Cancer's Choice

In the Aftermath of the Game

A/N: This idea came to me while I was talking to ArtytheDragon! I'm hoping to make this a very good, in detail, fully planned out AU. Let's see how far I'll get with this! Hope you enjoy, vote/comment!

~*~*~*~*

Your name is John Egbert, and life is fan-fucking-tastic!

After three long years of Sburb, after three long years of fighting, death, and destruction, it's finally over. The Black Kings and Queens, Jack Noir, and even Lord English are all gone now, defeated for good. Jade was finally able to create the new universe, and you were all ready to go home. You also had a bonus-prize that was completely unexpected: all of the people who'd died during the game that stayed dead were now alive again, excluding the villains, of course. Jade did her whole Witch of Space thing, and you all went to live on earth in your newly created universe.

At first, it was pretty rough. The trolls had to adjust to life on earth, surrounded by other trolls and humans again, as they all inhabited the same planet now. It took weeks to get them to go out during the day (except for Kanaya) and weeks longer to get them out of their weird sleeping pod things and into normal beds.

You guess it would take some getting used to, not having to hide away all day because you'd go blind if you looked at the sun, or not having to sleep in slime to keep horrible nightmares away. While the transition was tough, the trolls eventually got used to their new lives, and they really took to earth. With no more drones or cullings, they were able to become more peaceable and could easily coexist with humans.

That was all two years ago, now, you're 18 years old and you just finished your last year of high school. It was a little weird going back to school at first, surrounded by other kids and having to actually learn shit again, but it was kind of nice, in a way. The trolls had mixed feelings about school, but they eventually got used to it too. You all had a ton of fun these past two years, it was awesome to be able to just relax and live normally after all that shit that happened in the game.

The game...most of the time, you tried to avoid talking about it. No one really wanted to think about the horrible things that had happened during those three years, everyone was content with the new, carefree lives they lived now. Honestly, it was easy to ignore. None of you have powers anymore, although there are strange connections with your classes and aspects that stuck. You're still obsessed with flying and the sky, Dave never has to look at a clock to know what time it is, it's kind of weird. Not the weirdest thing you've ever lived through, though. Not by a long shot.

The hardest thing to avoid about the game is cancer. The cancer that Karkat accidentally gave the new universe. He still feels extremely guilty about it, and beats himself up every single time he hears the word or sees signs of it in another person or hears about people dying from it. You and Kanaya tried your hardest to help your crabby pal, but some things just can't be forgotten, you guess.

But back to the end of your final year of high school. It's late June, school's been out for about two weeks here in Orlando, Florida. Orlando was a unanimous decision. You all knew you wanted to live near each other, Feferi and Eridan refused to live more than two hours away from a beach, Dave and Dirk vetoed living somewhere cold, you refused to leave the U. S., Rose and Roxy protested living up North, Jade and Jake wouldn't stand for an island, Jane wanted to live down South, and everyone else didn't give a fuck. So Orlando was the lucky winner.

Actually, you really like Orlando, it's a beautiful city, and although you do miss snow sometimes, you adore all the rain in Florida. Summer rains are the best, in your book. You could watch a rainstorm for hours, you do watch rainstorms for hours. It's very relaxing, but then again, all things with the sky are relaxing to you. It's one of the reasons you're becoming a pilot, you and the sky have a special connection.