((A note before reading. Many of the characters have 'typing quirks' which identify them within the homestuck universe. Please don't take them as typing errors as they are there on purpose. Thank you!))
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He crossed his hands over the top of his poleaxe. He was tired, so much fighting within the days that had passed and so many corrupt dreams. Able to see people's dreams was his specialty. As Thief of Dreams he knew how to manipulate them and use them to his will. He adjusted the collar of his shirt, sliding lazily down his nose, but gave up letting it fall around his neck. He sighed heavily, letting his head flop in front of him. He missed her, missed her every damn moment in this hell of a life. Now he was going to the other side, to the world he helped create, without her. It made him furious every moment her death flashed through is mind. The shock on her face, the empty void blasted through her. It was like that hole blasted the connection between them starting a chain reaction leaving him with a hole of his own. A hole no one could see.
"MATHIS, IT'S TIME TO GO." A voice pierced his anger. Usually that voice was filled with malice and anger of its own, chastising people for doing what it was he was going now; being weak. But there was a sadness that covered his words, pity. How Mathis hated pity now. Hated being seen as weak, not being taken seriously. They didn't know how strong he could be. "MATHIS?"
Mathis turned and stared Karkat straight in his yellow eyes. He could see everything within them, all his dreams and nightmares. He was still afraid of Gamzee's rage, of Eridan's murder spree. Mathis turned away again. "Yeah... Sure... I'm coming..." He stood, captchalogging his pole axe, not wanting to carry it. Unfurling his ice blue wings, their miniature scales reflecting the light around them, he pulled the dark purple hood over his head, buttoning it around his horns and pulled up his collar. Only his eyes were visible and the fringe of his hair sticking below his hood. Karkat gave him a worried look, completely unlike his usual character. "Getting emotional for once, Vantas..." He stiffened wiping the pity from his face.
"LIKE HELL I AM, FARRIN. JUST GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER AND GET YOUR NOOKSUCKING ASS OUT HERE!"
There we go. That's more like the Karkat he knew. Karkat stalked from the doorway, raging his way onto the transportalizer at the end of the hall. Mathis smiled, he enjoyed it when he pissed other people off. He never knew why people's anger always made him laugh, or at least it it has since she died. With that Mathis pushed off the ground and flew off to the meeting point.
Mathis used to use the transportalizers to get around, but not since he reached God Tier and fully embraced his role as the Thief of Dreams. Now he was barely out of it and never looked anyone in the eye unless he wanted to. Eyes are gateways; they're the entrances that allow him to see that person's hopes and dreams. Their dreams can be so powerful, so useful, to torment them with and use their every living fear and nightmare to mess with them. He loved it.
Landing on the roof of the facility Mathis joined up with the rest of the group. Terezi gave him an excited wave and bounced over to him. "H3Y M4TH1S! 1SN'T TH1S 3X1T1NG? W3LL B3 M33T1NG UP W1TH TH0S3 HUM4NS N0W!" She sniffed him. "Y0U N33D T0 G3T 0UT 0F TH4T G0D T13R 0UTF1T 0NC3 1N 4 WH1L3. Y0U SM3LL L1K3 GR4P3S. >:[ "
"I'm fine like this Ter... I don't need to change..."
">:[ 0K4Y, BUT 1 ST1LL TH1NK Y0U SH0ULD." She paused for a moment hand on her chin. "0H, TH4T R3M1NDS M3, S0LLUX W4NT3D T0 S33 Y0U F0R 4 S3C! Y0U SH0ULD G0 TH3R3 N0W."
"Alright..." He never understood Terezi and her talent for smelling things. It was strange and it didn't help his distaste that Sollux was getting into those habits now that he was newly blind like Terezi. So it wasn't a surprise to him that Sollux was able to sense him before getting to him, though not as far or as well as Terezi could.
"MM? Am I right?" Sollux asked, his once red and blue eyes now black pits. Mathis couldn't see into his mind as easily as any of the other trolls. Guess the absence of eyes makes the connection to that part of their mind, their soul, harder to make.
