessly to the ground with a squelch.

"There are just so many!" Jade exclaimed, acidic gorge spraying from the stump left behind, and turned towards her companions with eyes wide as the creature's vile blood was dark.

"We'll need more bullets, then," Tartaros called in answer, his injuries only lending a small amount of shakiness to his otherwise impeccable aim.

The dark-haired Witch huffed, stamping her foot down on a wayward tentacle with ferocious gusto. It burst like a pus-filled welt; Jade grimaced at the resin lining the undersides of her shoes, peeling it off with a quick telekinetic swipe before the acid ate through the soles. "That's not what I meant! We have to help those poor people and this overgrown ficus is getting in the way!"

"Not a ficus," Valerie chided weakly from his prone position on the ground. "A pitcher plant."

The Witch barely flinched as a flurry of searing light razed part of the tentacled mass into a blackened mess of smoking plant material and sap, pausing only to send a blinding grin Rock's way. With Karkat's sickles glinting in the corner of her eye and gunfire coming from all directions, they had a pretty great slash and burn tactic going. The creature was visibly diminishing, the remaining tentacles curling back into an almost defensive posture even as a few stragglers continued to writhe about as if they had a mind of their own.

With a flounce of displaced air, Jade bounced through Space in an electric green flash, reappearing at once amongst the dangling pods. The fizzy smell of ozone tickled her nose as she reached out to one of the pods, latching onto the petal-like edges with both hands. Then in one mighty pull she wrenched the petals down like the peel of a banana, extracting a sap-covered troll and deftly depositing them in a furrow of snow that lay below. Rebecca and Bec, she noticed, scrambled forward to investigate, the large wolfdog placing himself at all times between the trembling, sticky body and the Little Sister.

Again and again she repeated this process, relying on her companions on the ground to keep the tentacled vine-villain at bay. Instead of raining cats and dogs, it rained dwarves and trolls. Occasionally there was naught but an unrecognizable mass of broken down muscle and a few bones left in the sacs, and, much to Jade's horror and rising disgust, a teensy bit more.

All at once, a rush of frigid air came down from above. Jade's head jerked upward, eyes widening as she watched the bluish icebird spread its wings and send another windstorm of cold towards the plant creature, the length of its tail fluttering like shiny silk ribbons. 

Opening its beak, the bird screeched and let loose a beam of the purest white Jade had ever seen, a miniature blizzard picking up and wrapping around the cavern.

[Strazio Rockwell]

Valerie had spent the better part of the last few minutes slipping in and out of lucidity. At some point during his stay in Lalaland he rolled over onto his back. Around him his companions scattered about with rabid ferocity. Tartaros, still clutching at his wounds, had managed to crawl back to his feet and join the fray. Jade and Rock worked frantically to free the imprisoned while Karkat carved through swathes wriggling tendrils and provided cover for them. Val’s muscles twitched, but his body refused to move. The plant no longer controlled him, but he was just so damned exhausted at this point. A fleeting thought like a snowflake on a hotplate -- where was Solomon Grundy?

The mountain of meat was just standing there, slack jawed and unaware. Which, Valerie supposed, wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary for the monolithic beefcake were it not him muttering to himself. The Verdant mage couldn’t quite make sense of what Grundy was saying, but it seemed to be some sort of slow-witted argument with himself. Having lost control of the cryophoenix and a handful of others the beast’s power and subsequently grip on Grundy was waning. But it wasn’t until an undulating mass of hairy tentacles snuck up on and coiled around Karkat that Solomon acted. Like a runaway locomotive the deadman charged forth, each step threatened to tear fissures into the wet and cold earth. With two meaty mitts the giant ripped the stalk of tentacles asunder. He bellowed, “you not hurt Kitkat, you not hurt Grundy’s friends!” With that declaration, regardless of whether or not the plant heard him, Grundy set out to be the best weedwhacker known to mankind.

Above them the frigid bluebird fluttered frantically. Fevered animal panic gripped its body and it searched for an escape. Valerie watched as it hopped from crumbling perch to crumbling perch, unable to find a good foothold in the cavern. With every flap of its wings it threatened to turn the mountain into a massive icebox. A sudden howling screech roared from its lungs, a wayward tendril had managed to wrap itself around the bird’s scale-covered foot. With leviathan strength the bird beat its wings and ripped itself free, heading higher upwards. An ivory beam erupted from its mouth, aimed towards the ceiling of the mountain. A low rumbling reverberated throughout the entire structure. Everyone looks upwards and watched as the creature let loose another burst of frigid energy. First a crack appeared, spider webbing outwards and letting in thin curtains of light. One final cataclysmic burst force the top of the mountain to explode outwards like a shook-up soda bottle. In a flash of ice and snow the bird ascended above the clouds and disappeared.

