Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Start!

Your name is John, you are a young man fresh out in the world in your first year of college; and your first time away from home. It's pretty cool since the school you go to is close to the beach and all that but your dad, while being all supportive and sending you money along with way too much baked goods is pretty insistent that you earn some cash on your own.

"You are a man now John," you can recall him saying in his fatherly tone of voice, "and as a man it is important you learn how to support yourself. You need to get a job to help cover some of your expenses while being away from home."

Which is how you came to work part time at the Sburb Aquarium. But enough about John for right now...

Wandering the halls of the Aquarium.

The beauty of the ocean captured in glass walls on display for all to pay witness to, beautiful arrays of tropical fish and friendly marine life in a world where the light is filtered through water and glass; truly an almost ethereal like place, a cathedral on the seaside devoted to the mysteries and wonders of the watery world. As is any good aquarium.

This aquarium in particular however host several special residences, some that are not even available for the public to visit.

Going down one of such halls, into a section of the aquarium not usually available to the public. Here there are many fascinating creatures, you turn and walk down another hall, it's darker here, the light now shining through several fresh water tanks rather than salt; for sure our lakes and rivers hold just as many wonders as our oceans. The lights are dimmer here for more ominous purposes, or most likely the janitor refuses to come to this wing and therefore the light bulbs have not been changed, but ominous purposes sound so much better so lets go with that. At the end of the dark hall was a large circular room, the greenish lighting turning to a more bluish color. This room houses a large tank that seems almost isolated compared to the vast expanses of water that make up the rest of the aquarium. False tree roots stretch down into the tank's sandy floor along with bits of plant life and the few small fish that had not yet been eaten hiding in terror, careful to avoid the odd air bubbles scattered throughout the tank. On the outside of the tank written in bright red paint was the word D4NG3ROUS.

At the top of the tank was a enormous Diving Bell Spider.

Now the average Diving Bell Spider is not all that terribly big, at least not the size of the average teenager like this one was. The name given to her was Vriska, or as several of the aquatic and even some of the human members of the aquarium liked to call her "Spider B-" well actually you know what, let's keep this G Rated.

As a Diving Bell Spider Vriska needed to breath air even though she lived under water, hence all the air bubbles in her tank. It was not unusual for her to be at the surface of her tank replenishing her air supply. It was however, unusual for her to be at the surface of the tank trying to pry the tank's lid open.

Realizing the spider, quite much like several other aquatic residents of the aquarium, could easily attempt escape the security guard placed in charge of keeping an eye on the dangerous creature had a metal grate placed over the tank, the grate wasn't heavy but it could be locked into place thus keeping the tank secure.

Except no one had locked the grate after feeding time the night before.

If one was to watch from the observation platform above the tank they would see one spindly leg that looked an awful lot more like an arm lifting a small door-like section of the grate followed by another arm-like appendage wrapping around the tank edge and hoisting the rest of the body it was attached to out of the water. As the grate was made to fold back on hinges that is precisely what happened with a terrific crash causing the escapee to slide back into the water and hide in her air bubble nest that was nestled between tree roots at the tank bottom. From one end of the dark hallway a flash light flicked on and scanned over the tank. Quietly the water spider Vriska sat in her air bubble staring down at a pair of red tinted glasses reflecting in the the small light. After a moment the flashlight and its owner left and quietly Vriska swam back to the surface.

If we were to read the spider's mind we would probably hear shouts of victory and maniacal laughter as she pulled herself out and over the tank's edge falling to the ground with an unceremonious flop. Four spindly legs stood shakily up and Vriska the Diving Bell Spider raised all four or her fists in victory while emitting and odd noise that only a spider could give but was still unmistakably triumphant laughter as she took in the first moments of her daring escape, however it was just as she took her very first step something happened.

That something was the fact that having never been out of water, though able to breathe air, Vriska was entirely unused to dry land's take on gravity. With this Vriska collapsed to the ground, the weight of the world literally bearing down on her.

You are now John again.

It is your first Saturday working here at the aquarium, your job as a chipper young part time employee is to act as the aquarium mascot which is a large green sea turtle. Though the mascot already has a name you feel the need to call it Casey as it reminds you of the salamander Casey that lives in the reptile section.

Your morning began easy enough but now it is lunch time and you are tired of dealing with so many young kids with their short tempers and sticky fingers on such a hot day. So at the first chance you get you exit the outdoor boardwalk that surrounds many of the animal housing such as the seal and walrus tanks and make your way inside using the special backstage hallways shown to you on your first day of work, happily shedding the turtle costume and walking barefoot in simple shirt and shorts. You are on your way to the employee break room to rest and eat the sandwich you brought only...

Well great it looks like you're lost.

You are now with the gravitationally challenged Diving Bell Spider.

Who is to a fault stubborn, despite the fact it feels as if an elephant is sitting on her back Vriska decided to continue with her grand escape by dragging herself along the floor, and she has made quite a bit of progress.

She was currently going down one of the more quieter hallways choosing to avoid as much attention as possible. In one take floated a very grumpy looking Erifish, the little guy always looked grumpy but right now he was practically giving the spider a death glare. Vriska slowly lifted her head looking at the little fish with all eight of her own eyes before sticking her tongue out with a grin and continuing to drag herself along.

She makes it just around the corner of another hallway before an Employees Only door opened to her left and there stood a very surprised employee.

You are now the very surprised employee.

Actually your name is John and you have been lost trying to find the break room while you drag your turtle costume along. You had just opened a door that lead back into the aquarium when you were surprised to find a girl in some kind of spider costume collapsed on the ground. She looked up at you rather surprised before giving a bit of a sheepish smile and continuing to drag herself down the hallway. She made it perhaps just a few more feet before giving up due to exhaustion and just laying there and making some odd clicking noise that may or may have not been frustrated grumbling/ whining.

John snap out of it and help her.

This you tell yourself with a shake of your head and run over to the poor girl. Coming closer to her you can see a lot more of the details of her costume, It's actually really impressive. The whole thing was a mix of blue and black color, she has two sets of legs and two sets of arms making a total of eight which was nice and spider like. Two of the legs looked more connected to- well actually you can't quite remember what the back of a spider is called but to that part, so those must have been the costume legs right? She was wearing a dark leotard that had the Scorpio symbol on it and her skin was painted an odd grey, you guess to make her more spider-like. Actually the only thing that didn't match the spider costume were the set of horns that poked out of her long black hair.

"Uhhh, hey are you alright?" John asks not honestly sure to do, what was with the spider outfit? Was she some kind of mascot to or just some weird kind of Cosplay?

The Spider Girl slowly looked up at John. She had bright yellow eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses, under her bangs John could see several yellow spots that must have been the rest of her eight eyes.

"Say, costume is actually really pretty."

At this the Spider Girl blushes (blue? Is that maybe because of the paint?) and grins revealing a set of fangs that complete her outfit.

"Are you ok? Do you need any help?"

Now the Spider Girl pauses.

You are now the Spider Girl.

Well you name is Vriska but you much prefer Spider Girl to the other name they sometimes call you. You were surprised to run into an employee but this was obviously the new guy and was not used to some of the more... interesting creatures that lived at the aquarium, which may actually work to your advantage. You were bored, that was why you escaped in the first place but now you most certainly were not. You were however quite thirsty, it had not occurred to you till now what would happen if you were out of the water for too long, your plan had been to scare as many patrons as possible, that would certainly teach them to not avoid her tank.

But now it looked like that plan was scratched, but that didn't mean you still couldn't have a little fun.

You nodded your head yes to the helpful employee.

"Ok let's get you to first aid, uhh my name's John what's yours?"

Now while capable to an extent of some human vocabulary Vriska had never actually talked while out of the water, besides that she didn't believe this employee named John had earned the right to hear her lovely voice just yet. Slowly (as due to gravity everything still felt very heavy) she raised one finger and drew in the air-

"V?" John asked, you nodded nodded yes and continued.

"R."

"I."

"S."

"K."

"A."

"Vriska, is that your name?"

You nodded yes, quite happy he had caught on so fast, he may have been stupid enough to not realize an actual spider when he saw one but at least he was catching on quickly.

You are now the helpful employee whose name is actually John.

You carefully pull the Spider Girl you now know is named Vriska onto your back piggy back style. Surprisingly the entire costume is covered in some soft velvet-like material.

You're not sure wich direction to go so you just start walking forwards. You make it down to the end of the hallway before Vriska taps your shoulder and points to another Employees Only door this time on your right. You manage to get the door open and immediately see a sign pointing out the direction of first aid which is up a set of stairs going back in the direction you just came from. Well great it looks like you were going the wrong way the whole time. But on the other hand this had to mean the Vriska did work here, how else would she know where to go? You found it odd that she didn't speak but had already decided it was because she either couldn't or was simply dedicated to her character so you don't want to bring it up.

"So you work here too?" You asked instead, "are you another mascot or something? I've only been working here not even a week haha can't you tell? No actually I'm only here part time so I've technically worked here for over a week but I haven't been here everyday so not a week you know what I mean. I actually go to the college that's a bit more in town, I'm in my first semester there and about a week or so ago I realized there was nothing to eat in my little dorm room but bread and a stick of butter. I'm on a meal plan but the food at the school is really terrible so my dad is all like "You are a man now John and as a man it is important you learn how to support yourself. You need to get a job to help cover some of your expenses while being away from home." So here I am and hey- hey are you alright?"

