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Part 23 of Three Hundred And Sixty Five Ficlets About Homestuck , Part 1 of The Four Thrones
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2021-01-23
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2021-05-10
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36/?
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The Four Thrones

Chapter Text

There was nobody left outside. Nobody of note, anyway. Everyone that could've been watching besides those involved had retreated, to the inn, to their homes, to whatever building could hold them. These were simple individuals, who lived quiet lives in the mountain town - living, breathing, eating, playing, working. The gun at the center of Alekhine hadn't been fired in a very long time, and yet, the air felt like it was ready to ignite the wick on its lonesome, filled with a sort of unbridled pain and tension that hadn't been witnessed in generations. Children had to be held back from observing the singing sounds of steel against steel, aunt against nephew. At the door to the inn, Roxy Lalonde stared forward blankly, clutching the door frame with both hands while her assistant helped with the food of the worried masses sheltering from the combat and the rainstorm.

There was no way for the untrained eye to watch two of the Queen's Siblings dueling against each other. Such combat wasn't exactly unheard of in the lower pits of the Queen of Derse's fortress, where the devils chattered among themselves in amusement and the Brothers trained within their eyesight. Ancient superstition, believing that the devils bearing witness to your blood being shed pleased them enough to share more of their strength with you. In the colosseums and dungeons, frequently, David E. Strider would fail attempt after attempt, his body refusing the violence that was enacted upon him. He wasn't able to perform the mercury step with the same level of skill or expertise as his Brother, and so he was thrown against the brick and the rock, again and again.

There was no questioning today of the brutal efficacy of his methods.

Blink and you'll miss him, David E. Strider landed next to the gun, kicking up dirt, and vanishing without a trace. Landed on a nearby brick wall only to disappear a moment later. For a moment, you could see him, locking blades with Sister Strider in a thin clatter of metal versus metal, and the two of them vanished again. The other one, the shorter of the two, the new Brother Strider, idly guarded Karkat, their insurance policy for any foul play. He looked around, quietly, and then leaned against the gigantic cannon, keeping his sword held roughly at the level of Karkat's throat. "So. I bet you don't have much luck with the ladies, do you, Brother Strider?" Karkat growled, resisting the urge to kick at the man with the lethal weapon's shins.

"I like men." Brother Strider replied, matter of factly, his blade not budging one way or the other.

"I bet you don't have much luck with the men, do you, Brother Strider?" Karkat immediately repeated. Brother Strider tilted the angle of his blade just a little bit more, so it was held just a hair closer to Karkat's neck, not moving the slightest inch even in the steady drizzle of rain soaking the two.

"No, I don't." Brother Strider answered, his voice at the exact same intonation and volume as it was with his prior sentence, to an almost unnerving degree. Karkat got a good chuckle out of that one, at least, until the angle of the blade pushed a little more into his neck, threatening to give him the closest possible shave a sentient could receive in their entire lifetime. "Do you have any more asinine comments or will I have to cut your throat to make it stop making those little pissant squeals you call "insults", child?"

"Child? I'm probably older than you! How dare you talk down to me like that you little gnat, I'll gnaw your ankles off!" Karkat roared impotently against the backdrop of clashing steel, before a sudden press of cold metal against his throat caused his mouth to squeak shut.

"You probably are, and no you will not." Brother Strider replied.

"You can't be older than, what, 14? 15? You've barely got a lick of peach fuzz, you puny little caterpillar! I'll shave what's there along with the rest of your skin." Karkat continued, seemingly undeterred from his incredibly unwise decisions in the moments in which Brother Strider was not actively attempting to press the edge a little bit closer.

"Eh, close enough." Brother Strider said.

There was a loud CRAK in the air, and a terrified voice shouting "Jade!", and Brother Strider looked down to watch as blood pooled against his leathers from a fresh, sudden new wound that had opened up in his side. The sound preceding it was entirely foreign, completely unlike anything anyone had heard outside of John in the little moments of fleeting childhood memory when dignitaries from the edge of Prospit brought back their strange and marvelous fireworks. It was the sound of the sky splitting open, carving a path through raindrops towards the enemy until it bit like a snake, the sound of a rock being cracked in two by a hammer blow, the sound of a very small lead sphere being propelled at very high velocities towards a royal assassin in training.

"Cover me!" Jade yelled, more than loud enough for the group to hear, while Brother Strider angrily retracted his blade from Karkat's throat only to immediately donkey kick him in the head, stunning him long enough that he could vanish into a spray of dust and mud without interception. It was organized chaos in the streets, the sound of swords clashing vanishing shut for a moment while a presence collected itself behind Jade Harley, bearing down on her with all the malicious force several decades of experience and a very sharp sword could bring. John was quick on the draw, but not as fast as Dave, muscling them out of the way and blocking Sister Strider's assault.