“It’s coming down,” shouted Tartaros, “get to cover!”

Chunks of stone came down in withering waves. Using her sense of Space Jade did her best to divert the incoming stone hail from striking the freed and lethargic prisoners. Valerie’s vision of the sun was blotted out by Grundy’s massive frame. He held the squirming Karkat by the scruff of his neck. The leviathan was using his own bulk to protect the incapacitated Valerie and squiggly troll. Becquerel darted around carefully, avoiding the rocks the best he could. The little sister held onto her fluffy companion tightly, she was more excited about the fun ride rather than worried about the impending collapse. There was a shifting and then a large boulder began its descent. Larger than a bus the meteorite of ice and stone rocketed towards the bottom of the mountain. Valerie closed his eyes.

Squish. Squelch. Fucking flattened like a pancake. Not Valerie, no, the plant abomination had caught the impact with its bulbous wriggling body. It looked like a green pumpkin after a neighborhood kid mashed it with a baseball bat. Thick tentacles writhed and stretched out, pawing fruitlessly against the craggy rock that had embedded itself in the beast’s core. Although their mental link had been severed Valerie felt pity for the creature, after all could you blame a snake for biting you when its aggression was preordained by nature? The abomination shuddered, sending out ripples of movement throughout the mountain as every last vine pulsed in agony. A groaning was heard, or rather felt. The sound didn’t propagate through the air, no it slithered through the minds of everyone present. A psionic death rattle of some ageless monstrosity filled their skulls with a heavy and pained sigh. Then, after was seemed like hours, everything was silent. No chittering tendrils, no psychic screams, and even the crumbling mountain stood quiet.

“Holy hell, is it over?” Karkat was the first to break the silence. The troll crawled out from underneath Grundy; who had sustained several bruises and lacerations to his back, but was overall none worse for wear.

“Not yet,” Tartaros said, “look up.”

Everyone followed the marine’s finger upwards. The snowbird’s escape had destabilized the integrity of the mountain. Even as they stood still fissures grew longer and longer, snaking their respective ways throughout the interior caverns. Vines which once added strength to the carved out walls now hung placid and withered. In destroying the beast they had ensured the destruction of this mountain and anything foolish enough to stay inside. “We’ve got to get out of here before the place comes down around our heads,” Tartaros said, and as if to punctuate him the mountain shook. Detritus crashed down, pelting them all with gravel.

Jade glanced over to the recovering prisoners. They looked weak, they were weak. Having spent Omni knows how long as that things personal batteries they appeared to have one foot in the grave. Above them still hung hundreds of bellflowers, too many to count. Their bioluminescence was fading, but they were still affixed to the walls with a network of vines and stalks. How long did they have? A few hours? A few minutes? As if hearing the mental question the mountain quaked again, and another wave of rocks and pebbles pelted them. Jade Harley turned back towards the group and with pleading eyes said, “we have to help them!”

“We don’t have time to help them, we’ll help the ones we’ve already freed. Let’s go.” Tartaros responded, already edging towards the exit.

The dog-eared girl bit her lip, “we just can’t leave them, we’re the good guys right? They need our help.”

“He’s right Miss Harley,” Valerie spoke, struggling to find the strength to speak. Grundy was carrying the battered mage on his back. Val’s eyes were bleak, and his tone even bleaker. The ever chipper mage took on a solemn voice and continued, “as unsavory as it is to admit, we can’t save them all. We’re all quite fatigued and injured, and there simply is no time left.”

“No,” Jade muttered, looking back towards those still imprisoned, “they’re going to die!”

Valerie sighed, not an annoyed sigh but one of sadness, “sometimes, sometimes people die Miss Harley, and… even here, sometimes they don’t come back. And sometimes there isn’t anything you can do to stop it.”

Tartaros shouted something which couldn’t be heard over the now constant rumbling of the mountain. Rock set to work ushering the freed trolls, dwarves, and miscellaneous prisoners towards the exit. Utter and absolute chaos once again enveloped the frozen cathedral. Jade turned her back on the others and set to work peeling the bellflowers from their walls and placing them gently on the ground. She just couldn’t leave them behind, it wasn’t right. A slicing sound was heard, like someone carving into a pumpkin on hallow’s eve. There Karkat was right beside her, carving into the plants and helping her free their unfortunate occupants. They exchanged glances and the troll scowled, “damnit Harley, this is dumb, real fucking dumb, but if your staying I ain’t leavin’.” The girl fought back tears and kept to work, but Val’s words echoed in her mind sometimes they don’t come back. As more prisoners were freed Rock helped escort them into the tunnel system, forming a line with Tartaros at the head.