You notice now that Vriska whom had, had one set of arms wrapped around your neck and another around your waist (how was she doing that anyway, which set of arms was real and which was part of the costume?) had been relaxing her grip more and more to the point that you thought she might slip of your back. You turn your head to see her resting her own head on you shoulder her face covered by a curtain of hair.

You are now Vriska

And you are exhausted from having dragged yourself around the aquarium under the monstrous weight of gravity. John had been nice enough to carry you and while he was a bit smelly from having been sweating in that ridiculous turtle costume you were grateful he didn't try and make you walk. Also other than her annual vet examinations and that one time she pretended to try to drown one of the trainers this was the first time anyone had actually touched her. Which was kinda nice and with gravity now feeling a little less like an elephant and more like just a very heavy weighted blanket Vriska had begun to nod off to the sound of John's friendly chattering.

"Hey are you alright?"

Your head shot up and you found a worried John looking over his shoulder at you. Blushing again you quickly nodded yes.

"Did you fall asleep?"

You found yourself blushing even harder as John laughs and keep on walking.

You are now merely observing the scene.

Just like any other reader of any other story. You watch as the spider Vriska instructs John to keep walking straight rather than (as you the reader would probably guess) turn left to go to the actual first aid station upon reaching a fork in the hallway. John carries his new friend right until they reach the edge of a platform overlooking a large empty tank where one section of a metal grate has been flipped back.

"Huh I guess we made a wrong turn," John wonders out loud, "say who is suppose to live here, the tank is empty."

At that moment, as if on some command, John falls asleep. As he collapses to the ground his charge dives into the tank, taking her rescuer along with her.

You are now somewhere else

About two hallways over actually. Your name is Terezi and you are one of the security guards here at the aquarium, you take your responsibilities very seriously. Some visitors however fail to take you seriously being that you are also blind, but your other senses are keen so not even a litterbug escapes your notice. As it was you were currently scolding such an offender. Your well tuned ears suddenly catch the sound of a loud splash from a certain direction. The direction of her.

You waste no time heading of to investigate giving one final warning to the offender.

One of the many responsibilities you hold here at the aquarium is keeping an eye on some of the more... Interesting creatures that called the aquarium home especially her tank. She was trouble, in fact she terrified so many of the employees hardly anyone went to visit her tank anymore and then there was that one time with the trainer... Ugh fear still gripped the staff.

You dash down the dark hallway and approach the tank, you can still smell the cherry scent of the bright red paint of the warning you had placed yourself.

All seemed quiet in her tank, the Diving Bell Spider. You walked along the side of the tank scanning the inside for any disturbance when you heard it, muffled by water and glass but you still hear it.

Some one shouting for help.

You are now somewhere else again.

Your name is Karkat and you are a janitor here at the aquarium. Most days between the animals and people acting equal parts annoying you're not sure why you continue to work here. Then there were days like this when you actually like your job.

It had been a rough week, on Monday you had to show the new guy around and you just knew he would get lost even after you showed him how to read the maps placed on the walls. On Tuesday one of the dugong's (you suspected Equius) had tore through the pipes again effectively draining Eridanfish's tank outside and into the walrus enclosure, you had to rescue the grumpy little fish before the walrus Gamzee could try to eat him. On Thursday you accidentally dropped the F bomb (about ten times) in front of a class on a school field trip making the director Kanaya put a ban on using curse words on aquarium premises. This made several employees and even some of the animals quite upset with you.

But now it was Saturday and a nice quiet one. The biggest mess you had to clean up was a dropped ice cream cone, the staff had not been irritating, none of the animals had attempted anything crazy today, everything was quiet.

"Code Red! I repeat Code Red! All available staff to the spider tank immediately!"

You stop dead in your tracks. That was Terezi over the radio, what was code red again...

Wait.

Oh no.

No, no, no, no.

Oh snap.

You drop what you were doing and take off running towards Vriska's tank nearly running into one of the resident veterinarians Sollux who was headed in the same direction. The two of you dash down the hallway ignoring the forgotten turtle costume laying on the ground as well as a very upset Erifish and skid to a stop in front of her tank.

"Oh are you fffff- kidding me!" You shout, nervous as Kanaya is already there.

In the spider tank was the spider, along with the new guy John.

You are now observing the scene outside the tank.

How he had fallen into the tank they had no idea but Vriska had pulled him into one of the larger air bubbles, clutching tight with apparently no intention of letting go.

Even through the tank's glass keeps you from hearing very well you can all see the amused spider, along with John's panicked cries for help.

"Do not worry!" Kanaya shouted to John, "we will get you out of there just... No sudden movements!"

John paused in his panic and stared at the director in confusion. "What?"

The didn't need to hear her to know that the spider was roaring with laughter.

"Great he can't hear us," Karkat groaned.

"One second," Terezi said as she yanked Sollux's clipboard from him and pulled out her favorite red crayon from her pocket. She scribbled out her message and slammed it to the tank wall.

You are now inside the tank

John didn't quite know what was going on at first. He remembered coming up to the edge of the tank when he thought he heard someone tell him to go to sleep, only it was in his head? He woke up after someone dumped a bucket of water on him, wait hang on. No he was actually under water, he must have fallen into the tank! He tried to swim to the surface but felt a hand grab his ankle and yank him down. He tried to swim away but a strong pair of arms wrapped around him pinning his own arms to his sides. Turning his head he was surprised to see Vriska pulling him down; she reached out with one of her free hands and actually grabbed a small air bubble and smash it against his face. The little bit of air was just enough to sustain him while Vriska carefully maneuvered both herself and John into a gigantic air bubble. The air was damp but breathable and the first thing John did was scream for help, the second thing he did was attempt to escape the air bubble only to have Vriska wrap all four of her arms around him.

When he saw Terezi come he had shouted as loud as he could. He saw her saying something on the radio and within minutes others had arrived. Kanaya shouted something to him but was so muffled through all the glass and water he couldn't hear any of it.

"What?"

At this Vriska started roaring in a weird spider-like laughter.

Terezi was scribbling something on a clipboard which she held against the tank.

UOY 3UCS3R LL1W 3W

"...What?"

Vriska had to let go with one set of arms as so to hold her own sides in a fit of laughter.

At this John wasted no time attempting to escape only for Vriska to grab him again with all four arms and one of her legs.

"Stop or you will break the air bubble!" Came an angry hiss

Outside the tank.

The trainers Tarvos and Arida had arrived. Unfortunately they were the only ones available as one of the dugongs had yet again escaped into the piping and had to be found before he broke into another tank.

It should have been a simple task. The two trainers would go into the tank and while one distracted the spider the other would get John to safety. Except the last time Tarvos had gone into the spider tank she had tried to rip off his own air tank nearly drowning him.

"I-I'm sorry I just can't do it," the terrified trainer stuttered backing away from the tank.

"You have to I can't go in by myself," Aridia insisted as she dragged him back into the room.

"Be quiet both of you," came the lisping voice of Sollux.

He studied the scene going on in the tank; it seemed that though she clearly had no intention of releasing her prey, Vriska had yet to actually harm John. Could he be considered prey?

As a Diving Bell Spider Vriska preferred her food to be delivered live which was one of the reasons why no one liked to be the one to deliver her dinner, he was often stuck with the duty himself. But as the resident vet this had given him an opportunity to study the dangerous creature. Though the air bubbles were actually constructed using underwater webs, the spider was so big there was actually quite a bit of room for movement and what's more she always kept them very well maintained though it also appeared that she never touched the older webs made by the tank's previous resident.

What freaked Sollux out was how she hunted.

Instead of darting out and bringing prey to the web, often prey would simply come to her; swimming right into the air bubble like they were out of their little fish minds. Or maybe she was in there's.

It made him think back to notes made about the tank's previous tenant, No Vriska could kill John no problem at this point.

And yet, she hadn't.

"Tarvos, get your ancestor on the line."

Inside the tank

John was pulled farther back into the air bubble and found himself caught in a wall of something sticky. He looked up and realized he was actually in gigantic underwater spiderweb; around him thousands of small air bubbles had formed together to make one gigantic one, the strands of spider silk held an odd silvery sheen in the bluish light.

"Whoa," was all he could say; speechless upon the realization of his surroundings.

"Why thank you. You have no idea how much work goes into building these things."

John tried to look over his shoulder but the few strands he was caught on did not allow much movement. He could just see her in the corner of his eye.

Outside of the tank Vriska was helpless and rather sad looking being unused to gravity and trying to walk on four clumsy legs. But here underwater she was in her element. She sat back, nestled between tree roots on just the edge of the web; a ring small air bubbles circled around her like a necklace giving her a steady supply of air.

"You- you can talk?"

"Surprise."

"Oh," John paused; the reality of the situation slowly sinking in. "So... So are you like some giant water spider then?"

Vriska rolled her eyes, "I'm a Diving Bell Spider. Come on John you've been working here a week and you don't know where anything is and you don't know the different residents?" She shook her head with a smile, "if you we my employee I would probably fire you by now."

"Well I haven't been here a full week."

"Tisk, tisk there are no excuses."

"Oh sorry... So um I kinda gotta ask, your not going to eat me or anything are you?"

"John."

She said his name in such a serious tone it caught him off guard; she stood up and, with a surprising amount of grace, swam around the outside of the bubble until she was in front of him.

