Chapter Text
>Act 1
The night was not dark and stormy but filled with the lingering heat and humidity of an August day, and the thick air was quite tranquil until it was shattered by a cry of pain.
Vriska Serket had once looked forward to such screams, relieved that they were coming from unfortunate Flarpers and not from herself. But the new instincts she'd developed in the twenty-seven years since arriving on the restored Earth dreaded that very sound most of all. Her cerulean blood turned to ice – because she shared it with the owner of that voice.
She wasted no time in rushing to her son's room. While she normally tried not to meddle where she wasn't wanted as part of her effort to not fuck up at being a mother, she threw the door open without a second thought.
She gasped when she saw the splash of blue. Her son stood in the center of the room, with blood soaking into his shirt, spattered on his glasses, and dripping onto the floor below him. He gave her a weak smile, seemingly ignoring the fact that his left arm was missing. There was no other sign of the attacker.
"Oh my God, Maraan! Your arm!"
Maraan might have tried to explain, but Vriska was already hurrying him down the stairs and out the door to the car. Though her breath was short from panic, she continued repeating aloud that he would be okay as she speeded along.
"Mom, I know I'll be OK! Calm down! Please." Maraan understood why his mother was upset, of course, but this was more than he had bargained for. He knew he had a long history of making his parents worry about him. Every school he'd been kicked out of, every bully he'd made pay for their crimes added to the strain on his family and he hated it. But in all his fifteen years, he had never seen Vriska frightened like this.
After a few minutes the car pulled up in front of a completely darkened house. Vriska held a protective arm around Maraan's thin frame as she pounded on the door with the other.
Two minutes later the man of the house answered the door. "Excuse me, but are you aware of what time it is?"
Vriska didn't acknowledge the question, but simply pushed Maraan towards Equius. "How fast can you make a robot arm for him?"
Equius's eyes widened as they fell on Maraan. After the moment of shock passed, he answered. "I have a variety of spare parts, it shouldn't take long at all. Do come in."
They entered to find two other trolls standing in the hall. One of them, a teenaged boy with long hair and arrow-tipped horns that curved back over his head, asked the obvious question. "Maraan, what happened?"
"Oh, hey Peg," the bleeding boy answered nonchalantly.
Before he could follow up on the greeting, Equius interrupted him. "Pegasus, come help me fix up one of the spare arms for your friend." He then added quickly, "If it pleases you, of course."
"For the last time, father, you are allowed to just give me an order."
"But how could I presume to disrespect your noble blood that way?"
The woman who had been silent until then put a hand on Equius's arm, despite the fact that his skin was beginning to break into a sweat. "Dear, can you have this conversation after you've seen to Maraan's arm?"
"Yeah," chimed in Vriska, "my son's only bleeding to death while you idiots argue."
"Oh! Of course, Aradia. Maraan, this way." Equius led Maraan away to his workroom, followed by Pegasus, who whispered "Thanks for snapping him out of it, mother" as he passed by. Vriska and Aradia were left alone in the hall.
"...Does that happen a lot?"
"Almost every day," sighed Aradia. "Of all the families to get a combination of blood colors..."
Patience was still not Vriska's strong suit, so she waited tensely in Equius and Aradia's living room, thinking of how she could make whoever had done this pay. If Doc Scratch was up to his old tricks, the hardest part would be not killing him...
Equius returned from the workroom, still wiping blood and oil from his hands. "Pegasus and I were successful in attaching the arm. If you come back in a few days, I can have a better model ready. However..." He paused nervously. "I couldn't help but overhear Maraan telling Pegasus that the damage was... self-inflicted."
Vriska hadn't thought that the night could get any more shocking, but everything stopped at that last word.
"What? You're saying he... cut off his own arm? Why would he do that?"
"Because I knew you'd take me here and get me a better one." Maraan stood in the doorway, grinning and flexing his new metal hand experimentally.
Before his mother could regain the power of speech, Maraan changed the subject. "Anyweb, where's Araña?"
Vriska suddenly remembered her daughter and swore under her breath. "She's home alone... We'll discuss this in the car."
As soon as they were on the road, Vriska started in on him. "How could you do this to yourself? You think this is some sort of game?"
"Oh, don't act so high and mighty, Mom. Eridan told me all about how Equius made you a robot arm when you were even younger than me. It sounded awesome, so I figured you'd have him do the same for me. Why, I bet you cut off your own arm for the same reason!"
The car pulled over and parked at the side of the road.
"Mom, what are you doing? We need to--" He was interrupted by the sting of a slap across the face.
Vriska spoke quietly and deliberately. "You want to know how I lost my arm? It started when I stole this magic cue ball. I was told it was dangerous, but no, I was too awesome to be threatened by a stupid ball." She paused for effect. "The thing exploded in my face. Took my arm and my vision eightfold with it. And you know why it did that? My friend was punishing me for some shit I'd done earlier. Honestly, I deserved it! But God, I hated her for a while. Getting my arm and my eyes back was one of the best parts of SGRUB for me."
After that, both were silent all the way home. The outside light was on and a wide-horned troll girl waited on the steps, looking like a forlorn ghost with her long hair falling over one eye.
She perked up when she saw the car pull into the driveway, but her smile turned to a look of confusion once she saw the light glint off the metal surface of her big brother's arm. She hesitantly asked "Uh, Maraan...? What happened...?"
"It's nothing to worry about, sis," he answered. "I'm really sorry I woke you up."
Vriska sat on the steps next to her daughter. She gently brushed the girl's hair aside to reveal a flowerlike pattern of seven pupils, took a deep breath, and prepared herself for an old familiar lie.
"Araña, honey, your brother had an... accident."