Adaptations: DavexJade

Red sneakers crunching through the white snow was a new sensation for the thirteen-year-old trudging through. Back in Texas there had never been anything like this unless some type of paradox weather occurred. Even so, the younger of the two Striders had never seen snow in anything other than pictures.

However, the term younger wasn't even a good term to use anymore. He was the only Strider he knew at this point that was still alive. Bro was gone and he had no idea where Davesprite had flown off to, and knowing that Davesprite was technically just another version of himself, the orange sprite had probably joined Bro to find the same sentence of death waiting for him there.

Dave shook these thoughts out of his head as he saw the frogs scattered throughout the land of Lofaf. All of them were frozen, as though time had completely stopped for them. Dave had his sword at his side (mind you, it was broken thanks to his unlucky and ironic streak of breaking shitty swords) just in case anything happened in the spur of the moment.

However, at the moment, he wasn't paying much attention to the frogs. Instead, he was looking around for someone in particular. Someone whose face he had only seen in photographs and had never heard her voice. Instead, he only knew her words through texts. He knew she had to be here somewhere.

Coming to the edge of a high cliff, he looked down to see the flat land coated in white snow everywhere. It had stopped coming down, but it still covered everything as far as the eye could see. Luckily, Dave had his aviator shades so that he wouldn't go snow-blind from the sun's harsh reflection against the white backround.

An echoing voice reached his ears and he turned his head. "Hey," it called, "this is the Witch of Space to David Strider! Over here!" Dave had looked in the direction of the prettiest girl he had ever laid eyes on, with that bubbly voice to match her personality.

Jade stood below, waving her arm above her head, rifle tucked underneath her other. In her flowing black dress with green edging along with her ebony hair, she stood out well. Not to mention she was wearing high heels while holding a gun. That could really catch someone's attention. Dave, being the coolkid he was forced himself to keep from smiling, even though he felt as though his heart was going a mile a minute.

He didn't feel like going all the way around, knowing it would take too long. Instead, he made sure it was stable and not too steep before sliding down the edge of the cliff, burning some rubber from the bottom of his shoes. He didn't want to think about the fact that he had learned balance from his bro. Just thinking about it was too painful.

Jade ran over to him, dumping her rifle in the snow before wrapping her arms around Dave. "Just stay cool, just stay cool, she thinks you're cool, just stay cool…" he said to himself over and over to keep his steel expression from breaking. He had to make a good impression on Jade.

"What's up, Harley," he asked after pulling away. "Damn, how the hell did you alchemize that shit?"

Jade giggled. "Well I have a certain someone to thank for the grist."

"That shit was piling up like presents on Christmas," Dave said. "Just wasn't ironic enough to suit my tastes, you know? Had to give it to someone since it wasn't going anywhere in my hands."

Jade looked over the Knight of Time in front of her. He was wearing a white long sleeve tee, but the sleeves and collar were bright red with a scratched record on the front of it. His skin was paler than it had looked in the photo Dave had sent her and his hair was near the same color. Black shades stood out like blotches of black ink on a white canvas. His sneakers matched the red color of his shirt and he wore slightly faded jeans.

"You didn't look so," Jade searched for the right words, "pale in the photo you sent me this year, or any year for that matter. Has the game just made you lighter with a lack of sun and did something bleach your hair?"

"The lighting sucked ass in those photos," Dave said simply. "I've always looked like this, Harley. Bro was the same and I have no idea about my parents or whatever. In fact, I'm not sure if "parents" is technically the right term with all this ectobiology shit going down."

"Yeah, I know," Jade said, smiling, revealing similar teeth to John's. Then, suddenly, her eyes then widened behind her glasses. Dave couldn't help but think that they were a stunning Jade Green. No wonder she had her name. She held up a clear Magic 8-Ball for Dave to see. "Check this out! I'm already working on the frog breeding! Isn't it cool?"

Dave peered inside to see a little tadpole there. The baby frog swam around in the liquid that filled the small sphere. Dave once again had to restrain smiling. Jade was clearly ecstatic.

"Isn't this great," she breathed. "It was so simple and we're already on a roll! Although, there's no guarantee that this one will be our Genesis Frog, but still, think if it was that we already have a universe literally in the palm of our hand! It's just so amazing; I can't believe we're going to be making a universe, Dave…"

Jade was rambling, but Dave could have cared less. He was lost in those green eyes and her voice. At least it made it a lot easier to keep a straight face rather than smiling like an idiot because he wasn't in control of his facial expression.

