Another one for Discord. I really don't know what I did here.

Characters: Rose Lalonde, Mom Lalonde, Jade Harley, Terezi Pyrope

Relationships: None

Warnings: Death?

Universe: Non-SBURB au. The Alternian empire comes knocking.

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Everything had been normal in the meager 16 years of your life, until suddenly, it wasn't.

You wake up one day to a head full of pain, from a nightmare full of death, to an abundance of Pesterchum messages from your uncharacteristically afraid friends. Though you skim most of their strangely hysterical texts, you get petty much the same message: Aliens.

Now, at first, it seems silly. Some prank that John has gathered Dave and Jade together to pull. You think it's pretty impressive, at the start, for John to manage to get Dave to pull down his 'cool guy' act and show some genuine fear. You pull out of your drowsy-from-sleep state to message John, to tell him that you've realized what he's doing, but he insists that this isn't a prank. He tells you to turn on the television.

So, on a morning that by all means should be as dreary and dull as every other day, you find yourself sneaking down the stairs to turn in the television. You keep an eye out as to evade your mother, but to your surprise, she's already watching the television. To add to your surprise, she seems sober.

She seems to notice that you're there, as if she's some kind of being that can sense your presence. She turns around to face you, still clad in your pajamas and waiting on the bottom steps of the stairs.

You think she's going to say something, but when she opens her mouth, nothing comes out. Instead, she pats the seat. An invitation. No doubt riddled with passive-aggressive intent, but who are you to not rise to the challenge? You slink over and take a seat next to your mother as the words from the television fill your ears.

"...Unidentified flying object caught on camera from satellites..."

Oh.

"You know, Rosie," your mother says, "I think I kinda knew this was gonna happen."

"How so?" How could she know, before the government found out?

Mom shrugs, "lemme just say a colleague told me, okay, bubs?"

Normally you'd make a comment against the nickname, but instead something in your subconsciousness forces you to focus back on the television. Your throat feels full and heavy. Your stomach fills with a cold, awful sense of dread, like a ball of ice materialized in your own stomach.

That ball of ice doesn't go away.

On the second day of what you dub 'The End', the world officially starts freaking out. Crime escalates, and your mother increases the security on your house. She manages to be sober this whole time, but you can barely focus on that over your own worries.

On the third day of The End, the ship enters the atmosphere. It's larger than anything you've seen before, red in color, and you can't bare to watch the television more than you need to.

On the fourth day of The End, smaller but still large ships come.

On the fifth day, your mother gets a rifle.

On the sixth day, the power goes out.

On the seventh day, silence.

On the eighth day, there's fire.

And on the ninth day you're pulled from your own home by some kind of robot.

That's the last time you see your mother, and the first time you really understand that humanity is most absolutely fucked. Over your own fear, you realise that bullets do nothing to the creature, and that being pulled into the sky is terrifying.

The ships look colossal up close, and you can't even see the entire thing over how your eyes have just started to blur. You refuse to think that it's tears (but really, what else could it be).

The fear you feel then, however, cannot even be compared to the sheer dread that ravages your terrified state as you're thrown into some kind of cell. It's dark. It's cold. You don't know what's going on.

You think this is where the full, unfiltered possibility of death hits you. Everyone is afraid of death. That is how humans are wired. Yet you shake and shiver and feel horrible while you do it, cowering in the corner of the cell like some kind of animal. From the perspective of these technologically advanced aliens, you might as well be an animal.

Fast forward.

The door opens.

"Hey! Let - let go, hey!"

You can barely see over your admittedly tear-filled eyes. Of course someone had to come when you were being pitiful. Just your luck. You can just see the silhouette of two wrestling figures, one of them horned. A human? Must be.

The voice is high in pitch, but whether it's from fear or just because of the struggle you've yet to determine. The human is thrown to the ground and the alien departs, leaving you alone in the cell with the newcomer. You pull yourself to your feet and approach them.

"Ow..." They - she - groans, "um. Hi?"

Even in the dark, you're greeted with a face that seems almost familiar. She almost looks like-

Like.

Oh.

You stare at each other for a long time. You have to make sure that your eyes aren't tricking you and that the face you're seeing really is the one from late night selfies; from video calls and playful pictures. The girl blinks, her gaze darting to different parts of you, like she's in the exact same situation that you're in.

She opens her mouth, surely to speak, but the cell door opens with a squeak. Damn the dramatic timing plaguing your life.

You scramble backwards, back into your corner, to eye the alien that's entered. It's decorated with pointed horns and gleaming red glasses, showing off gleaming, sharp teeth. You still can't get over how utterly human they look.

The girl doesn't move from her spot. Maybe she's frozen with fear? You don't have much time to think about the possibility, because the alien starts to speak. It's not a language you understand - why would it be? It's sharp growls, snapping teeth, chirps and squeals. The words rumble in the alien's throat, and though there's nothing to indicate that it's aggressive, you're tense anyway.

It's head turns towards the other girl, and the alien...sniffs, it sounds.

It raises a clawed hand and points at itself, then speaks again. It seems like it's trying to communicate, somehow. When it's done speaking, if points at the other girl, who says nothing.

Almost annoyed sounding, the alien points at itself and talks again. It's the same thing that it said before. Then it points at the girl again.

"... Name?" The girl guesses.

She looks back at you. You raise your arms innocently; she shouldn't be asking you.

"Umm. My name..." The girl points at herself. "Jade Harley."