"John I have invited you into my home and the first thing you do is question if I plan on eating you? That's incredibly rude, and here I thought you were capable of good manners."

"Well in my defense I think you more of kidnapped me then invited me. Also I'm trapped in a giant spider web which to be honest is equal parts cool and gross at the same time."

"Well I only put you in the web because you were freaking out and about to destroy the bubble."

"Well... Next time just give a guy a warning that's all."

At this she smiled, all eight eyes lighting up, "you have a deal."

Outside the tank

Sollux watched as the spider circled the bubble John was trapped in, it appeared that they were talking. TALKING.

They knew there was a chance she was capable of speech and Tarvos was certain she taunted him the last time he was in her tank. But to be having what appeared to be a full conversation with John…

Like Tarvos for many members of the Aquarium staff working here was more of a family thing. Sollux's own ancestor had been apart of the founding group that started the place acting as its first veterinarian. More people started joining including Tarvos' ancestor who was one of the first aquarium became successful in its environmentalist work often taking in animals who had been injured by human means. But then...

Strange creatures started appearing. They were very much like normal members of their species but also in possession of more humanoid characteristics. Several of them also had grown odd horns prompting the staff to call them Mertrolls. Many of them could be passed off as normal animals that could be placed in the regular tanks of the aquarium, others not so much.

Vriska had actually come in with another spider, one that only Tarvos' ancestor seemed to be able to handle, except he and many of the other older members of the aquarium staff had set off to investigate the possible origins of the Mertrolls including tracking down the whereabouts of some that they had released.

Tarvos came carrying a laptop with a web camera attached, on the screen was Summoner standing on a boat in what looked to be some tropical forest.

"Hey everyone how's it going," he said with a wave.

"Hi!" Tarvos shouted looking over the webcam, everyone shouted their greetings as Sollux pulled the laptop from Tarvos and held it up to the tank.

"We have a problem."

The Summoner went visibly pale for a second while looking at the tank.

"How long has he been in there?"

"No idea, we're guessing maybe fifteen minutes."

The Summoner nodded his head, "she won't kill him. Would have already done that if it was her intention. No the other one was like that to. Always had to have some control, hated being ignored, she was ruthless with prey food and even some of the staff but in instances like this she would not have been intending on making a kill.

"So what do we do?"

Summoner scratched his chin in thought, "Vriska was never nearly as dangerous as her even if they share many similarities. Also looks like she is talking to him and that's pretty new. The other one could but rarely did with any of the staff."

"She talked to you sometimes."

"Ah yeah, well..." The Summoner blushed and looked away from the camera, "she was... Fond of me, I found her actually not too far from our location now."

"You're tracking down the Marquise?!"

Summoner shrugged his shoulders, "yeah it's kinda ironic right?"

Inside the tank

Now that he realized that he wasn't going to be spider food John had actually settled down and started enjoying the awesomeness of being inside an aquarium tank. There were little air bubbles everywhere, strung along strands of spider silk which gave the whole place a silvery look.

"This is actually really beautiful, you made all of this yourself?"

Vriska blushed with pride, "most of it."

It occurred to John that the tank was huge, and I mean huge, standing in the hallway you would not be able to even see half of the tank; did Vriska really need all this space? Looking in one far corner he could see what looked like temple ruins, which was kinda cool so why wasn't that decor closer to the front of the tank? It was covered by an air bubble that was easily five times the size of the one John was in and it looked almost abandoned. Like Vriska took the time to maintain it but never actually used the bubble herself.

"Hey Vriska, did another spider use to live here?"

She grew very quiet and with as much grace as when she swam, Vriska pulled herself into the bubble so that she was standing next to John.

"Yes... It long time ago. I was just an itsy bitsy spider back then," she answered with a smile.

"Oh so was this like your Spidermom?"

"Ah no. I didn't call her mom."

"But she was still like a parent right?"

"Yes."

"You must really miss her."

At this Vriska look slightly outraged, "I don't need anybody, I'm fine!"

"Well," John pondered out loud, "if I lived in this gigantic tank all by myself, and it looked like I didn't receive that many visitors, I would be pretty lonely."

"They are all terrified of me, as they should be! All people do is press their ugly faces against the glass and stare, then when you try to 8e all awesome and cool they run away crying. No one can appreciate my fearsomeness."

"But you're actually pretty cool. I mean you are absolutely terrifying but in a cool way."

John found himself wrapped in a four-armed hug so strong it ripped him right of the spider web.

"John you are so sweet! You are welcome to come visit any time!"

"Gee thanks," John mumbled through the spidery embrace; it was a bit hard to breathe. Actually even when Vriska finally let go it was still a bit hard to breathe, something that Vriska noticed as well; "it seems all of your screaming used up more oxygen than you can go without."

"What? Oh crud I'm so sorry."

"John-"

"I mean I was really freaked out-"

"John-"

"I can hold my breath-"

"John!"

"Yes?"

"John go to sleep."

"Wha-"

And just like that John was asleep.

Outside the tank.

They all watched in fascination as, without warning, John fell asleep. With the utmost care the spider used two of her arms to extract him from the air bubble while simultaneously wrapping a smaller bubble around his head with her other set of arms. She then gently pushed him to the surface of the tank before retreating back down and out of sight into another air pocket.

"Well," said the Summoner who was still watching from the webcam, "I guess that's, that."

They found John floating on the surface of the tank, snoring.

You flash forwards two weeks into the future.

Things are back at whatever level things are considered normal here at the aquarium. Well with the addition of a few changes.

Rumor had spread that the Diving Bell Spider had held an employee prisoner in her tank, so naturally everyone wanted to come see her. To say the Vriska enjoyed the attention would be a gross understatement.

John still works as the aquarium mascot and now knows his way around the aquarium pretty well, many of the animals were actually really helpful in teaching him where everything was. Except the one they called Eridanfish who didn't really seem too keen on making new friends.

"Hey Dave," John called out to a small penguin wearing sunglasses as it waddled by.

"Werk," responded Dave as he went on to- to do whatever it was penguins did all day, probably something cool but ironically penguin-like.

John walked on to the employee break room and dumped the turtle costume, changing into a shirt with the aquarium logo on it. In addition to his mascot duties John had also been made into an honorary animal trainer of sorts being in charge of one animal in particular.

After closing when it was dinner time John and Sollux walked to the platform overlooking the spider tank and lifted the door on the grate. John was actually there to feed her while Sollux merely to observe her behavior.

"Do you do this with all the animals," John asked.

Sollux pushed up the rim of his two-colored glasses, "only the weird ones."

John was now one of the few people Vriska seemed to tolerate, and they were all more than happy to pass on the task of delivering her dinner to him. Also, he just liked visiting her.

Vriska had not said a single word to any of them since the tank incident, either because she couldn't or wouldn't , but John can talk enough for both of them.

"So this morning I got to meet Feferi, I didn't know you all had an actual mermaid here! She's really nice its a shame she has to be hidden away from everyone."

This bit of conversation Vriska seemed rather bored with, it was the next part that she perked up to.

"Kanaya said today you had a record number of visitors, did you really scare a guy so bad that he peed his pants?"

At this Vriska began to reenact how she had charged at the tank wall with a still alive fish in her mouth. From above it was kinda funny but to the visitor whom she was charging at it was apparently not.

Somewhere in a tropical forest river.

The Summoner finished reading the latest email from Tarvos, it looked like Vriska was making real progress thanks to this John guy. Vriska had come to the aquarium as an egg, smuggled in by the Marquise he guessed. Of the two he considered Marquise to be far more dangerous and for some reason only responded to him; though any interaction with her was still a huge risk. They had returned her to the river she was found in with a small tracker in order to monitor her movements but with news of a river monster attacking boats they decided to go check on his old eight legged friend.

A normal Diving Bell Spider, in addition to being nice and small, also only lived maybe a year or two. Not only was the Marquise even bigger than Vriska but she had also been alive for possibly decades. What was more the river they were currently in was more of a brackish water, a mixture of fresh and salt water, but a normal Diving Bell Spider only lived in lakes and freshwater rivers; also the other day they had spotted a spider similar in size to Vriska if not slightly larger but the creature had evaded them.

The Sea Trolls it seemed were to be proving more and more interesting as time went on.

Now they were in the area of the tracking signal, a part of the river that was frightenly quiet; the Marquise had always seemed to have a strange influence over the aquatic creatures around her, earning her the nickname Mindfang and apparently a reputation in this part of the river.

It had grown dark and Summoner was quietly scanning the water with a flashlight, behind him there was a dark chuckle.

"This is the part where the sea monster attacks the ship."

Summoner turned to see Handmaid standing behind him, though usually just an animal trainer back at the aquarium, her fierce and persistent nature made her a valuable asset to the expedition. What was more, as she was never afraid of a fight, if worse was to come to worse she was probably the only one who could get in a fight with Mindfang and win.

"Ha, ha don't joke like that," Summoner laughed putting his arm behind his head. "Don't you know it's when one person says stuff like that is usually when the- AHH!"

The boat suddenly tilted at an alarming angle sending both of them flying.

Summoner smashed into the railing and something surprisingly soft like velvet. He looked up to see one long spindly leg hooked over the side of the railing another one slowly reaching out to grab the boat. He could hear Handmaid shouting orders to the crew as they rushed to somehow stabilize the boat before they capsized.