"Correct... Your getting better at that crap... Won't be able to sneak up on you anymore, Sol..."
Sollux smirked, "Heh, I guess y0ur right."
"You wanted to see me..."
"0h, yes. I've been thinking since y0ur g0d tier p0wers all0w y0u t0 create thing 0ut 0f what we think 0f, maybe y0u c0uld make us s0me weap0ns. 0r maybe an alchemizer, s0mething t0 help us." He looked hopefully in Mathis' general direction.
"It doesn't work that way... I might be able to take things that you think of to use but I doubt that anyone other than me can use them..."
"Have y0u even tried t0 give anything t0 any0ne else?" Sollux asked. He was right, Mathis had never tried giving anything he created to anyone else, then again he never thought about it. Plus every object or illusion did disappear after a while, usually only until after they had been used for their purpose.
Mathis rubbed the black bracers on his arms nervously. "Well, no..."
"There y0u g0 then. Y0u do0n't kn0w that it w0nt w0rk. F0r all y0u kn0w it will."
"Your optimism is disgusting..."
"Y0ur pessimism makes y0u s0und like Equius." Mathis friendly punched Sollux in the shoulder.
"Shut up, I am not like Eq..."
"Y0u c0uld have f00led me." He smirked and let out a breathy laugh, though Mathis wasn't smiling. Not too long ago Equius was killed in Gamzee's rampage and it's true in previous times Mathis would have loathed being compared to the hemospectrum obsessed burly troll, but now he wasn't sure. Since her death and his ascension to God Tier Mathis had become more concerned with his position. His lowly position as just an outlet, a source for creation, a goddamn weapons factory, he hated it. With a single look he could throw each and every one of them into their own personal hell created out of their own nightmares. A hell they technically created, and he just released. Mathis hated how Karkat, a troll who's blood color put him off the hemospectrum, was the leader of this ragged band of survivors. He was weak to Mathis and, if going by the hemospectrum, Gamzee should technically be in charge with his high purple blood; but not even Mathis was dumb enough to put Gamzee in charge. Gamzee was volatile now. He could fly off the handle at any moment even with his moirail, Karkat, to keep him in check. Continuing to go by hemospectrum, Mathis would be next. His light-blue blood putting him above Terezi with her teal blood and Kanaya, who was lower that Terezi with her jade green blood. Sollux was next with his mustard yellow blood and lastly the 'oh-so-great-and-powerful-leader' Karkat. His blood was bright red, which was mutant in troll society placing him below the low peasantry's red blood, such as Aradia's, and technically off the hemospectrum entirely. Equius could never usurp the 'great leader' as he had the strange fetish of being ordered around by low bloods, but Mathis never had such a problem. He could take Karkat out of his quaint little seat of power any time he wanted to, not out of obsession of order or class but because of Karkat's lack of strength or power. He might have acted tough but he was helpless in the face of fear and the threat of death by the hands of people he cared for. Mathis had fought him once during the course of their adventures when Mathis had taunted him about his own skills and his rather nubby horns. Mathis almost beat him if it wasn't for Equius getting involved in his fight. Karkat wasn't fit for the role of 'fearless leader' if he cannot be fearless in the face of fear.
"So what exactly do you want me to conjure up..." Mathis asked pensively, "Also who did you want me to get it from, they won't exactly like it... The process might bring some things out if it's complicated enough..."
Sollux turned to him, or at least where Mathis thought Sollux believed he was. "Well, maybe y0u c0uld try s0mething familiar first. S0mething that w0uld be easier f0r y0u t0 get with limited repercussi0ns."
"So something like a pole axe..."
"Yes that w0uld w0rk."
"And on who..."
"Me."
"You can't be serious..." Mathis scoffed. "I know you want to help and all but, you're blind... I still can't see a whole lot into you, I mean..." He rubbed his forehead pushing the hood from his head, the buttons securing it around his horns easily sliding from their fastenings allowing it to fall from his head. Running a hand through his raven hair he looked to Sollux. His face was unchanged, though it was hard to tell. "You're completely serious aren't you..."