Now that the vampiric roots were deposed the space marine could think with clarity. His wounds seemed to keep his focus as every step sent daggers into his chest. Mentally he reversed their path and realized that they had a long fucking way to go before they reached the exit. An absolute labyrinth of a place and it was about to become nothing more than a pile of misshapen rubble. Behind him his charge of thralls seemed to keep swelling and he noticed that none of his companions followed him. He let loose a string of profanity and started barking orders to the huddled masses. Looks like he had to play guide dog for this particular expedition, and although he had no desire to be crushed under a metric fuckton of rock he figured that at least he’d come back to life.

They worked feverishly, and yet the number of bellflowers still untouched was staggering. Jade felt her sense of Space wane and slip, she was getting tired, Everyone was getting tired. Hell everyone had been tired since about three hours ago. ANother series of reverberations rocked the stones and sent larger chunks of rock onto their heads. Bellflowers were shucked free from their perches and toppled to the depths below. A boulder, almost as large as the one that kill their plant monster, landed betwixt the group. Karkat yelled and cussed. From the tunnel entrance Tartaros shouted, “alright, you’ve done what you could, we need to leave now! ” Jade looked upwards, there was still so many left. Karkat grabbed her wrist and the two locked eyes. “Jade,” he began but was unable to fetch the rest of his sentence. Sometimes they don’t come back. She knew that he’d stick by her until the bitter end, but she also knew that he wasn’t a prime, that he couldn’t come back, that most of them couldn’t come back. “Fine,” she said.

Twisting tunnels lent themselves to a dizzying sense of vertigo. In the darkness hundreds of feet pattered against the crumbling floors. They moved as fast as they could given the state of them. Trolls and dwarves alike helped one another, for in these dark halls no one could afford an enemy. It was a maddening ascent, filled with uncertainty and fear. Every groan and creak of the caverns threatened to bring the whole thing down around them. More than once the walls shifted and gave way, forcing them to take another path. Then, against all odds, there was light. Cold and bitter, but it was light nonetheless. They were quite a distance away from the frigid pinprick, but it filled them with the strength to press forward. Even Valerie was up and walking at this point, stepping along in time with the others. They had to move almost single file as the tunnel grew narrower along its length.

There was a slipping of stone, it sounded like a low grade mulcher kicking into gear. Hard and rough one massive quake thundered throughout the caverns. A slab of stone towards the head of the group started to give way. Using her mental powers Jade reached out and attempted to grasp the falling slab. She faltered. It was just too heavy for her exhausted brain, she felt the craggy edges of it slip through her mental fingers like so many grains of sand. A roar shook the earth. It wasn’t the mountain, it was Solomon Grundy. Like a linebacker moving to intercept a runner Grundy plowed through the group. Upon reaching the slab he threw his hands upwards, and quite literally caught the ceiling. His monumental muscles bulged as he braced himself against the weight. Grundy yelled, “Go… Grundy not let rock squish you!” There wasn’t much room to get by him, but you’d be surprised at how flexible people can get if their lives depend upon it. Another rumbling shifted more weight onto the deadman and forced him to take a knee. Once everyone had passed him Grundy tried to move forward, but the weight kept him pinned. Jade yelled for him to come on, but he simply could not. His cold yellow eyes looked at them from the darkness, their bodies silhouettes in the curtain of light. “Bye bye Doggy Lady and Katcar…” the pressure made it harder than usual for him to speak, “bye, bye… friends.”

The mountain crumbled.

Outside the prisoners, now free, gasped for air and praised their escape. Light that precious commodity down below stung their eyes, but it was a happy pain. Everyone was worn down, injured, and ragged. For the first time in what was ages they had a break, a moment of reprieve. Valerie stretched outwards, letting the faraway sun lap at his green-tinted skin. It felt good. They had survived the wicked mountain, and done a great deal of good for the world in doing so.

[Jade Harley]

Jade Harley sighed quietly, her eyes fixed upon the gargantuan heap of snowdrift and ruin before her. It was all that remained of the labyrinthine chamber of horrors, the eldritch creature that had once called it home entombed somewhere deep within. And hopefully, it would stay that way.
 