"Everyone stand on the other side!" Shouted Handmaid, her glare burning in the now lit deck lights of the boat. The crew rushed to the opposite side of the boat tilting it in their direction and hopefully making it more difficult for the giant spider to climb on board.

Indeed her grip on the railing slipped and the was a large splash as something hit the water. Summoner clicked his flashlight back on and looked over the boat railing.

There, just below the surface of the water was the Marquise. Looking directly up at him with all four of her arms folded as if she were scolding him, yet at the same time she had a very amused smile on her face.

Summoner looked back at the crew, "hey everyone, you'll never guess who stopped by to say hello!"

Chapter Text

I definitely don't own Homestuck (there would be a lot less death if I did).

On with the show!

Somewhere on a river deep in a tropical forest.

This was not in any way part of the original plan.

They call you the Summoner, which is a pretty awesome title if you had to say so yourself. Only right now the situation isn't completely about you. Well it kind of is but it is more so about the new….guest you and your crew have acquired. You and your team had been traveling down a river deep in the jungle, looking for an old acquaintance of sorts; only instead she found you.

You sit on an old create on the deck of the small ship. You had hardly slept for two days but you certainly were not about to take a nap now. After a rather surprising reunion in which she nearly caused the ship to capsized she began playing an odd game of Hide and Seek.

Cue flashback.

She would at anytime appear out of nowhere; flash of eyes below the surface of the water, a sudden lurch as something rammed the boat, there was even one time when the boat propeller was found jammed up with spider silk. This went on for a week leaving the crew terrified to so much as even look over the side of the deck and unsure about what to actually do. The original mission had been to simply investigate the reported sightings of the Marque, but now there was concern about what would happen when she finally decided to end the game?

The answer came a great deal sooner than expected.

About a week after the first sighting there was a sudden full day of inactivity from the spider, which was unsettling. That evening Summoner along with a few crew members and the Handmaid kept a quiet watch on the deck. For a long time all was quiet save for the usual sounds of the jungle, it was somewhat peaceful and Summoner almost didn't notice when even the jungle was silent. There was a sudden crash from the trees above as something of a monstrous size came down landing on the ship with such force the entire vessel tilted forward at an alarming angle, the back of the boat completely leaving the water. There was an unearthly screech much like a battle cry as the Marque lashed out at the crew. Summoner heard a shout for help and looked up to see a crew member pinned beneath the giant spider, her jaws opened wide showing sharp fangs, one red eye gleaming in the dim lights. The Marque lunged, only to be held back by Summoner who had dove between the two. Seven eyes fixed on him before something rammed into her side with enough strength the spider lost her balance and fell. The Handmaid stood over the spider as another crew member ran up and wasted no time administering a tranquilizer. Between the sudden disorientation and sedative, the Marque was quickly subdued.

But now this lead to the current situation.

End Flashback

You stood up and stretched, slowly walking over to the tank that now held the giant Diving Bell Spider. It was a large tub just large and deep enough so she could float which was vital as in addition to not being fully accustomed to gravity while on land, gravity was not accustomed to her, meaning she could potentially have vital organs crushed by her own weight if kept out of the water for too long. They couldn't even begin to imagine how she managed to crawl up a tree but suspected this wasn't the first time she had gone for a walk. In addition to being kept in the tank They had given the Marque enough sedatives to knock out a small Asian Elephant, which ironically was the rough estimate given of her size. While not completely sending her to sleep she was certainly quite out of it. She looks up at you with a lazy smile, that spark in her eye that usually signaled her thirst for trouble dim yet still visible.

You sighed and sat down by tank, seven eyes and a red one following you with a tired interest. Tomorrow they would reach the end of the river where it met the sea, and a decent sized research vessel that served as a moving home base of sorts. But even then their adventure would not be over.

It was going to be a very, very long trip.

At The Aquarium

Your name is John, and you have a pretty cool job.

You decided that just this morning as you were eating your breakfast, yes, you have a pretty cool job. Your job is working part time at the local aquarium where you act as both a costumed mascot, entertaining the masses and bringing delight to the faces of visiting young people everywhere, and helping to take care of the aquarium's many animal residents. As it was you only had to fulfill your duties as mascot during the morning hours today.

It is now the afternoon and you are hanging up your turtle costume for the day ready to go off and visit the different tanks and all your new animal friends when you are suddenly stopped by the resident vet Sollux.

"Hey," he mumbles.

"Afternoon Sollux what can I do for you?"

Sollux squints at you from behind his bi-colored glasses, "geez why do you have to be so chipper all the time? Do you just eat a bowl of sugar with a side of sunshine for breakfast everyday?"

"Uh no, I just had some toast."

"I was being facetious," Sollux lisped.

"Being what?"

"Facetious."

"... What?"

"F-A-C-E-T-I-O-U-S! Facet- oh never mind, forget it."

"Oh," you replied not totally sure what facetious means.

Sollux took a deep breath to calm himself, "anyway we have to pull the spider in for a vet check so come on."

You followed Sollux down the hallway to the tank of Vriska the Diving Bell Spider. You had just helped a few weeks ago in bringing Vriska to Sollux's lab for a checkup after what was now known as the tank incident.

Wait a minute.

"Hey Sollux, why another check up so soon?"

Sollux shrugged like he didn't know, with a look that said he knew more than he wanted presumed that he did. "She just needs her vaccines updated."

The two of you approach the edge of a platform overlooking the tank of the Diving Bell Spider. It looked as though Vriska had added a few more strings of bubbles here and there; however there was still that one far corner, the strange lonely spot of ancient aquarium decoration with its own web and air pocket. John watched as Vriska emerged from between two fake tree roots and swam to the surface.

"Hi Vriska," John grunted as he and Sollux opened the heavy grate door that covered the tank. "You have another vet check today so if you- no, no don't swim away!" You shout as Vriska dives back down to the bottom of the tank.

"Whatever you do, don't say the V word," Sollux whispered.

"What vet?"

"No you seaweed brain, the v-a-c-c-i-n-e word."

"Oh, okay got it."

You ponder for a moment, unsure how to coax Vriska out. The last time you had brought fish to bribe her with but this time it seems you and Sollux have forgotten to bring any. So how could you convince her to come out?

You are suddenly aware of a brilliant idea forming in your head.

Oh yeah that is actually really brilliant! A real lightbulb moment. You remember how as a kid you were terrified of shots and hated going to the doctor, so your dad had come up with a very clever way to calm you down and more importantly get you into the car so it was too late for you to escape.

"Hey Vriska, you really don't want to go for a checkup do you? Well thats okay, how about Sollux agrees to wait until next week to have you come in, would that be alright?"

"What? No she can't wait until next week! We have to-"

"Make sure Vriska is happy and healthy yeah I know Sollux but lets hold it off until next week," you cut in giving a small wink."

Luckily Sollux catches on fast, "oh well… alright, I suppose we could wait a week, it's not like it's very important or anything…"

The two of you watch as Vriska slowly pokes her head out her hiding place at the bottom of the tank. "Yeah so Vriska since I'm here you and I can just hang out for a while, you can show me all the redecorating I see you've been doing."

Vriska swam up to the tank surface with a proud look on her face, eager to show all of her hard work to someone who would appreciate it, unlike the janitor who still refuses to come and change the light bulbs around her tank. Just as Vriska broke the surface Sollux shouted "now!"

The two of you reach down and with all your strength haul Vriska right out of the water.

"Grab the stretcher, grab the stretcher!" You shout as you hold on to a very upset Diving Bell Spider who is battling both you and the weight of gravity to get back to her tank.

Sollux pulls over the stretcher and thankfully Vriska loses in the fight against gravity which allows the two of you to place her on the stretcher and carry her off to Sollux's clinic.

You are already standing in Sollux's clinic.

You are now the casual observer of a scene! Your invisibility to the world around you allows you to be a proverbial fly on the wall. But not a literal one which is good because two guys just carried a scary big spider into the room.

"Ok let's set her down here," Sollux said with a jerk of his head towards an examination table.

Looking around the room you see all the necessary equipment that signals this is a veterinary clinic and specifically for marine life including a row of tanks in which one is an agitated Erifish who had lost his glasses which caused him to bump his head on a fake rock in his tank. There was now a bandage plastered over the bump, how it stuck on in saltwater you have no idea but it's pretty impressive none the less.

"Alright I need you to hold her down while I give her the vaccines, should take just a moment if she holds sti- if she holds still! John hold her still!"

John wrapped his arms around a panicked Vriska who nearly fell off the table in her struggle for freedom.

"Hey Vriska," John grunted, "I know how tough and brave you are; there is no way you're afraid of a few needles right?"

At this challenge the spider took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. Sollux quickly dipped a few towels in water before wrapping them around her save for one of her arms. This was actually really important since as a creature that spent all her time underwater, even though she breathed air, Vriska still needed to keep her skin wet or she would become quite sick; something she narrowly avoided during her escape attempt Sollux had noted.

Two quick vaccines later Vriska was ready to be sent back to her tank and Sollux was scribbling a few notes on his clipboard when a little "ping" from the computer at one end of the room signaled an email. Sollux walked over and pulled up the message to read before he swore under his breath and removed his two-colored glasses in order to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"What's wrong?" John asked

Sollux turned and looked at both him and the spider for a long moment, as if unsure whether or not to say anything. Finally he sat down at a desk chair with his arms resting over the back, he sighed and replaced his glasses.