"0ne hundred percent."
Mathis pulled his hood back over his head, fastening the buttons that secured it around his horns. "Alright, but I make no promises that it'll work with you or, if it does work, the repercussions that it'll bring..."
"I think I understand MM."
"But one last thing..."
"What?"
"Don't call me MM..."
Sollux gave a wily grin. "Sure thing Mathis."
After alerting all the others to Sollux's wild plan, they circled around Mathis and Sollux like spectators at a procession. Sollux stood across from Mathis, his unseeing eyes helpfully pointed towards Mathis by Karkat. Excited whispers flew through the air, some of skepticism and others of wonder. Karkat, Gamzee and Terezi were to Mathis' left, Terezi eagerly gabbing off to Karkat who only looked more annoyed with every word that she spoke which was quite normal for him. To his right was Kanaya and Deyria, Mathis' orange-blooded friend--and also the only other troll left who has reached God Tier--was notorious for showing up late and today was no exception. She whispered to Kanaya, whom she wasn't all to pleased to talk to at all since Kanaya was the one who killed her matesprit, Eridan. Mathis was surprised that Deyria was even willing to talk to Kanaya. Deyria caught Mathis' gaze and gave him a little wave before engaging Kanaya again in their awkward conversation. Looking back to Sollux, Mathis steadied his breath. As easy as it was for him to access the mind of any person, Sollux was a new challenge for him.
"Alright then Sol don't move, it's hard enough not having a window to see through let alone if it moves..."
"Sure." He said agreeably. Mathis took a deep breath and placed his grey hands on either side of Sollux's head. "Heh, y0u tell me t0 stay still and y0--"
"Shut up..." Mathis needed to concentrate and didn't need Sollux's wit to distract him. He continued to stare into Sollux's eyes; if Eridan was still alive he wouldn't put it past him to interject some quip about quadrants and how they were in one together. That would have pissed Mathis off. He disregarded that though and continued to stare into Sollux's eyes. Admittedly Mathis did feel rather silly doing this but he knew what to do and it unfortunately required this. Mathis' gaze remained locked with Sollux's for what seemed like an eternity, and then he began to see things. They began as dark swirls that seemed almost like reflections against his eyes, then they began to form shapes, figures, memories. Dreams are most heavily connected with memories, but they always end up changing. Mathis could see that the figures within Sollux's eyes were reenacting an event; it was her death. Mathis moved quickly to change what he was seeing, "Sol now! Think of it now!" The swirls seemed to be washed away like sand being disturbed on a table reforming itself into another shape, the simple shape of a pole axe. Mathis violently shoved Sollux away and stuck out his right arm, fingers splayed, where a similar black mist formed the perfect shape of that of a poleaxe.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR FARRIN? PUSHING A BLIND GUY WHO WAS GODDAMN HELPING YOU?"
"Karkat..."
"I MEAN WHAT THE HELL! YOU DON'T DO THAT SORT OF THING!"
"Karkat..."
"HE COULD HAVE GOTTEN HURT OR SOMETHING WHEN YOU WENT AND PULLED THAT STUNT!"
"Shut up Karkat!" Mathis yelled swinging the poleaxe as his whirled to face the raging troll. A back dust seemed to come off the weapon as Mathis moved it. His face dropped into one of sadness and regret. "Oh no... I knew this might happen..." Sollux propped himself up on his elbows from where he fell.
"What's g0ing 0n guys? Did it w0rk?"
"Yeah..." Mathis swallowed, his brows twisting in the pain of the past. "Yeah it worked..." His voice wavered as the dust seemed to form the faintest silhouette of a person.
"It happened didn't it Mathis. Things came with it 0ut 0f my mind."
The silhouette was faint but he knew who it was. Her long hair, the slight curve to her horns, the way she always smiled at him. His hands curled into tight fists and his jaw clenched. "Yeah Sol..."
The nearly featureless face she had turned to look at him and smiled. ")(i Mat)(is." Her voice echoed through the room and tormented every fiber of his being.
"Feferi?" Sollux's eyes widened in sorrow filled awe at the sound of her voice.