"I told you two to run and not get involved and this is how you pay me back? Truly, the worst of friends. I specifically requested the opposite of this!" Dave grunted through grit teeth, struggling to handle the strength of Sister Strider's sword swipes, even as she swung with only a single hand. John twisted around and swung their hammer towards her, striking one of the stone bricks in the tight alleyway with a loud, crackling chime when she vanished out of the way, while Jade desperately used a thin metal rod to stuff something down her hand-cannon, panting heavily. Dave and John twisted around each other, ducking to avoid each other's swings as Brother Strider and Sister Strider approached from both sides, from above, from below, swiping at ankles and feet with a dizzying amount of coordination.

"Oh, Nephew, you didn't tell us you had friends!" Sister Strider taunted from above, kicking off the wooden wall to aim the tip of her blade directly at John, scoring a perfect strike through the tiniest sliver of armor. John let out a loud, harsh wail while Jade's hyperventilation and frantic motion only grew more intense, Dave blocking the much slower Brother Strider's movements with relative ease. "And what's this she's got there, a cannon? How devilish, bringing a cannon to a swordfight, that's not in the rules!"

"Blow it out your arse!" Jade shrieked, swinging the butt of her hand-cannon towards Sister Strider while John grabbed her blade and pulled it closer, further into themselves, tugging her just off-course enough for Jade to actually land a solid blow on Sister Strider's hip, before she kicked off of John's torso and disappeared, ripping her sword out of John in the process with a spray of blood. Dave forced Brother Strider back with a heavy shove, only missing the follow-up vertical slash by a sudden kick to the face via an interceding Sister Strider, Jade quickly returning to loading her strange weapon. "John, are you okay?"

"I've had worse!" John roared, beating their chest with both hands, a loud rancour of metal on metal scraping through the air. Dave slid back several feet, stumbling left and right before vanishing with another perfectly executed mercury step, arriving immediately behind Brother Strider to kick him in the back and then vanishing again. Sister Strider took half a second to land on the ground, glowering at John with a sense of palpable malice and mercury stepping away. John swung over Jade's head while she ducked down, hard, hitting one of Brother Strider's ribs with a loud crack, his fresh wound spraying a new burst of blood in the process as he fell over onto his side, gripping his torso.

For once, John was the one doing the looming, pointing their new hammer Brother Strider-ward, a completely spoken threat. "Get out, and do not come back."

"Go blind and die." Brother Strider replied as he snapped his fingers, a bright white flare enveloping the alleyway, searing John's eyesight, destroying their hearing.

The only senses that functioned were auxiliary ones generally considered by many to be not very useful in the art of aiming at a moving opponent, or indeed, aiming at an opponent at all, if you were a human with a relatively insensitive nose structure. It was not made at all better by the fact that the rain had since become a torrential downpour, soaking the flattened dirt into deep, muddy wells and removing all scent other than rain and salt, drenching John's clothing, seeping into their armor, into their bone and soul. So cold, the sinuses clogged, rendering the sense of taste impotent.

All that was left was John's sense of touch, and it told them this;

John had just been skewered through the stomach, likely by Brother Strider's blade. John was moving backwards, trying to resist motion by planting their feet firmly into the muddy ground, slid further with someone's hand on their chest. Something about this all made John blisteringly angry, and their mouth began to move with muscle memory, their throat producing the vibrations indicative of one saying something important but without gifting the knowledge of what John was saying to their own brain. John felt a warm, then very cold pain blooming through their torso as the hard object lodged in it was removed, and then placed back inside them in another location, making that a total of three holes in their torso they had developed, followed quickly by a fourth.

John's eyes swam. Blindly, they reached out, grabbing the blade of Brother Strider's sword, and uttered something that they didn't need hearing to understand.

"AMEN!" They shouted, feeling the sword immediately snap into two pieces at their grip, grabbing the shard of blade embedded inside them, yanking it out, and smashing it against the nearby wall as their eyesight and hearing slowly recovered. Their vision swam, their fingers crackling with some sort of bright light, thunderous electricity, the shard of metal beginning to glow red, then white hot in their hand. A memory from long ago, when watching fireworks and being read holy scrolls by their Father in the courtyard, while everyone else enjoyed festivities, grapes, apples, wine.

"Jade, get down!" John yelled, Brother Strider backing away slowly in shock, staring at his sword. "Ancest'rs, descendants, twin moons above, i pray thee to bring thunder and light to this downpour, to split the sky till sunlight shines down on mine enemies." John murmured, slowly gaining in volume to a fever pitch, gripping the burning metal like it was lifeblood. Brother Strider looked at him with a mixture of awe and fear, his feet digging into the ground. John's arm reared back like they were preparing to throw a shot put at a contest, squeezing tight the bolt of broken sword until it hurt, it sizzled, and it evaporated the falling raindrops before they could even touch John's hand.