"Ok then well, I guess you haven't quit yet so you're crazy enough to put up with our crazy, crazy. But it's about to get crazier so too late to back out. So you remember how we have some people out doing research?"

"Um… Oh yeah! They're looking for animals you all have released back into the wild right?"

"Yes… Well they found one."

"Oh they did? Hey that's actually pretty cool, so was it like this reunion for everyone."

"Oh yeah its going to be a reunion for everyone all right." Sollux sighed in frustration again, "They weren't planning on it but she has been causing so much trouble where she is and it's this or let local villagers attempt to kill her… attempt that is… Geez this is so great you know? Absolutely fantastic, one of the last of these things I would ever want to come back is coming back you know what would make this even better? If that behemoth GHB decided to come visit Kurloz and Gamzee for a family reunion… Actually you weren't here for any of that so never mind. Just know this is bad, like three train stops and a taxi ride away from ok. No wait, we're are an entire country away from ok and the best part is there is only one tank that is ready to facilitate her."

"What?"

"John… Whenever we introduce a new animal to one of the tanks we make sure all the current residents are up to date on their vaccines…"

They both turned to look a Vriska. Gravity was not being kind to the spider who was currently laid out on the table covered in wet towels, however she had managed to turn her head so all eight eyes were looking at Sollux, her expression unreadable.

At the edge of the tropical forest river

The Handmaid watched with what appeared to be mild interest at the scene before her, though actually she was just multi tasking. Many of the villages being plagued by Mindfang were more than happy to have her gone, however there were two villages that wanted her head due to the trouble she caused, there was also the worry about poachers rumored to be in the area.

They had made it to the coastline and were met by a research vessel just off the shore. They had stopped to prepare the Marquise for transport when she spotted it. A odd looking kid was poking her head from behind a tree which she was also leaning on for support, the girl almost looked unstable on her feet with short dark hair and a pair of glasses. She was watching the boat so intensely she almost didn't notice the Handmaid watching her however upon realizing she had been caught the girl stumbled back into the forest. She had no idea who the kid was going to report to but regardless it wasn't good.

"Alright!" She shouted, "it's time to pick up the pace everyone we gotta move!"

15 minutes later the boat was moving out to the larger vessel.

The problem was that the larger boat could obviously not come right to shore without fear of getting stuck, however there was no easy way to climb aboard from the smaller boat especially with their new guest. The solution was the crane aboard the research vessel, usually reserved for moving heavy cargo onto the ship today it held a large canvas that cradled the Marquise almost like a hammock, only her long hair and an odd leg or two was exposed. Summoner had suggested they run the risk of upping the sedative a bit more for the occasion, it was something they would never do out of fear it would cause problems however given the big move it was probably best that the Marquise was out cold.

Within the hour the spider was safely below deck in a large tank. The tank itself had been originally designed to act as temporary housing anything up to the size of a Beluga Whale, that being said the Marquise was still somewhat cramped in her new home.

"The problem is all the legs, same as last time. We should have learned from last time why didn't we?" The Summoner sighed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"You're right we should have learned yet we didn't but we also did not count that she would have grown since then, it doesn't matter now. What does matter is that we get her to safety as quickly as possible. I've been told we can be back home in about three or so days provided the weather is good."

The Summoner turned and looked at the man beside him who in turn was looking up at the Marquise with the concerned expression of someone meeting an old friend who parted on bitter terms. "So crazy," thought Summoner, "But that was the Signless for you."

Their friendship had started years ago, the aquarium actually began as a dream of the Signless along with a handful of others as a place where all marine life could be cared for and appreciated. However it was still an aquarium, something that the Summoner, who had always been a very passionate animal rights activist, had been against. However when he came protesting the Signless was not upset and wanting him gone, instead he invited the Summoner to tour the place and speak with the employees about the care of the aquarium residents. It wasn't long before the Summoner began dropping in to offer his expertise in everything from wilderness survival, to animal care, and even his skills as a helicopter pilot; all of which was beyond needed when the Sea Trolls began to appear.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" The Summoner asked, "I mean she's dangerous to everyone around her. She's trouble to the aquarium staff, more so to the animals, and you remember why we let her go in the first place right?"

The Signless folded his arms and seemed for a moment as if in deep thought. "This is true but think what would have happened if we had just left her, if we did nothing. Also we let her go because she was healthy and ready to be released back into the wild where we thought was the best place for her. The security breaches were trouble yes but she was never the worst resident that is for certain. The staff that will be working with her are prepared this time and maybe by not being alone in her tank this time she will be much calmer"

"Or she will kill Vriska."

"We won't know until we try and besides the plan is to introduce the two slowly. Technically they sort of already know each other."

The two of them looked on at the spider. The Marquise was still asleep, somewhat floating with her long hair fanning out around her creating an oddly serene look to her.

How misleading.

Afterhours at the aquarium

It had been two days since John learned about Vriska's new tankmate, he did not have work yesterday and today the place had been packed with visitors. It was evening now and the aquarium had long been closed for the day, John offered to feed the spider and came to the edge of her tank carrying a large bucket of a few very unfortunate fish. He lifted the grate and looked down into the tank, Vriska had certainly been busy. Several webbs had been rearranged or taken away making much more space and room to admire the more intricate web designs. John couldn't help but compare it to a kid cleaning their room before a parent saw the mess and gave a chuckle at the thought, only to frown when he realized that Vriska was still tucked away in one far air bubble and refusing to look up at him.

"Hey Vriska its dinner time!" John sang as he poured the bucket into the tank below. The fish swam for cover but their intended hunter did not stir which was weird to John as Vriska never said no to food.

"Hey… Are you ok? Vriska?"

Still the spider did not move.

"Do you want to talk?"

Nothing.

John stood there for a moment debating what to do before finally taking off his shoes and his shirt; he took a deep breath, then jumped.

The water was cold but not freezing, he tried to swim down but unfortunately soon found himself tangled up in a web. John began to panic, already feeling the pain in his lungs for want of air; he felt a strong grip on his arm and with one pull Vriska freed him of the web and yanked him down to an air bubble.

"I worked on that web for hours!" Vriska hissed, "Now look at it, look what you've done!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I just wanted to talk-"

"Well go talk to someone else!"
"No."

The spider looked at John in surprise, "yes you will."

John felt almost a weird buzzing in the back of his head which was annoying but chose to ignore it; "no Vriska I won't".

The Diving Bell Spider seemed bewildered before giving a quiet chuckle; "some of you are so weird never listening to what I say and doing what I tell you unless its sleep. But of course you don't listen to me John you're too hard headed to otherwise…"

John wasn't totally sure what she meant but if there was one thing he was bad at it was dealing with awkward silences.

"... So… Yeah, um… So I guess you're getting a tankmate, get it? Tankmate? See I combined the word tank with roommate and-"

"Yeah John I get it."

"Oh… So how are you?"

"... I don't know which I don't like because if there is one thing I can't stand it's not knowing. I mean I was really little when she left but I grew up learning all these amazing stories about who she was and how amazing and cool a spider. She was so feared and respected… And now she's coming back. Know why they brought her here to begin with? She was the scourge of a huge river system attacking boats and villages as she pleased. When she was brought here she commanded respect from everyone! I always wanted to be just like her… And now she's coming back."

Vriska became quiet and stared off at the far corner of the tank; that one particular corner with the lonely air pocket. Now it made sense to John, this was never originally Vriska's tank. How weird did it have to be, to be surrounded by reminders of someone you could never remember but still to be filled with so much expectation.

"But now you'll get to meet her, and anyways I think you should be more yourself than be someone you technically don't even know. I mean it just seems to me that she will respect you a lot more if you are yourself than like a mini her. I mean I haven't met this other spider but the one I know as Vriska is pretty cool."

John found himself pulled into a four armed hug, "for someone who is so thick headed you can be really sweet sometimes John."

It was only after when John was climbing back out of the tank that it really hit him. Looking down at the spider tank below John had always been thrown off by the how big the tank was for someone Vriska's size but now that he knew the tank had originally been meant for another spider… Vriska was roughly John's height, so just how big was the other one going to be?

Back at the research vessel

It is late at night by now and the ship is well and on its way and all is quiet save for one set of footsteps coming down a hall. The Signless was a man often lost in thought, just as he was now. Delorosa often teased him not to be so when walking or he would run into something, which he did often. In fact which he does right at this moment walking right into a door without so much as glancing up. He had been thinking of what would happen when the two spiders were to meet. He only knew Vriska through reports made by the staff back at the aquarium. She was in many ways quite like her larger counterpart and yet not as threatening. The Marquise had long ago controlled a river system like a pirate controls their part of the sea, with a fearsome and iron fist. She often raided ships and villages making use of even human objects including the construction of a bomb when attacked by a mob of angry villagers.

Needless to say it ended terribly.

Despite losing an arm and an eye when she brought to the aquarium the first time only the Summoner could control her wild behavior. Mindfang could not be kept with any of the other creatures, she was a danger to the staff, she often made escapes causing a massive grate to be placed over her tank, and then there was that one time… Checking on another incident there had been an animal protection officer visiting the aquarium, had she not been able to assist… Signless dreaded to think what would have happened. It was the officer that insisted the spider be dealt with and considering the Marquise had long since recovered from her injuries the Signless agreed it was time to let her go. They had hoped by releasing her in such a remote river all would be well but clearly this had proven to be untrue.

