towerofanimus | Ghosts of the past are never good company.

Characters: Rose and You! Closed option for [OU] John Ebert
Setting: Floor 81; All around the tower; Dormitory level for closed option.
Format: I'll follow!
Summary: Event Catch All
Warnings: Talks of death. Will be updated with more as needed.

A August 12; Evening; Floor 81

It had been a little difficult listening to the three shadows following her. But she knew they weren't real. They were just something the tower cooked up. Just something to try and torture them more. They were nothing. And it had helped to talk to two of her best friends - two whom the shadows were claiming were just fake. But she knew they weren't, and talking it out made things concrete.

But...well throughout the day, she started gathering more shadows. These ones didn't talk, but Rose was obviously wary of them. They would soon if they were anything like the three cackling behind her now. And she didn't need three more. She really didn't.

She spends most of the evening in the floor 81 lounge, ignoring them and instead staring at a map she received just a little while ago. Obviously watching her home be destroyed is a better way to spend her time.

B August 13; All Day; Around the tower.

Sure enough, they began talking, and it was harder to deal with them than it was the first three.

You're a terrible daughter, whispered her Other Father, a grin set on his shadowy face. Such a terrible girl couldn't be my Other Daughter. Leaving her father like that...

Why would you do that to me? Asked Luke. I thought we were adopted siblings! I don't want to be your brother anymore! It was hard listening to just those two, but soon more joined in.

Karkat, chiding about how she's a horrible moirail. What kind of moirail saves herself and leaves the other to die? To become nothing more than...this? Sollux going on about how he was right not to trust stupid humans. All they do is stab you in the back. Some best friend she turned out to be!

But...the worst was her mom. You never cared about me. It's not that you thought I could take care of myself, you didn't look because you just didn't care enough. You left me behind for Jack to slaughter, and now I can't even exist in dream bubbles. There's nothing left of me but a shadow.

Fate really is cruel, giving me a daughter like you.

Rose mumbled her apologies to them, listening to them rant about how sorry doesn't cut it. Apologies don't bring them back. They don't fix all the damage she's done. But even when she agrees, they still berate her, and so she tries to focus on something else. Anything else. Even her map keeps her more grounded than listening to them.

She can be found wandering the tower, in search of people to talk to or things to do. Maybe she's barely paying attention to a video game in the media room, or flipping through a book in one of the libraries but not really reading it. Maybe she's just staring at the fish in the aquarium, watching them enjoy their carefree life of eating each other and not having to worry about how they've let everyone they ever loved down. She's probably looking at her map again.

No matter what she's doing though, there's not a lot of spirit behind it. Her collar has gone from a bright violet to a sort of muted hot pink. The shadows are certainly working their magic.

C August 14 (Closed to [OU] John)

Her collar was getting dangerously baby pink now as she knocked on John's door, waiting for her fiance to answer. As hard as she tried to fight them, using people and things as distraction, her mom's words weighed heavy on her still. It seemed impossible to put the woman and the guilt out of her mind.

When there was no answer, she knocked again.

"...John? Hey I...could use some company." Still no answer and she gave up, turning around to lean against the wall and sit on the floor by the door instead. He'd have to come back eventually, and she was too tired to go try and find him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She'd expected to find John eventually but...not dead, being carried by the other John. So when she looked up to that sight, her breath caught in her throat. But instead of crying, or frowning or seeming even remotely upset, she just...sort of smiled.

In that "isn't life funny?" sort of way.

"...hey John."

"I didn't let them take him. It isn't fair. He doesn't deserve that." John was already blubbering and it hadn't even been but a moment that they had come face to face with one another. "I am so sorry, I let him die. I tried to get him help and I couldn't."

Frowning, she carefully pushed herself to her feet. She was trembling visibly, but didn't seem to care, instead making her way over to them. Once she was face to face with John, she hugged him. Them, since her fiance was still on his back.

"I-it's okay."