Dave almost said "you're amazing, Harley" but he decided that wouldn't be the best choice of words at the moment and instead went with, "Pretty cool," he said. "With breeding all these frogs, you're going to turn into one, too. You'll start getting as green as those eyes of yours and get fucking webbing between your fingers and toes or whatever."

"Hey, you're helping me mister, so don't talk!"

"Just saying, Harley."

Dave went with Jade towards the large ectobiology machine (or whatever it was; Dave was having a hard time keeping track of these countless machines) that would bring the frogs in as tadpoles. She aimed at a few frogs, getting nothing once or twice, but she managed to get a tadpole soon enough and Dave placed it inside another one of the containers Jade had set up for the baby frogs.

After placing a few frogs in spheres, boxes and buckets (ignoring the troll's weird hatred of cleaning supplies, although Dave seriously thought there was actual reasoning behind it) or whatever was around to contain frogs, Dave saw a shadow overhead. He glared at who it was. He remembered having seen his Bro's body along with dragging marks of bright yellow blood. He could only guess where Noir had taken Davesprite, and there were numerous places that could be.

"What the hell is he doing here?"

Jade looked up at Bec Noir. "I don't think he's going to hurt us," she said. "He passes by the area a lot, glances at me once or twice and then keeps going without coming anywhere near me. And if he does decide to come down here, I'll give that bad dog a piece of my mind in the form of a bullet."

Dave let himself slip a slight smirk, still miniscule enough to be considered cool and, since he almost never smiled, ironic. That made it even better. "Nice one," he said. "There's hope for you yet in the world of a Strider."

"Why thank you, David."

Dave rolled his eyes behind his aviators. "It's Dave."

"I'm just poking fun at you, silly," Jade smiled widely, tapping his nose with her index finger lightly before returning to the frogs. "Stop worrying about Bec. It'll be fine, really." Dave shrugged, dropping his slight smile, and grabbed another container filled with water for the next tadpole coming through.

After having obtained dozens of frogs, Jade looked thoughtfully at the numerous containers, a look of slight worry and a bit of concern on her face. Dave wondered if he had done something wrong. If he had, would it be something too terrible? Could they keep frog breeding? What if he had harmed their Genesis Frog?

Jade scooped up a bunch of containers. "We should take these little guys inside," she said. "It's warmer in the house, and there's some ice starting to form. Do you see it?"

Taking a closer look, Dave did see. He simply nodded at seeing the ice crystals forming in the water and the outer layer of the containers. He himself picked up a good dozen or so in his arms, with Jade leading the way back to her place.

After they had set those few down in a cleared room, Dave sighed. "I should head back for the rest. Have anything I can carry those suckers in?"

Jade looked at Dave skeptically. He wondered what it was that he had said. Then he realized it hadn't been his words. Jade was looking intently at his face. "You sure, Dave," she asked. "You're kind of red in the face… more like really red. I don't think you're used to the weather yet, you did live in Houston after all…"

She reached a hand up to his face, but Dave swatted her away gently. "I'm fine, geez," he insisted. "Just because I lived down south doesn't mean I can't handle snow. After all, I'm probably cooler than the snow is. We Striders can handle tough shit. And you lived in some pretty hot weather year-round, too, am I right, Miss "I-Live-Alone-With-A-Dog-On-A-Tropical-Island"? Not to mention I'm pretty fucking pale, Harley. Blush is always evident on me."

Jade still looked a little hesitant, but nodded after a while, grabbing a bag for Dave to place containers in. He took said bag and headed back towards the door to go and grab the rest of the frogs.

Dave felt terrible in saying Striders could handle tough shit. He couldn't help thinking of Bro when he did, and the katana that had run his through and stained red, almost like the crow that had become half of his sprite, who was probably also dead at this point.
He knew for a fact that, although they could handle tough shit, Striders were no less human than anyone else.

Not that he'd ever admit it.

As Dave went back out, he noticed the snowfall had started up and the temperature had dropped slightly, and it was only now that Harley had mentioned the red flush on his face that he noticed the temperature difference between Lofaf and his old home city of Houston, Texas.