The mercury step is a devilish technique developed and utilized almost exclusively by the Dersite Brothers, allowing them to move and react at speeds almost completely imperceptible to the naked eye via the channeling of mana through one's limbs. While, most assuredly, any individual in touch with their magical energy and capable of putting in the effort would be able to perform the mercury step, the unique constitution of a Dersite court member is almost required to do so with any adequacy, lest you drain your whole body's reserves in four or five movements at most. Instead, through this process, the Dersite Brother burns only years of their lives, approximately one and a half days per mercury step, their signed contracts hanging in the deepest recesses of the Dersite fortresses twitching and thrumming like a heartbeat with every one performed. And sure, some Dersites who would like to live a hale and healthy life may be willing to temper this with some of their own energy, but only those not so single-mindedly focused on the Queen's duties that they would be willing to throw anything away, including their lives, for her sake.

The mercury step was fast, true, but it was not faster than lightning.

"AMEN!"

There was another loud crack, and a second burst of light and noise, but with it, heat, dizzying and enveloping, flash-evaporating every raindrop it touched into steam in a loud burst of radiating energy. For almost half a second, anyone watching could see the firm, searing bolt of lightning loosed from John's hand, piercing through Brother Strider's body like a blade, exting out the other end, and then continuing forward to punch several holes in various buildings in its path before dispersing into molten metal somewhere about half a mile away. John's hand fizzed with cooling water washing over it as the rest of the rain continued its relentless onslaught with no more lightning-heat to keep it away. Brother Strider bent over, caught mid-mecury step, falling over onto his knees as he gripped his broken ribs and the new cauterized puncture wound he was wearing.

John bent down to match, buckling onto one knee, grinning like a maniac as water washed over their new glasses, without which they would have no chance of aiming such a perfect shot, especially not with whatever sort of devilry had resulted in their temporary blinding. Jade, having finally managed to reload her waterlogged hand-cannon, aimed it directly at Brother Strider's head. "If you try to move, I will not hesitate to put a cannonball through your skull." She threatened with the same level of casualness one would offer one a scone with, except with perhaps a bit more hyperventilation, chattering of the teeth, Jade's heartbeat singing in her ears like the spasmodic beating of a war drum.

There was a skidding to a halt of Sister Strider's feet planted firmly in the mud, easily holding off Dave's half-flamberge with a single hand while her fingers undulated like the tendrils of an octopus, some kind of somatic component not entirely dissimilar from the vocalizations necessary for John's holy magic. Her other hand worked to idly press Dave into the ground, years of experience and training trumping Dave's meagre, if well-developed skills, the way every little motion of her body went into digging Dave deeper into the mud. Her fingers splayed out, and then clenched up into a fist, and she vanished, immediately appearing in front of Jade with her sword bared and brows furrowed, eyes shut.

Jade fired on instinct, and there was a loud clink as the bullet hit steel, chipping off a shard of the edge of Sister Strider's sword while the bullet itself vanished, splitting in two and kicking up two splatters of dirt closer to Karkat than anyone else. "Go." She snarled, and Brother Strider took the opportunity to leap out of harm's way, jabbing his broken sword into the edge of the inn's wooden walls and propelling himself onto the roof. He knelt down once more, grasping for his sides while Sister Strider gestured her blade towards Jade and John. "You two… I don't know who you are, but you've made powerful enemies this day."

John tried to stand up, so they could say something heroic and snarky and sure to get her to drop her defenses, but they were losing blood rapidly from four new holes in their body, soaking through their clothes, and their hand burnt, it hurt so badly. It was all they could do to grip at their own hair, bow down, and begin chanting a song of healing. It was all they could do. Jade remained silent, with much more intent than John's bravado'd posturing.

Sister Strider whirled around on her heel, putting her angle between Jade and Dave to avoid being blindsided while pointing the tip of her sword towards Dave. "As for you, dearest Nephew… We'll be in touch." She threatened, sheathing her blade and vanishing onto the rooftops with Brother Strider. She slipped her arm underneath his, around his back, propping him up, and the two of them disappeared into the dark, rainy night.

"Gods almighty…" Dave mumbled, dashing over to John while Jade brought up their side, both of John's traveling companions reaching underneath them to help prop them up. A little bit of healing magic had sealed up the worst of the wounds, yes, but John was still woozy, light-headed, drifting from side to side as they stumbled through the mud. "You two are absolute fucking idiots. I just want you to know that."

"We're idiots who saved your life, so you can kiss my arse." John drunkenly slurred. "Jade, get me to the… fffffucking inn so I can pass out on a bed this time. Sir Strider, go make sure Karkat is okay, you shitting slime. You're going to tell us everything once I'm in bed and less blood loss-y, and you make sure he's not dead."

Dave wanted clearly, so badly, to say something in retort. Instead, showing restraint in his voice for perhaps the first time in his life, he sheathed his blade and vanished.

With Dave mostly out of view, and his attention away from John and Jade, Jade took a quick second to run her fingers through John's hair and then give him the lightest tap possible on the head. "Dave is right. You're an idiot, John."

"I'm an idiot who saved your life too. And don't you evvvver forget it." John hissed through their teeth, laughing and grumbling quietly in equal measure as Jade dragged them through the mud towards the inn.