Rose doesn't look like she is much better off than John was, and that upsets him even more. Once she gets him into her arms he just begins crying again. Why does this happen. Why couldn't he save either of them? What if his own Dave was somewhere suffering?

"No it's not. I couldn't save him."

"You tried your best though..." Really...at least he tried. She had been more worried about her own problems to think about John until it was too late.

Just like with me came her mother's kind reminder.

"That's....that's what's important right now..."

"That isn't enough Rose. I could have took a faster route. I could have saved him. I could have made sure he didn't die. There was so much more I could have done and I just didn't do it. He seemed so scared and I don't know what he was scared of..."

He was nearly in a mental breakdown. Crying wasn't cutting it. He was snotty and it wasn't good at all. He doesn't know what more he can do at this point except for have a mental breakdown.

Rose didn't know what to say, to be honest. She wanted to repeat that it was okay. That everything was alright, but she knew it wasn't. Nothing in this tower could be considered alright, and having this much weight on your heart would never be alright. But...

"It's not completely your fault." At least this much is true. "If I had looked for him earlier...instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I could have helped. So it's just as much mine as it is yours." There. They could at least feel like shit together.

"We should sit down. I'm having a hard time standing, John..." She was really, really tired.

He doesn't know if he is okay right now. John is cold and lifeless on his back and he isn't in the mental state to even begin to think what would happen if Rose ended with the same fate right in front of him. It is nearly like losing everything he holds dear to him- and he couldn't just run to Dave right now.

"It's not your fault." No, stop. John was talking responsibility here.

"Not you too......" But he sits down.

"It is." She's thankful, sitting down as well. "He's my fiance...and I didn't go looking for him. I thought he would be okay on his own. I made a mistake I should have learned from years ago. One that if I hadn't made it, he'd at least be better off..." She couldn't say for certain that he wouldn't be dead, but...she knows he'd have had a better chance.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me, I'm just...tired."

"I don't think he would have wanted you to see him like this. He was in conflict until he passed. I don't even know what was bothering him so badly--it seemed like he was trying to protect me from it. Whatever it was." John finally lets his alternate self off of his back, and he's lifeless. It hurts to look at him like this.

It has John choking up again.

"But your collar."

"...can you hear them, John? The shadows? Do you have any following you?" Rose was certain that's what he was protecting himself from. Rose would too, if she could. But she wasn't sure it was possible...though if he didn't understand what was wrong then...maybe that meant he wasn't suffering the same fate.

"Don't mind my collar. It'll take a lot more than some clear fluid to kill me." It wouldn't take a lot to kill you at all, my dear, says her mother.

Yeah, it's pretty pathetic how weak you really are without all your magic to help you, comments her fiance.

"I can't hear them. Am I supposed to hear them?" Was that what was bothering John so much before he passed? Is that why he was so upset? John curses himself, he couldn't save his alternate self and he feels guilty for that.

"Can you hear them Rose? Is that why it's going clear?" He looked worried, concerned, downright upset.

"Mmm...I can. And that's probably why, yeah." She looks down, then back at the shadows, and then back to John. "That's....that's what was wrong."

"I don't think I can handle both of you dying. If I couldn't save John there is probably no way I could save you either." He has pretty much shut down at this point. He doesn't know what to do. He isn't thinking clearly. He was protecting his alternate self from the robots who were going to bring him back.

John was a literal mess.

"That's not true." She frowns a little and then, with some effort, stands up. Leaning against the wall, she holds out her hand. "Come on. Let's go somewhere more comfortable." And maybe a little warmer, or full of people.

Because you're definitely a people person, aren't you sis?

"What should we do with John?" He doesn't want to leave him here. But he also realizes that if he doesn't let him go eventually. Then he won't be able to come back at a later date. The decision is painful and he isn't really wanting to let him go at this point.

But he has to save Rose. He needs to keep her company and talk to her and amke sure she doesn't pass away as well.

Ghosts of the past are never good company.

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