The door the Signless had ran into actually lead down to the hold where the spider was being kept. The Summoner had offered to keep first watch over her but considering how little sleep he had due to his charge the Signless thought it best to relieve him for the night. He wasn't surprised to see the Summoner fast asleep in a chair, his head propped up in one hand. What caught him off guard what the Marquise.

How she had worked of the sedatives so soon he had no idea but there she was wide awake and leaning halfway out of her tank, one of her long arms reaching down as she played with the Summoner's tufts of red hair.

She looked up at the Signless and gave a wicked grin before quietly sliding back into the water as if nothing happened.

"Good grief," the Signless thought to himself, "we're not even there yet!"

The Signless pulled up a chair and sighed as he sat down in front of the tank, already dreading the long night ahead of him.

End

As always comments are appreciated!

Chapter Text

After hours at the aquarium

John finds himself staying much later than usual at the aquarium, however there is good reason for it.

He decided not to tell anyone quite yet about talking with Vriska again; yes the fact that she spoke again was something the aquarium staff should know but he just felt like that the conversation should be kept private. He pondered over this as he now walked the dim halls of the aquarium. How crazy was it that he was friends with a giant spider! Then on top of that an even bigger spider was coming!

John turned a corner and stopped, in front of him was the aquarium's janitor Karkat who was mopping the floor while humming some 90's pop song. John had come from a proud family of pranksters and passing up this opportunity to pull a prank on Karkat would practically have been considered dishonorable! Besides his joking instincts simply wouldn't allow it...

Karkat had been through quite a long day and now it was nice to do something as mindless as mopping, plus no one was around so he could sing along to his MP3.

"If you wanna be my lover! You gotta get with my friends. Make it last forever, friendship never ends! I you wanna be-"

"HI KARKAT!"

"AHH!"

The next thing Karkat knew he was sitting in a puddle, the mop clanging against one of the tanks, and the mop bucket covering his head...

John was caught between apologizing and fits of hysterical laughter.

"Bwhaha! I'm so sorry Karkat- hahaha- I didn't mean- hehehe- oh man your face! Haha!"

Karkat had pulled the bucket off his head and was now glaring at the new guy John with as much poisonous hatred as he could muster.

"Oh yeah go ahead and laugh it up, don't mind that I could have broken my neck and died, leaving you to laugh like some demented hyena over a corpse. You psycho. I hope you really enjoyed this."

"Oh geez Karkat I'm sorry I never meant for you to slip and fall."

"Well I did slip and fall so how do you feel? Are you feeling guilty then good because maybe that means you have some small amount of a heart John, your think-pan however must be totally empty to pull a stunt like that!"

"Whoa ok now calm down-"

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN BECAUSE I WILL NOT-"

"Karkat calm down!"

Both John and Karkat turned to see the aquarium director Kanaya walking towards them in a brisk fashion. John had only been at the aquarium a short time but already knew that the clicking of her designer heels signaled that she meant business.

"Karkat are you alright?"

"No I am not! I have a bucket on my head!"

"But are you hurt?"

"... No I'm ok."

"Alright then go get dried off while i have this mess cleaned up. John no more shenanigans and I mean it, this is an aquarium not a playground." She looked down at John with a look as frightening as the chainsaw he had seen her use to trim the topiaries outside.

John gave a quiet gulp, "yes ma'am."

She gave a sweet smile at this, "good then go see Sollux I will join you shortly to discuss the nature of your disciplinary action."

"Wait what! But it was an accident-"

"Go Mr. Egbert!"

"Yes ma'am."

John scurried down the hall towards Sollux's clinic. He couldn't believe how quickly that all went wrong, it was just a harmless prank! Now not only was Karkat angry with him but now he was in trouble with Kanaya, what if she had him fired? He couldn't lose this job he would miss it too much.

This thought stopped John dead in his tracks, how quickly this had become more than just a source of income to him. At school he had yet to declare his major. He was planning on going with theater as he wanted to be in comedy but now... He had never been the best in his science classes but more and more he had been thinking about the Maine Biology Degree that was offered at his college. What he wanted he realized was to continue working at the aquarium, but he couldn't be a mascot forever

At Sollux's clinic

Sollux was staying... Actually about the time he usually does. A veterinarian's job is never really done, especially if he is one of only a small handful on staff at an aquarium. There was a lab tech on hand but... His work was more geared towards understanding the Sea Trolls rather than caring from them. Sollux was intently studying a tank and it's occupant when an upset John walked in. Sollux looked up with a mild interest.

"So this is the first time I've ever seen you not all chipper," Sollux whispered.

John sighed and sat down at one of the stools, "ugh yeah I really messed up. You see-"

"Whatever you can tell me later, be quiet and come over here I need to show you something."

John gave the vet a puzzled look before getting up and walking over to the tank Sollux was observing. Inside was oddly enough a sleeping Erifish.

"What?"

"Hush," Sollux harshly whispered, "just wait."

They watched the sleeping fish for a few minutes, it occurred to John that something was off but he couldn't quite place his figure on it; until he realized what he was actually looking at. The Erifish was sleeping but he was asleep on the bottom of his tank on his side, did fish actually do that? The next thing John realized was that the Erifish was now in a much larger tank than before, but why? Sollux looked at his watch then scribbled something on his clipboard before adjusting his glasses and peering closely at the tank.

"Here he goes."

"What?"

'POOF!'

John was very startled to see now instead of the little sleeping Erifish there was now a large ray asleep in the tank, one with lightning shaped horns and surprisingly humanoid features.

"What the-!"

"Shh! Don't wake him up." Sollux hissed before making more scribbles on his clipboard. "So I have to tell you a bit of a story. Remember when we introduced you to Feferi?"

Que Flashback

The next day after The Tank Incident John was given a tour of some of the closed off exhibits at the aquarium including one very special one. Kanaya lead John down the hall to a large tank that connected to a larger one that was view-able by the public only this section of it was inaccessible.

"We only allow a handful of employees down this wing but given your rough introduction to the Sea Trolls we felt that you have earned the privilege."

"I'm sorry but the Sea-what?"

"Kanaya turned and gave a smile, "aquatic creatures such as Vriska whom you met yesterday. You claimed that you had mistaken her for a human right?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Did you also notice her horns?"

John thought for a moment, "yeah actually I did they kinda reminded me of candy corn, you know the colors? Actually now that I think about it there are a couple animals around here with horns like that."

"Yes very observant. Well I would like you to meet the first."

They came around a corner and found a little girl with a blue cat hat and a green jacket playing with a pink plastic tea set by the tank wall.

Inside the tank was a mermaid.

"John I would like you to meet a frequent visitor of ours Nepeta as well as our dear Feferi."

Feferi, like Vriska, had grey skin and a pair of bright horns only hers seemed to curve backwards. She wore a bright tank with many bracelets and a pair of swim goggles, her cheerful face framed by a massive amount of flowing hair. However where her waist ended a beautiful fuchsia colored fish tail began.

"How purrfect of you to join us Ms. Kanaya! Oh you brought a new friend too!" The little girl exclaimed as she jumped up and ran to the aquarium director holding out a tea cup, "you can join us in meower tea party."

Kanaya politely took the cup and held it with one pinky extended, "why thank you Nepeta but I'm afraid I am only here to introduce our new employee John to Feferi."

At the sound of his name John was suddenly aware that his mouth had been hanging open the entire time.

That was a mermaid.

Wow.

She was playing tea party with a small child dressed like a cat.

Double wow.

Feferi smiled at John and waved her hand in greeting before holding up her teacup and signaling that Nepeta should invite John to play also.

Which lead to an afternoon of the four of them drinking imaginary tea.

End Flashback!

John shook his head, wow that was a long flashback.

"Yeah I remember, Kanaya told me afterwards that she was found?"

Sollux nodded, " on the beach during a storm. She was a little thing then but she was the first and after she was found others started turning up including this jerk," Sollux whispered as he quietly tapped the tank with the tip of his pen.

"But why does he change like that?" John whispered. Sollux shrugged his shoulders, "no idea. It's why I keep him separated from the other one aside from the fact that he was dumb enough to hurt himself on a fake rock. Anyway come on, I need to take you to see him."

"See who?"

"The other one."

"Other what?"

The two leave the clinic and walk down the long hallway, entering a door that lead down a few flights of stairs that John was certain that he had never been down before.

"So when the Erifish is asleep we decided to call him Eridan. He only seemed to change like that when he is in a deep sleep and we still don't know is that's just something his kind does or he is simply weird... Er than our usual."

"Aw come on I don't think the little guy is that bad."

"Maybe not to you but he certainly doesn't like me. Anyways it's time you met one of the ancestors so you knew exactly why we are all so positively ecstatic about Spider Queen's comeback."

"Wait what?"

Sollux opened the door to a very larger room with a lone tank in the middle. Inside the tank was a massive ray-like creature with a pair of lightning shaped horns.

"We call him Dualscar. You know, because of the scars in his face."

John already understood that the Sea Trolls had very humanoid features, he had already a mistaken Vriska for a girl in a spider costume, but seeing a creature that was easily three times your size and looking so human was almost frightening.

