Become the Wind

“Hey Karkat! Look what I can do!”

The troll glanced up from his computer screen with enough time to see John completely dissipate into nothing. “What the fuck? John? John!” His husktop was folded and hastily moved to the side so he could stand. “John!”

Something swirled around Karkat and laughed in his ear. “I’m fine Karkat!”

Much to the troll’s surprise John reappeared beside him. “Don’t ever fucking do that again asshole.”

John just laughed some more, “Oh come on Karkat, it’s not doing any harm. It’s part of my wind powers. I think the “Heir of Breath” can like, become the wind or something. I dunno, I learned it in a dream bubble once, it’s pretty cool. I am the Windy Thing!”

“I don’t like it.”

The human smirked, “Of course you don’t like it, think of all the pranking possibilities I can now do! Oh gosh I’ll be unstoppable!”

Karkat sighed and sat back down reaching for his computer. “Be careful, ok? I don’t need you blowing away or something.”

“I control the wind, hell I am the wind, I can’t blow away,” John reassured Karkat and gave him a quick hug. “I’ll be careful, don’t worry,” he said as confidently as he could.

“With you, I can’t help but worry,” he turned his attention back to the chat log windows he had opened.

---

Everything was chaos. Dirk would argue that it was organized chaos, but chaos none the less. Karkat did his best to dodge and weave between the barrage of bullets from Lord English as well as the monster’s huge clawed hands. His weapons left him at a strategic disadvantage. Roxy yelled for him to duck so quickly he dropped to the floor. Shots whizzed above his head and found their mark, burying deeply into green flesh. Karkat rolled away in time to see Dirk and Dave double team the Lord of Time with their swords. He leaped in to fill the gaps before getting tossed aside.

Rose raised her needles creating a blinding light that Jake used as cover to fire his own golden pistols. Jade took the opportunity to manifest the asteroids from the dormant planets and send them at the massive cherub. But Lord English thought fast and froze them in midflight. She growled and reached for her own rifle. The tides of the battle were shifting from an old-fashioned sword fight to a firefight within minutes.

The Knight of Time tried his own time freezing abilities on their foe, but it wasn’t any use, even a fully realized Knight was no match for the Lord. Some of the new arrivals had made it to Godtier and their powers were much needed.

Jane was especially useful at lending her life powers to the injured; quickly healing them before life threatening damages were sustained. Karkat angled his eyes to the sky and scanned for his co-friendleader. There was a boom and John came hurtling down from the sky hammer ready. He slammed into the Lord English’s staff and darted back into the sky. Seconds later he came crashing down again landing another deafening blow and disappearing back into the inky blackness.

Out of all the players of the game John was proving to be the strongest. After crashing his hammer down on the staff one more time it fractured and broke, causing Lord English to yell in anger. John zipped away before claws could rake across his stomach and bullets invade his chest.

“Karkat are you doing ok?” He asked floating next to the battle worn troll.

“I’m fine, you?”

“Tired, but ok,” John scanned the battlefield watching his friends fight, “we can’t keep this up forever, we need something to beat him with.”

“I wish Meenah would have found that secret weapon…” Karkat growled. “We could use it right now. At this rate-“ His speech was interrupted by the sound of a chainsaw screeching to a halt a scream piercing the air. All Karkat’s eyes could see was the splash of jade blood coating the ground. “Kanaya!”

He sprinted towards his fallen friend screaming for Jane. “Kanaya! Not again! I’m not doing this again!” Karkat bit back tears when he reached her side. Jane was right behind him and set to work trying to fix her up the best she could. “Kanaya stay with me, please, Kanaya!”

Jane put a hand on his shoulder and urged him back to the fight, “They need you,” she started but couldn’t finish.

Instead a weak voice interrupted, “They need their leader Karkat. They need you.”

“Kanaya…” He watched her golden eyes close and growled low in his chest. The ringing of gunfire snapped him back to reality and he picked up his dear friend moving her to the side of the platform they were fighting on.