"Mat)(is, you krilled me Mat)(is." Feferi said in a mockingly happy tone. "You krilled me and it's all your fault. 38)"
"Fef is that y0u? Y0ur alive?" Sollux began to unsteadily get to his feet and stagger over to where he heard or maybe smelled where he believed Feferi to be, his arms waving around in front of him. Mathis' face dropped and his features hardened. His gaze grew cold again as he raised the poleaxe over his left shoulder and slashed it across the apparition of Feferi. Sollux's hands groped around at thin air and pale yellow tears began to trace down his cheeks.
"Fef's dead Sol... Has been for a while now..." Mathis said somberly. Kanaya was the first of the others to move, heading over to Sollux to console him. Since Feferi's death Kanaya had pretty much become his moirail, looking out for him and helping him with his new blindness with the help of Terezi of course. Mathis turned to Karkat, gaping at the scene just past, and tossed the poleaxe at him. Karkat fumbled trying to catch it, ultimately dropping it. "Pick it up nubby horns... Need to see if you actually can..." For once Karakt was actually speechless and complied to Mathis' prompt. As soon as his hand touched the smooth surface of the wood, Mathis was sure it would disintegrate in his grip, nothing happened. He picked it up like any weapon that he might use. Though the poleaxe would be useless to anyone else but Mathis--well except possibly Gamzee and his odd jokerKind Strife Specibus which allowed him to use almost any weapon type--as most of the trolls specialized in other weaponry. "We should get going..." Mathis suggested as he began to walk off. "And don't expect me to make more of those, or complain that it disappeared..."
"Mathis, What Was That?" Kanaya asked as Mathis walked away. He looked over his shoulder, his own yellow eye meeting hers. He may be the Thief of Dreams but he wasn't below being tormented by his own apparitions, especially if they had a connection to him.
"A nightmare..." He just wanted to leave now. He was tired and done with all of this. Pale blue tears slipped down his cheeks and soaked his collar.
Hours of darkness and travel skewed Mathis' mind. It was confusing and stressful but he was glad it was over. Surprisingly when reaching the meeting placed with the humans and their scratched game, a troll Mathis had thought died was actually alive. Aradia, powerful psychic and former robot girl, was now God Tier and rather peppy than her former mood of dour funeral mistress. Mathis had barely said a word during their travels and wasn't about to say much now. Deyria on the other hand was being as chatty as possible with her equally chatty moirail, Terezi. Mathis had his back to the trolls; he was more intent on looking to the four humans that stood a bit apart from the trolls, two boys and two girls. Mathis hadn't talked much to the humans but had talked to the one named John who he was informed to be the black haired boy. The only reason he talked to him was because he found one of the memos Mathis was in on and began to talk with them. How he managed to find the time to do so in his time stream was beyond him. The other humans were different in their own ways. The Jade human looked a lot like the John human, same black hair and same stupid teeth. She reminded Mathis of Feferi, her overbearing love for everyone and her kindness. He appreciated it but it made his heart ache, so he attempted to stay away from her as much as possible. The other two, Rose and Dave, also looked similar. Both had blonde hair and serious faces with the air of highness among themselves. Rose he didn't mind, she was serious and had darkness about her but she was never overbearing and generally kept to herself or her compatriots. Dave, however, irked him. It might have been his high sense of self that he always kept using his crappy human sarcasm and irony. Maybe it was how he seemed to not give a shit about anything. But Mathis was almost entirely sure that it was because he couldn't see Dave's eyes. He wore, what Mathis assumed, were called 'sunglasses' but technically had no use for them at all except for purely ironic purposes. It annoyed him to no end.
John noticed his looking, waved and was the first one to come over. "Hey, you're one of the trolls."
"No I'm a magical fairy who traverses doomed SGRUB/SBURB games..."
"Sorry that was a bit of a stupid first line. Umm, I have to ask which one of you is Karkat?" He asked, a stupid grin on his face. Mathis looked over his shoulder to the trolls behind him.
"He's the one with the nubby horns and the leader complex..."