Much like Feferi, Dualscar's upper body was like that of a person but instead of having a fish tail he had the tail of a stingray; in addition a set of long wings much like a ray's were attached under the arms. He had a very stern, yet quiet face. His violet eyes locked on to the two newcomers to the lonely room where he was kept. Around his waist, John noticed, was bandage wrap.

"Not too long after we found Feferi this big guy showed up hurt, we think he had been in a fight with another Sea Troll that we also picked up that day that we call Grand High Blood or GHB for short. That behemoth was nothing but trouble and often attacked the Walruses Gamzee and Kurloz so we released him. This one stayed a little longer but we decided to let him go as well. We set up a tracker on both much like we did for the one that's coming which is good. A while back we picked up Dualscar's signal not too far off the coast and learned that he had been captured and badly hurt by a fishing vessel. There was an animal rescue team on scene thank goodness and they identified Dualscar's tracker so he came back for treatment along with the two Sea Trolls with him one of which is Eridan."

At Eridan's name Dualscar's stern demeanor broke at a wave of concern that washed over his face; he looked at Sollux as if waiting for more to be said.

The vet sighed, "he's back in the clinic after banging his head on a rock; was trying to impress Feferi with a back flip."

Dualscar put his head in a webbed hand, his shoulders sagging as if he was giving a deep sigh of frustration. After a moment Dualscar then looked back up and pointed at John in confusion as if to ask what he was doing here.

Sollux answered, "this is John, he's the new guy stupid enough to work here-"

"and there is still the nature of his serious infraction of an unsafe workplace that must be dealt with."

John jumped at the sound of The director's voice; oh yeah that's right, he was still in trouble.

Kanaya came walking in with a printed email in her hand while resting on top of her head was of all things, a small pink octopus.

John had heard about this but didn't believe it was actually true until now. Apparently the octopus in question was named Rose and was the favorite of the museum director. Octopuses were known for their great intelligence and Rose was no exception having somehow gotten a hold of a pair of knitting needles. As a joke one of the aquarium staff had given her a ball of yarn to accompany them and to everyone's surprise Rose taught herself how to knit. In addition to this the creature seemed to be just as fond of the director as the latter to her, even risking being exposed to air for too long so as to accompany Kanaya almost everywhere.

The director gently picked Rose up and tipped her into Dualscar's tank, the great ray backing away from the small pink ball knowing on instinct that messing with her could have serious consequences, and not just from the director. As for Rose she seemed to calmly survey the people around her as if trying to psychoanalyze them.

"D-director you're here," John stuttered. "So... How are things?"

The director arched one eyebrow at the terrified employee, clearly John was still in trouble for what happened earlier. Sollux and Dualscar were about as interested as students whose classmate had just been called up by the teacher.

"Considering Karkat did not break anything I suppose things are well," the director answered. "However he did refuse to mop up the puddles of water around the spider tank. Care to explain why they were there in the first place?"

"Oh um... Well Vriska has been kind of..."

"Did she speak to you?"

"... Yes, but it was a bit of a private conversation I think she just needed someone to talk to about stuff."

"What stuff?"

"Private. Conversation"

"Tell. Me"

"... I think she's nervous about spidermom- ah I mean the other spider that's coming back, that one- wait what's up?"

John looked in confusion at the two aquarium staff, they had frozen in fear at the mention of the new spider and we're now eyeing Dualscar. The Ray was shaking in quiet fury, gripping the edge of his tank with so tightly John feared he may crack the class.

"Yeah buddy I think we're all in the same boat on this one," Sollux said.

"Um... Is he ok?"

"He and the Marquise... Well they... They loved to hate each other."

They decided to leave Dualscar alone, the Ray now swimming in irritated circles around his tank.

"So uh, how long has he been down there?" John asked as the three of them plus Rose the Octopus walked back up to Sollux's clinic.

"His injuries were severe, he's almost ready to be moved back to his original tank from the last time he was with us but right now he's under observation. Of all the Ancestors Dualscar was a handful but not the worst to deal with," Sollux answered as he fished out the keys to the clinic door.

Kanaya continued, "we think he may have first come looking for Feferi. Both he and Eridan have always been quite attentive of her but it's one of the great mysteries we are dealing with here. It was only after Feferi was found that the other Sea Trolls began to appear; some of them like Dualscar and Eridan appear to be related somehow but we're not totally sure hence using the term ancestors. All of them seem to have some talent or quirk about them but it's still being researched. It's like piecing together a giant jigsaw puzzle with too many missing pieces and the biggest missing piece is just exactly where the Sea Trolls come from or why we have never seen them before. That is why we have so many in the field right now studying the and of course this is where you come in John."

"Wait me?"

"Oh yes it is part of the terms of your punishment. In addition to losing free snack privileges at the snack bar for a month you will also be apart of the team monitoring the spider tank."

"Wait, I had snack bar privileges?"

"Not anymore."

"Gee great... So what is it I'll be doing?"

"Well think of it as being like Vriska's spokesman, she seems to respond well to you so who better to help us monitor how she handles the new tank addition. Besides you seem to have a much... Safer reaction to the Diving Bell Spider's talents."

"Talents?"

At this Sollux cut in, "you fall asleep sometimes around Vriska's tank, do you ever hear a voice telling you to go to sleep?"

A thought clicked with John, going back to the day of the tank incident, "well Vriska outright told me to go to sleep... And... And I did but I don't know why."

Sollux nodded, "the other one was nicknamed Mindfang, and for good reason."

Chapter Text

On the research vessel

There was one member of the crew that stayed away from the excitement of the Marquise being brought aboard, but in the quiet hours now approached the spider's tank with a morbid curiosity. The two men guarding the tank looked on with apprehension as the spider watched her new visitor arrive. Though the Summoner had gained a very special place in the spider's heart for some reason, this newcomer had always been one of odd fascination to the her though no one understood it. And then there was the day it was decided for Mindfang to leave.

Flashback

She was the mom, she was everyone's mom really and she treated all who knew her with a motherly affection. The Delorosa had adopted and raised Signless as her own, going on to fully support his dream of opening the aquarium, following his ambition with great pride. As part of the many duties she carried out each day her personal favorite was greeting the aquarium residents each morning before they opened; it was a task not required of her but one that she always took care to do.

The Delorosa glided down the hall saying good morning to the various creatures with a smile as she went before rounding the corner to the Freshwater Wing.

"Good morning Marquise," she greeted short nod before moving on, "let's be on our best behavior today."

"Good morning."

Delorosa was stopped short at the greeting, the voice was not from the air but from inside her own head, yet it was so clear it was as if someone was speaking directly into her ear. She turned, as usual the spider was in her nest towards the back of the tank. Watching her visitor with wrapped interest.

Delorosa shook her head in confusion, " you didn't-"

"I did, I said good morning."

Delorosa took a step back, some of their residents were odder than others, little Feferi being the first of many such creatures.

But the talking was new.

"How?"

The spider shook her head, "I am of many different talents my dear. I never spoke before because living here is all so new, I've been adjusting."

"We had to bring you here, the tribes were banding together, they would have killed you; that is if your little stunt didn't finish you off."

There was a dark chuckle, "what can I say? I've always believed that when you do something, start it with gr8t purpose then finish off with a bang."

The words formed in the Delorosa's mind like printed font, taking up too much space for her own thoughts to have breathing room. Something wasn't right, she knew it... She just couldn't think of what.

The spider grave a great yawn, "but it's boring here. There are no good adventures to t8ke part of, no daring escap8des. I'll lose my reput8tion."

"I- I should think this wouldn't be wholly terrible. Your reputation hardly had anything good about it."

The Marquise roared with laughter, the Delorosa could hear it and the sound sent shivers of fear down her spine; no something was very wrong. She turned to leave, she needed to find someone, anyone-

"W8t."

She stopped mid step.

The spider narrowed her eyes, "come closer."

"I-"

"Please."

Delorosa was certain something was very wrong but she wasn't even aware of taking a slow, tentative step towards the tank.

Elsewhere in the aquarium

The Handmaid usually didn't like being told what to do, so when she was told that no you weren't aloud to "teach the Sharks a lesson for being mouthy," naturally she didn't listen. However when an animal protection officer showed up about said sharks, well...

"Care to explain this?" She asked slamming several photos on the table. They were of said sharks, one of which sported a particular foot-shaped bruise from a well aimed roundhouse kick.

"What those?" The Handmaid said with a dramatic shrug of her shoulders. "Oh I have know idea, they could have come from anywhere."

The officer adjusted her glasses and gave a look as sharp as a knife to the animal trainer. They called her Redglare, which was well suited to the striking red lenses of the glasses she wore. She dressed in a mix of teal and cherry red and carried with her a red cane with a dragon's head as the handle; if she was blind Handmaid couldn't tell as she walked and moved with such confidence it was almost unnerving. At her feet there calmly sat of all things an albino komodo dragon (how did she even get that thing, weren't they supposed to be endangered?)

Redglare had a reputation for her persistent nature and despite still being relatively new at her position she had already separated herself from other animal protection officers as being tough to deal with. Handmaid knew, this time, she was in a lot of trouble.

"Yes you're right," Redglare agreed, "they could have come from anywhere. For example they could have come from anyone with the same shoe size as you and the same angle of toes as you, have the same level of martial arts training as you, and work at the same aquarium on the exact same day of this incident as you."

"Well I-"

"I think you need to choose your next words very carefully."

Beads of sweat broke out on the Handmaid's forehead, it was going to be hard to get out of this one.