Jake and Dirk were side by side, giving everything their all. Dave was helping Rose to stand; the Seer had a hand over a nasty looking bullet wound. Karkat could see the scene looked hopeless and grim. “Terezi!” He called, trying to locate the other Seer.

She called back from the other end of the platform, “What is it Karkat? I’m sorta busy!”

“I know! Fuck I know! Can I get you to swing around and maybe go for his legs?”

“I’ll try!”

Karkat turned his attention to Roxy and Jake, “Aim for his head!” They nodded.

Dave appeared at Jade’s side, “Jade, use your space powers, do what Bec Noir did to me.”

She nodded grimly, remembering the gruesome state she found Dave in after accidently shooting him her own gun. Jade tossed her gun back into her sylladex and ran straight into the fire. Focusing all her energy she warped the bullets into herself then appeared behind Lord English to release them. They peppered his back and he howled in pain.

“John!” Karkat called.

The boy rocketed down blasting the cherub with a strong gust of wind before spinning around to meet Karkat. “What do you need?” He said gasping.

“I know how strong you are, you have to do something.”

“Yeah,” he placed a hand on Karkat’s shoulder, “I have an idea, give me your hand.”

Karkat didn’t hesitate, nor did he flinch when John spun him and launched him straight for the boss. Sickles met flesh at a dangerous speed and Karkat hit the ground and rolled to a stop. He lost one of his weapons in the monster’s side. Carefully he picked himself up and watched the fighters working their hardest.

Nothing was working.

Jade was held frozen in mid jump, the Lord of Time held his hands out and concentrated on blowing out the lives of the foolish children who opposed him. It was easy, stopping their time and freezing their hearts. Karkat watched in horror as one by one gods froze and humans fell to the ground. His eyes saw the guns raise in slow-motion and bullets embed themselves deep in flesh of both grey and pale.

Dave screamed, he was one of the only kids that remained untouched due to his own time powers. His red eyes widened behind cracked shades and his voice went raw from yelling. John was the other who was bearing witness to the end of his friends.

Tears streaming he charged Lord English, his hammer ready to kill. The cherub had a smug smile on his face and swatted John from the sky like a fly. This time when he pulled himself from the ground he was glowing blue and his mouth was curved in a twisted smile. “You killed my friends and destroyed time itself.” John walked calmly towards the monstrous enemy.

“John!” Both Karkat and Dave yelled at the boy. Surely he had lost it.

Lord English turned all his attention on John; he was intrigued by the human’s calmness. “Perhaps you have finally snapped human? You have either lost all sense, or you are truly that stupid of a race.”

John laughed. He laughed and laughed till more tears ran down his cheeks. They combined with the blood and dripped off his chin. “You left me alive, and that was your biggest mistake.”

“Oh? Well then, I better correct that right away then,” he raised his hand and was going to say something more when his expression changed to surprise.

The Heir of Breath was glowing blue, “You don’t deserve to breathe.” The Lord of Time scraped at his throat. “Air is too precious for your disgusting throat.” He laughed some more, “So why don’t I just take it all away from you?”

Lord English dropped to the floor and his concentration over time fell away. The bodies of John’s comrades fell to the ground and blood began to pour from their wounds. Dave thought fast and leapt into action. He created a time field around his friends to shield them from their own wounds. Once inside they remained frozen, all but Jane. She was injured, but not as badly as the others. She quickly realized what had happened and started in on fixing the damage done to her friends. “I can’t heal myself,” she said.

Dave nodded and gave her a quick squeeze. Dirk, Jake, and Roxy were by her side. “Janey,” Roxy whispered, “that looks hella bad…”

Dirk looked her in the eye, “Make it heroic.”

She materialized her massive fork. “Yeah,” but when the turned their attention back to the fight they found John standing over the body of Lord English. He was laughing hysterically and Karkat rushed to his side.

“I did it, I killed him. Me. It was me. Aaallllllll me. Hahahaha! Ha!”

Karkat pulled him away, arms holding him tightly. “John snap out of it.”

“I killed him. The big baddy. It was me. I’m the best of the best. You guys would be dead without me.” He broke into more giggles that made Karkat’s blood run cold.

“John stay with me. John I can’t lose you to.”