Taking the temperature drop to mind, Dave quickened his pace. He figured he should grab those tadpoles as quickly as possible, and walking faster would probably help him stay warmer in his thin, long-sleeved tee. Not to mention he caught glimpses of Bec's shadow above him once or twice.

Reaching the frogs, Dave started placing them in the large bag, grabbing two pails that were there as well, hoping to God that Terezi wasn't there to lick her screen and taste him carrying those things at the moment. Dave slung the full bag of tadpoles over his shoulder, trying to make it as ironic-looking as possible (which wasn't hard with said bag being a bright violet) and he placed one pail in each hand.

As Dave neared the house, he saw Jade running out to grab the buckets from him and she ushered him inside. He didn't see what her hurry was, but he didn't object to the girl's actions.

He placed the violet bag down and placed the frogs on the floor with the rest of them. It would take a little while for them to mature into full-grown frogs, but he could honestly spend all the time in the world here with nearly no cares at all. Jade was there with that big smile and sparkling green eyes and black hair, not to mention her wonderful, bubbly personality.

Dave couldn't say he was as good-looking as Jade, though he normally didn't say anything about it. His near-white skin and blonde hair had gotten him enough grief from almost everybody other than his teachers, Jade, John and Rose, along with Bro. And his eyes also added something for people to mock him about. Dave normally tried not to think about it, but there was a reason he wore those dark shades. If he could hide anything easily, it was his eye color.

And as much as Dave told himself that John and Jade and his ectosister would never mock him because of his eyes, he had never shown any of them, either. In none of his pictures had Dave removed his glasses. In none of them had his eyes color been revealed, and he wasn't risking it now.

Slumping down on a couch in the room, Jade next to him, Dave lolled his head back and sighed deeply. "Damn, I can't get a second of relief with that psycho killer flying above us," he said. "I thought that the guy had spotted me once or twice. Guess that I blend into the snow a little too well."

"The snow's falling pretty heavily, and you're so white that he probably didn't see a thing. Although the red on your sleeves might have sent him a signal, so I wish I had thought of that earlier."

"What do you mean? You're the one who stands out like a Christmas tree in the middle of August. Remind me about that sometime, it sounds like a good, ironic idea."

"Yeah, but Noir doesn't bother me since I had Bec prototyped into the ring and he gained his qualities," Jade said, and Dave couldn't help restraining another sigh as he noticed Jade looking at his cheeks for the millionth time, it seemed. "Are you sure you're okay with the snow?"

"Positive, Harley," Dave said. "Now get off of my case about it, will you?"
Jade wouldn't stop. At least, she didn't seem to be planning on stopping. And to try and prove that he was right, Dave wasn't even considering telling her that, yes, he wasn't used to it and it was cold as hell frozen over. Besides, it was uncool to show weakness to anything. If he could take on Bro and everything this game had thrown at him, he could survive snow.

Dave resisted yelling as a frog jumped across the floor, right away from his fingertips. Over the past few weeks, the frogs had been maturing at a good rate, Dave's time powers helping to speed their growth a little bit. He couldn't make them frogs in two seconds flat though; it would harm them, Jade said. They still had tails and weren't full grown yet, but they were much closer to adulthood.

Shoving his glasses up his nose, Dave went back to chasing frogs. Some of them had hopped outside, although Dave had to wonder why they had done that. However stupid he found it to be, it didn't change the fact that their frogs were literally running out the door.

"Dave," Jade yelled, her arms full of frogs, "I've got these guys, try to grab the others!"

Nodding in response, Dave ran out the door to chase said frogs. His sneakers kicked up snow as he looked around to try and figure out where they would be. He considered it would probably the areas with the least snow. Dave understood that reasoning all too well. After a long time in Lofaf, he had been content catching frogs with Jade, but damn, the weather was not to his tastes. Figuring this, Dave ran around the area closest to the house where there were the lava kept the snow under control and in patches on the ground.

It was hard trying to catch the frogs with nothing to put them in. They were larger than most, no doubt, but they were still jumping all over the place like maniacs. Skidding through the patches of snow, he himself knowing he wasn't in top condition, Dave didn't have the best luck with catching them, and was starting to get frustrated.