Turning to look behind her, at last tearing her gaze away from that horrible, horrible place, she was relieved to see that the plant fiend’s victims and her fellow adventurers were gathered together, cohesive and whole in a way that they never would have been otherwise. She almost couldn’t bear to look at them for fear that some new horrors might arise from the howling snowscape and snatch them away. Rebecca and Becquerel were kept nearby at all times, corralled by Jade’s beckoning hands and the occasional flicker of telekinetic guidance.
 
Responsibility for what had happened weighed heavily down upon her shoulders. The young Witch felt the suffering she had wrought upon her travel companions all too keenly, however unintended it actually was. The sad little marsh plant that Solomon Grundy had given her twirled between her fingers, a pensive, sorrowful look flecking like soft dew across her cheeks.
 
She hoped he would forgive her, wherever he was. She hoped that he would wake up in some brighter, better place. She hoped that he would sing his funny song as much as he liked, no matter if anyone was near enough to hear it.
 
She hoped so much nowadays that it almost hurt.
 
The next half-hour after their exodus from the hell-cavern was spent talking in quiet undertones with those wretched souls taken captive by the plant beast; while the dwarves and trolls were obviously wary of one another, they appeared too strung out by the horrors inflicted upon them to offer up little more than half-hearted glares now and again. Jade insisted that she take full operation of the task of returning them to their homes safely, not wanting to risk her dear friends’ lives again.
 
It was as they were parting ways that Karkat approached her, shuffling his way through the snow and seeming about as ridiculously disgruntled as ever. But there was something else there, too, in the lines of his face and the scowl on his lips. Something almost… soft. Sniffling, Jade pulled him into the biggest bear hug she could muster, murmuring numerous apologies into the ruffle between his turtleneck and hair.

Jade's extrasensory abilities could detect just about anything. She could feel Bec flopped over in the snow, mouthing gently at Rebecca's arm as they play-wrestled on the ground. She could feel Valerie, who she had already swept up into a warm hug that was almost enough to ease the aching pain in his limbs, if but for a fleeting moment. She could feel the armored figure of Tartaros, and Rock, and all of the dwarven folk and trolls standing around in the snow, some laying prostrate on the ground, utterly spent. She could even feel the body of Solomon Grundy as it slowly dissipated, breaking up into a mixture of colors as finely-shaped as snowflakes.

She could not, however, feel just what Karkat was feeling in that moment.

The cherry-blooded troll returned her hug after a few seconds, the stiffness in his limbs gradually fading the longer they embraced. It was a nice, cozy, and totally platonic hug, and while it didn't make the events of the past day go away entirely, it did make the harsh truth that much more bearable.

"I'm sorry," Jade sniffled, pulling away and rubbing at her surely reddening nose. She probably looked like a blubbery mess. "For everything. This couldn't have been what you expected to happen today."

Karkat shrugged. "Shit happens, I guess."

"Yeah," the Witch agreed, looking down and away. There was a beat of silence in which no more words were spoken; a peal of high-pitched laughter came from wherever Rebecca was, followed by one of Becquerel's earth-shaking sneezes. Jade's lips made a valiant effort to twitch upward into a smile, but ultimately failed.

A motley group of dwarves stood a few paces away, waiting for her to lead. Most of the trolls had refused her offer to help them out and were standing around a cooking fire they had cobbled together in the snow; others, she knew, had simply wandered off into the wastes. The faintly musty smell of smoke swirled around them, battered by the winds and elements.

Trying her darned best to be brave, Jade mustered up a small, wavering grin for Karkat, which became a bit more genuine when he rolled his eyes at her.

"I'll be seeing you around, Harley. Someone has to make sure Gamzee hasn't converted an entire village into some kind of insane clown posse." He glanced over his shoulder at the somewhat stooped form of Tartaros, his injuries likely still giving him hell. He thoroughly dwarfed the comparatively short figures of Rock and Valerie, especially with the battered armor heaped upon his shoulders. They would be okay with warriors like that in their midst; they had all proven themselves to be formidable in the dank chill of the caverns.

Jade shakily breathed in the smoky air, only then whistling for Bec to hurry on over with Rebecca in tow. Shouldering her ice-blaster gun, Jade gave Karkat a small wave and another brilliant buck-toothed smile, soon after offering the same goodbye to her other friends. At last, with Bec at her side and a whole battalion of dwarves following in her wake, Jade strode off into the icy wilderness.

They were going to be okay.