He broke Karkat’s embrace and started muttering, “You know…you know, you know Vriska? She said that behind every bad guy there’s an even bigger and stronger bad guy. It’s like the curtains keep pulling back you know? They never end it keeps getting worse!” He took a step back and then lifted into the air. “So maybe, you know, maybe I’m like the end, end boss?” John laughed again hefting the Vrillyhoo onto his shoulder.

“John no. John stop it.”

“She said I was destined for great things Karkat,” his blue eyes darted over the remains of his team. The majority of them safety behind Dave’s time bubble. “Are any of you going to thank me? You know, because I basically just saved all your worthless asses here. Bow to your god.”

“John stop it!” Karkat screamed. “You are not a god, that’s my job remember? I’m your shitty god, not the other way around. I made you, you insolent piece of shit. Now get your windy ass down here and stop this nonsense.”

In seconds John was beside Karkat, “You’re a god? You told me that a lot. But I don’t see any powers. All I see are tired eyes and a fallen knight.”

“I’m the god everyone forgot about.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a god then, huh?”

Karkat bared his teeth and through clenched fangs growled, “You were supposed to be my Matesprit asshole. Snap out this.”

One shot rang out loud and clear through the air. John felt pain and turned around. Lord English’s hand fell away and he grinned before struggling to stand. “Before you boast about killing your end boss, you might want to check to see if your predecessor is actually dead.”

The troll caught John before he hit the ground. “Shit, John!”

Blue eyes widened in fear, “Karkat? Karkat!” He grasped the troll’s shirt, “Sh-shit I got hit didn’t I?”

“Y-yeah,” Karkat couldn’t believe it, it was like he had never said any of those things.

“How did…oh,” He clung a bit harder, “I didn’t. I didn’t mean that, I was…I don’t know what came over me,” John coughed blood.

“Jane!” Karkat called desperately.

She bolted from the safety of Dave’s barrier and rushed to their side. Ignoring her own pain she placed her hands on John’s chest and began healing the damage. “Karkat he got he you too.”

“What?” In his panic he didn’t even notice that the bullet had passed into his own body.

“You’re lucky you’re alive Karkat, I have no idea how you didn’t feel that.”

John stared at the blood dripping from her godtier shirt, “Jane…”

She grabbed her weapon and turned to face Lord English. “Come on, we have a universe to make.”

Karkat nodded and stood. Jade, Rose and the others emerged from the time shield. John moved to pick up his hammer when Karkat stopped him. “I don’t want you losing yourself again John.”

He gave the troll a toothy smile, don’t worry, it won’t happen again!” He sped off into the heat of the battle and quickly gained the upper hand once again. “You know Lord English, I can create tornadoes to blow you away, I can take the air from your lungs, and you still think you have a chance.”

“Of course mortal. Your first attempt to kill me didn’t exactly impress me.”

“Well then, let’s try this!” Just before Lord English could send more bullets through his body John dissipated into the wind. His voice echoed around the monster. “It’s impossible to hit the wind!” He moved around Lord English and blasted him with wave after wave of strong wind. The others backed away and let the wind do the work. “You shouldn’t have messed with us. We have time, space, light, life and even hope on our side. All you have is a lot of guns, your shitty attitude and time. Big deal.” John focused himself on the cherub’s lungs and started filling him with air, “Vriska said we needed a secret weapon, but I think we’ll do just fine. He materialized and watched the monster gasp for air.

Dirk was on him with his sword, Dave close behind and both Jake and Jade were unloading round on his collapsing body. Jane thrust her weapon into his chest before collapsing herself. John looked over at Karkat and gave him a double thumbs up. The troll smiled back weakly and went to return the gesture. But the all too familiar sound of gunfire ruined the moment and John could feel a bullet pass through his body moments before he dissipated into the wind.

“John? John!” Karkat screamed again. The others were vaguely aware of what happened.

“Karkat, it’s ok, I’m fine,” he swirled around the troll, “It missed.”