Chasing one of the frogs, Dave didn't notice someone coming up in front of him and felt like he had run into a brick wall. The teen fell on his back in the snow, wind knocked out and shades knocked off. Knowing they weren't there, Dave didn't even consider opening his eyes. Not that he wanted to either way. It felt like he had hit his head on something, although he knew he probably hadn't.

He heard someone talking to him, but it was distant and faded out as he fell under.

All he could think about was Bro and Jade.

Finally coming back around, the first thing Dave noticed were that his glasses still weren't on. The second thing he noticed was that he had slept most of the day, the clock reading a little more than thirteen hours since he chased the frogs that had run off. Third, he wasn't covered in snow or outside, which he was extremely grateful for.

"Looks like someone finally decided to wake up," a familiar, amazing voice said. "I told you not to push it, didn't I, mister "Striders-can-handle-tough-shit"?"

"No," Dave replied, "you just said I looked red to you, Harley."

"And you are, for that matter, idiot."

Shutting his eyes from Jade's view again, Dave sighed. "Where are my shades?"

"Dave, you don't need those things now, do you?"

"Where the hell are my shades, Harley," he demanded, a little harsher than intended. "Sorry, but I need that shit so I can open my eyes for god's sake. It's not easy talking to you like this, you know." Jade looked confused, but it's not like Dave could have known with his eyes closed.


"So just open them, then," Jade said. "I've never seen your eyes before, after all. You're always wearing those aviators. I know that's a cool Strider thing, but come on."

"We wear shades for a reason, Jade," Dave thought about his eyes and his brother's odd-colored orange ones. "Now I have my reasons, so can you just tell me where they are and give them to me?"

Jade was silent, and then, "Are you hiding something from me, Dave?"

The correct answer would be "yes, my eyes" but Dave just shook his head instead. However much he tried, he knew his hesitation and slow movements were unconvincing. He knew Jade wasn't going to fall for it, considering his expression change and, again, it was unconvincing. He sighed, dropping the steel expression, knowing he had to tell her.

"You'll just make fun of me for it. It's stupid and it's not cool. Like, at all."

"I won't laugh at you, Dave, I promise I won't," Jade grabbed Dave's hand. "If we can work on creating a universe together, I think there are certain things we can trust each other with."

Once again, Dave couldn't help but think of Bro and how he would kill him if he knew that he was voluntarily showing anyone – hell, even someone like Jade – his eyes. Trying to push that out of mind, Dave cracked his eyes open a bit, looking straight into Jade's.

The brilliance of hers had been darkened by his shades, and he was taken aback by the real brightness of them, now his eyes flying open to look at hers. He was so distracted by it that he didn't notice Jade smiling widely at him.

Finally snapping out of it, Dave thought about his eyes; his blood-red eyes. They were the eyes of an albino, and god, he hated them. He had always worn shades in school, thanks to Bro getting him that privilege. He had taken them off once and had never been able to live it down, everyone knowing the true color.

"Well," he asked. "Go ahead and laugh at me, everyone else does."

Jade shook her head. "No, Dave. I think they're beautiful."

Dave was shocked by her choice of words. He had never even heard Bro say anything like that to him. Mostly with Bro it had been "your eyes are the eyes of a Strider, so be proud of them" or "red's your color, and they're great eyes, bro". He had never been told his eyes were something like that before. And coming out of Jade's mouth, god, coming out of hers, it was the best compliment Dave could think of.

"You're not shitting me here?"

"Dave, why would I laugh at them," she said, still smiling. "They're so pretty and so different. They really suit you and, yeah, I think they look gorgeous. You know if that's a good word to use on a male Strider, anyways."

Dave nodded. "It's just that no one's ever said that before. It's different."

"Well, so are you," Jade replied. "And you know what, David Strider? I like it."

Dave would never have guessed what Jade did next. The girl leaned in and had kissed him right on the cheek. If Dave hadn't already been red in the face, he definitely was now. Jade herself had a light dusting of red on her cheeks, and Dave was unsure of what to say.

"I'll deal with the frogs, okay," Jade stood, still talking to him. "And if we lost a few, we'll just breed more. And no need for the shades, okay? I think I might like your eyes a bit better. When you can catch a frog, Knight of Time, I'll consider letting you out again."

Dave just nodded, giving her a smirk as she left. But when she was gone, he broke out in a smile that would have made Bro ask if he was sick.

And both literally and figuratively, Dave would have answered "yes".