"I HEARD THAT FARRIN! MY HORNS AREN'T NUBBY!"
"Whatever you want to believe, Kar... That would be him..." Mathis mused as he turned back to face John. He looked over Mathis' head and then looked back to him. "Thanks!" He began to move off, for which Mathis was glad, but stopped looking back to him. "I never asked your name."
"Mathis... We talked once before in a memo... I was--"
"pickleDictator, right?"
Mathis smirked. His chumhandle always made him smirk. It was the most random handle ever but he loved the way it sounded. "Yes... That is I..."
John smiled, "It's good to meet you finally!"
"Yeah..." Mathis wasn't sure what to think about John, now finally meeting him. He was definitely random and quite the odd ball. Though Mathis did have to applaud the kid for being the only one in his group to ascend to God Tier. Though Rose's Grimdark powers could rival that of a God Tier.
Kanaya walked past, heading towards the dwindling group of humans. She approached the Rose human and began to converse. Rose looked utterly bored with the entire situation but Kanaya looked pleased as grub sauce. Everyone was getting along so well, he hated it. He should be happy for all of them ,trolls and humans, for surviving the hell of a game that they were being put through. Mathis just felt as if he was beign played. Evryone was getting all the good cards and he was just being dealt joker after joker in an evil card game out to get him. And the game was winning.His home, his life, ... his love. All of it snatched away by this mnic game of strife. It had taken everything from him but his own life and that of his moirails, Deyria.
He brought his knees to his chest, flopping his head against them. He wanted to dissappear in his own mind, to be taken away from it all. He didn't notice that the humans had ll converged with the trolls and that he was now facing emptyness. A similar emptyness that sat in the center of his soul and corrupted him.
A soft thunk sounded beside him. Mathis reluctantly turned to see who his visitor was. Of course, as his luck would have, it was the one person he really did not want to talk to at all in any scheme of time or timeline whatsoever. "I thought you'd be gushing over things with your new gal pal Ter..."
Dave gave what Mathis guessed was a 'are you serious' look adn said, "Nah, already talked to her and the others. Your just the only one left." Mathis turned his head away, returning to stare at the open emptyness of nothing. "You seem like a pretty sad scak just sitting here."
"Whatever's bothering me is none of your human concern... And I don't need your pitty..."
"Hey I'm just sticking out for a bro."
"You don't even know me... You don't know anything of what I've been through..." Mathis stood with a surge of raging energy. Dave scoffed at Mathis' attitude.
"What? Did your girlfriend dump you or something?" This set Mathis off. He trandformed into his God Tier outfit, ice blue luna moth wings unfurling. Dave seemed to be completely cool with Mathis' entire blow out and just stood and grinned like he was watching a wriggler get angry over something completely stupid. "You look like some sort of wannabe ninja for a grape orchard." Small bursts of laughter surrounded each word he spoke, and all Mathis could think of was ripping his heart out.
"Say that again and I swear I'll let you se hell..." Silence had come over the group to his left. Karkat had stepped forward, hands outstretched as if to calm Mathis. Not this time.
"DAVE... DON'T PROVOKE HIM, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HE CAN DO."
Dave scoffed,"Naw, I got this. I can take on a distraught God Tier. I mean I could beat up Egbert even if he's God Tier. Isn't that right?"
"Yep." Mused John.
"See? I'm fine. So, moon boy," He said, poking the silver symbol of his title that adorned his chest. "what are ya brooding over? It can't be that terrible, loosing a girlfriend and all. There's plenty of fish in the sea who will be grabbing for you in --" Mathis grabbed Dave's shirt collar and ripped the stupidly ironic sunglasses off his face. He stared straight inot his flame red eyes and could see everything. He released Dave, still holding his gaze, and took a few steps back as Dave was surounded by black sandy mist. Daves eyes seemed to not be able to see anything, but his face told another story. His eyes widened and his pupils shrunk to pinpoints. His hands shook where they humg at his sides. His usual cool demeanor and air of confidence was completely gone. Putting his hands on the side of his head he began to whimper at whatever he was hearing, and sunk to his knees.