“Don’t fucking scare me,” Karkat rushed to Jane’s side but couldn’t get passed her friends who were already with her. Instead he and Terezi joined Rose at Kanaya’s fallen body. Karkat gently picked her up and carried her towards the others.

“She’ll be ok, right?” Rose asked. “She’ll pop back, good as new, like last time right? Because of the rainbowdrinker thing?”

“I don’t know.” Karkat said quietly.

“She’ll come back right? Karkat right? Come on, say something.”

“I said I don’t know!” Karkat snapped before hastily apologizing.

He joined the others just in time for a huge two dimensional house to spring up from the ground. “That’s it,” Karkat said. “That’s the door to the new universe.” He nudged Roxy towards it. “One of you has to open it, it’s your world.”

“No,” Dirk said, carrying Jane’s body, “It’s all of ours. We’ve all suffered equally and fought for the same thing.”

“There’s no bloody way we’re taking all the credit so come on,” Jake walked towards the door, pulling Jade behind him. Dave followed and close behind him Terezi and Roxy. Dirk took Jane and Karkat carried Kanaya towards the light.

“John come on, you can cut it out now,” he looked around, “John?”

“Karkat come on!” Jade called, “You don’t want us to leave you behind!”

A strong wind forced Karkat forward and he stumbled through the door.

---

The new planet was beautiful. It was better than anything Karkat had ever hoped for. The idea’s and dreams off everyone combined into the perfect world. Karkat stood high on a cliff and watched the waves roll in. The ocean reminded him of Crabdad and the seadweller friends he lost. “You lied to me John.”

“Oh come on, I soooo didn’t.”

“You said it missed.”

“Well…it did, sorta.”

“Sorta? I can’t see you. You’re obviously a ghost.”

A laugh filled the air all around him. “No way man, I’m the wind.” The voice paused before adding, “And you can totally see me if you look.”

“What do you-“ He spun around and was greeted by a transparent figure of John.

“See? I told you,” John smiled, “I think when I dissolved into wind that final time it saved what was left of me. I could feel the bullet pass through my chest, I’m sure it was fatal.”

“Then you did lie.”

“Nooooot exactly. I turned myself to air at the same time. I’m alive I guess.”

“I can’t kiss the wind.”

“You can try.” John giggled. “Besides, I fucked up back there. Maybe this is what I deserve.”

Karkat growled and furrowed his eyebrows, “What do you mean?”

“Back there…you know…when I lost it. Maybe this is fate’s way of telling me that I need to own up to that.”

“That’s nonsense. You just lost your friends, everything, who wouldn’t go insane?”

“You didn’t, Dave didn’t.” John sat down on the ledge. “It doesn’t matter, I think I’ll like being the god of the wind. It should be fun.”

“Idiot,” Karkat sat next to him.

“Hey Karkat?”

“Yeah?”

“We did it.”

Karkat laughed once, hollow, “Yeah, I guess we did,” he watched the waves reflect the orange glittering sun.

John carefully reached out and wiped a tear from Karkat’s face, “Don’t,” he said quietly. “I don’t think I could stand watching you be sad.”

“You should have fucking thought about that before you gave up your physical body.”

No response came from John. Instead he lifted to his feet and used the wind to pick Karkat up. Together they flew down to the water and hovered above it, they moved by the shore and through the town that sprung up by the water’s edge. He took them past the graveyard and past the resting places of their friends. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.” He stopped and let them hover high above the trees.

“I know you didn’t.”

“I love you Karkat, and I’ll stay beside you, no matter what.” He tried to grin, “I know you might not be able to see me all the time, or touch me, but you’ll know that every small breeze is me. You’ll know that I’m here, I’m always here.” He placed a transparent hand over the troll’s chest. “I’m not dead, and you’re not either, maybe someday I’ll find my way back to a physical form.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Yeah maybe? That’s all you have to say?”

Karkat shrugged, “What else is there?”

“You could at least fake some hope.”

The troll grinned and said, “You know that’s not my style.”

“Come on, let’s go back.”

Even though Karkat couldn’t hold John’s hand, he could still feel his presence and the reassuring squeeze. ‘We’ll figure it out. Somehow, we’ll figure it out.”