"M4TH1S ST0P!! ST0P 1T!!" Terezi screamed. Her glasses skewed themselves, pure red eyes filled with emotion and love paler than the color of her eyes. Teal tears streamed from her cherry eyes; quite a contrast, the red and the blue. Mathis turned his head to Terezi, images dancing within her red eyes.
"I'm not doing anything... He's letting his own mind get to him..."
"TH4TS N0T WH4T 1 ME4N!! ST0P M4K1NG H1M S33 TH3M!!!"
He looked away "Only he can stop the own crap that comes from his mind..."
"Y0U B4ST4RD!" She charged towards Mathis but was stopped by Deyria's arms wrapping around her chest. Terezi thrashed against her kismeisis's grasp trying to reach her tormented moirail.
"ClaM DowN YoU CrazY TrolL!! He'lL MesS yoU UP ToO IF YoU GO OveR TherE!" She struggled to get out to Terezi. She soon gave up and flopped against the arms of her kismeisis.
Dave had crumpled onto the ground his head on his knees, and he was screaming. Shrill cries of pain and sadness, of regret and being forced to believe he was the cause of that particular follie. Mathis stared at him, rage burning within him, his face unchanged.
Soft hands traced the sides of his cheeks, lips touched his forehead. The fresh smell of seawater curled around him. His eyes widened his guard dropped and the black cloud around Dave dissapeared. He flopped over and Terezi ran for Dave, released by her kismeisis. Mathis was stock still, this was no memory of Dave's come to plague him. He was almost certain Dave had never even had contact with Feferi let alone see her. He closed his eyes and leaned his head forward to touch the smooth side of the dream bubble that had floated past in his concentration. Dream bubbles could hold the spirits of the dead and, of course where the remaining trolls could dream after Prospit and Derse, the moons that they sued to dream on, were destroyed.
"Mat)(is, w)(y are you doing t)(is?" Sorrow laced her bubbly voice, a change from how she had treated everyday things when she was alive.
"Dave was talking bad about you... He provoked me..." His voice quavered and he lifted his head to look into the bubble. She was just as beautiful as he remembered her to be. Her long black hair that always smelled of the sea and the many colorful things she adorned herself with. "I miss you so much Fef..." She smiled a little.
"I miss you too Mat)(is. But you can't do t)(ese t)(ings. Shore I'm not around anymore, but you're better t)(an t)(is. I know it."
"But.. I..."
"She tapped his nose "No 'buts' Mat)(is." She leaned forward and huged him, "Don't let your rage consume you like t)(at. You'll end up just like Eridan if you do." Leaning back she took the golden tiara that, past the color of her royal blood, signified her places as the Empress to be, and held it in her outstretched hand. "Take t)(is."
"Fef,I-I can't..."
"Yes you can. You're t)(e T)(ief of Dreams aren't you? You can take objects out of )(ere." Mathis paused and looked to the tiara, picking it up in his hand. There was a little resistance as he pulled it from the bubble, but it remained intact. No black dust on it. It was pure, unlike the may objects he had pulled from the eyes of others. A thought occured to him.
"Fef I could get you out! I could pull you from the bubble like I did this." He said gesturing to the tiara. But she shook her head.
"You can't. Objects are different t)(an souls. They don't need somet)(ing to keep t)(em grounded, but a soul does." Hot tears began to stream down his face. He tried to rub away the tears but he couldn't.
"It's just not fair, Fef.."
"I know." She placed her hands on his shoulders, pushing him back ever so slightly. "But you can always come and sea me w)(en you dream." She smiled her usual peppy smile and kissed his forehead again. "I love you Mat)(is." And then she was gone, the bubble had moved on. He could follow it, but he knew he shouldn't both in that he would get lost in the blackness and a sense that he didn't need to.
A hand touched his arm, Deyria was there. Mathis gave a tennative smile to his moirail. "ArE YoU OkaY MathiS?" She asked.
He paused, looked down at feferi's golden tiara, as solid as any normal object, and smiled. "Yeah. Yeah I am now..."
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