"Well, you see I-"

"Wait."

Both dragon and its mistress turned their heads looking down the long hallway behind them. To Handmaid's surprise Redglare actually began to sniff the air then looked down at the creature.

"Pyralspite, go find it."

The dragon ran off with incredible speed for something with such short legs. Redglare grabbed Handmaid's arm and dragged her off giving chase to the reptile.

"Where are we going?"

"Something's not right come on!" Redglare shouted as she dragged the animal trainer down the halls of the aquarium; several employees took notice and followed after them.

"What's the problem?" Came a lisping voice to the Handmaid's right. She looked over her shoulder to see the Psiioniic, with lab coat on his shoulders and clipboard in hand, the Signless right behind him.

She shook her head, "no idea but something's up. Besides," she grinned, "it gets me off the hook."

They turned down the hallway reserved for the freshwater tanks. A drop of pure cold dread hit Handmaid's heart, there was only one resident down this hall that would be causing trouble.

They skidded to a halt at the foot of the spider tank where there sat an angry komodo dragon clawing at the glass in furry.

Above the tank the grate lid had been lifted open, Delorosa standing dangerously close to the platform's edge. They all stared up at her in silence, then looked inside the tank where the diving bell spider had emerged from her nest, a look of pure glee on her face.

"Signless, radio the Summoner over here for backup," The Psiioniic ordered. Signless did not respond, he found himself frozen in terror at the thought of what could happen next.

And then it did.

The Delorosa had an odd, blank look on her face. Almost as if she was caught in a daydream, or sleep walking. This expression did not change as she stepped off the ledge and fell into the tank.

The spider was quick.

Four sets of feet went tearing back down the hall to the nearest backstage door, up the stairs and to the platform over the tank in less than a minute. Mindfang had already dragged her victim to the bottom of her tank and back into the nest. Signless didn't waste a second but dove into the water below, Handmaid had the sense to scream for backup into her radio before diving in after him.

The first thing the Handmaid thought of was that she was glad it was a freshwater tank so she could see well underwater. The second thing she thought of was that none of them had air tanks, and the spider had countless air bubbles around the tank at her disposal. Handmaid tried to stick her head in one only for it to disappear with a soft 'pop!' Apparently there was a certain trick to it.

They found the spider waiting for them in her nest, Delorosa unconscious but at least trapped in the air bubble web. Mindfang grinned showing off her fangs, she had wanted a little entertainment and ended up with a party. Handmaid frowned, her lungs already beginning burn from lack of oxygen. This was bad, the spider was fast, strong, and completely in her element. She knew that if something didn't happen now then at least one of them would not be leaving the tank.

But then something happened.

There was a flash of red, the officer had dove down to the bottom of the tank with a speed that could even match the spider's. Redglare gave a quick twist of her cane's handle and unsheathed a thin blade to be hidden inside. With sword in one hand and wooden sheath in the other Redglare slashed and stabbed at the enraged spider, forcing her away from her nest so Signless and Handmaid could make a grab for Delorosa.

Yanking her free of the web, the two swam as fast as they could hulling Delorosa back to the surface. The spider roared with rage, the water of the tank vibrating in response to the sound waves. Mindfang attempted to lunge past Redglare only to receive a swift slash of metal and the smell of her own blood drift into the water. She was so stunned by the act of someone actually managing to strike her that she almost didn't notice the officer making a swim for it as well.

Almost.

Redglare managed to stick her head in a bubble for a precious gulp of air before she felt the spider's grip on her ankle, yanking her back into the now ruined mess of her web. Redglare reached around, smashing her fist into the spider's stomach. The creature grimace then reached out to claw the officer only to have the tip of her cane smash into the spider's chin. As one hand retracted another two reached out, pinning Redglare's arms to her sides. Redglare struggled and kicked, the shredded spider's silk from the web that once was, falling down around and onto them. The spider gave a sudden grin and with her two free hands reached out and took the ends of silk strands that had now coiled around Redglare's shoulders and neck, and gave a sharp tug.

Redglare felt the silk tighten around her neck like a noose. She couldn't believe it, she was going to die from either drowning or choking now. The spider pulled tighter and the officer could see spots begin to dance before her eyes, she had to do something and quick.

There was a sound like thunder as something splashed down into the tank, the spider looked up and Redglare kicked at her captor with all the strength she had left. Surprised, the spider let go. Knocking the officer's glasses off in the movement revealing a pair of bright red eyes that stared at her with all the fire and fury that she imagined a dragon could give.

Redglare pushed free from the spider and smashed her face into another bubble a gasp of air before it popped forcing her to accidentally take in a mouthful of water as well. For a moment she panicked before someone forced a breathing apparatus into her mouth and she took several grateful gulps of air.

The Summoner quickly unstrapped his air tank and shoved it into Redglare's arms, turning to face the spider in the same movement. Mindfang was thrown off by her new guest but quickly recovered with a coy smile that sent shivers down the Summoner's spine but he held his ground.

"I wanted to say hello, I wanted mother to stay." She whispered in his thoughts.

"No."

"Or you could stay."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"The dragon woman… kill her."

"N-."

The Summoner felt the odd sensation of his limbs going numb while his own thoughts were being quietly moved to the back of his head. She had snuck in without him even realizing it. But before he could even turn around to face the officer a red cane whipped over his shoulder and smacked Mindfang upside the head, stunning the spider. Summoner felt his thoughts clear and feeling return to his limbs. The two of them made a swim for it, he refused to glance behind knowing full well the spider would have already withdrawn to another web, smiling up at them with all the satisfaction of a well fed cat. It didn't matter the outcome, she had gotten what she wanted.

They broke the surface of the water and swam to the platform, the Handmaid hulling them both out with one quick jerk. Behind her the Psiioniic was giving Delorosa CPR. They all anxiously watched as Psiioniic pumped her chest up and down before finally Delorosa began to cough up a lungful of water and gasp for air.

"Mom!" Signless shouted before scooping the woman up into his arms sobbing hysterically, the Pssiioniic trying to pull him off so the poor woman could breath. Summoner sighed with relief and glanced over at the officer next to him. He had heard Handmaid's call for help over the radio but but was actually the officer's dragon that had lead him to the tank in time, for that he was grateful. The woman was gasping for air herself, one hand rubbing the bruise that was already forming around her neck. She looked at him with red eyes that seared right through him.

"She," Redglare gasped, pointing back to the tank below. "She has got to go."

So she did.

End Flashback

But now after so long she was coming back. The Delorosa stood as tall and proud as ever before the spider and the two regarded each other with equal fascination and dread at the thoughts of what was to come. Mindfang had hated captivity, but she hated being bored even more and back on her river she had been beginning to get so. Perhaps her days as a river queen were over but that didn't mean she was going to change for a more quiet lifestyle and though Delorosa had recently begun to hand off her scepter to others the queen of the aquarium was not about to take what had happened lying down.

Whatever happened next, it was going to be interesting nonetheless.

Chapter Text

There is a buzzing sound.

No idea what it is but there is a buzzing sound and it's over and over. Not constant like an insect but still annoying, like… like a... Like a phone!

Your eyes snap open in a sleepy and startled haze. Your name is John, and someone is calling you at 4:13am.

You reach out and claw at the device with its offending sound and fumble to hit the answer key.

"hmmello…" You mumble.

"Wake up."

"...Wha…"

"Wake up this is important," says the lisping voice on the phone.

"Sssolluxss… Wha…"

The voice on the phone sighs, "I need you to come in this morning I don't care if it's your day off."

"Wha…"

"Operation Argyroneta."

"... Oh." Now you are awake. "So its go time?"

"Yes. They'll be here tonight, I just got the call."

"Ok got it."

"Alright then get some sleep, you'll need it."

You don't go back to sleep though.

Operation Argyroneta was the code for what Karkat had termed as the "Spiderocalypse", or as what Kanaya put it "Vriska gets her new tankmate." Or as Sollux elegantly stated "the day we all die." All in all it meant the Marquise was coming, and they had until the evening to prepare.

You can't go to sleep after the phone call, so instead you mess around with a little computer programming and munch on some toast before deciding that someone would probably be at the aquarium by now.

At 6am it turns out that everyone in on the project is at the aquarium, no one could sleep after their respective phone calls.

Not all of the staff is aware of what is happening, only the ones who are aware of the Mertrolls existence. After one round of coffee everyone is up and moving, some taking care of their morning duties and others preparing for the evening. Several other members from the other side of the aquarium came along to help as well. The aquarium was more or less divided into two parts, each with their own set of staff and animals specifically assigned to them, Why this was you had no idea except it had something to do with the Mertrolls, what you did know is that each side respectively referred to themselves as Alpha and Beta… But apparently the Beta side came first? No idea, it was complicated.

Somehow the staff were all related and that was what mattered, like how currently you were being dragged down the hall by Tarvos and his Dancestor (was that like a cousin?) Rufioh.

"We need your help." Rufioh stated, looking over his shoulder as he pulled you along.

"Why?"

"Well um," Tarvos sheepishly answered, "well you see it's her."

"What? Oh wait… oh."

There was only one person, or in this case spider, that made Tarvos so nervous.

Apparently Vriska was not handling the day very well at all.

They arrived at the spider tank to find an angry spider who refused to let anyone in her tank, and an air tank and mask waiting for you.

"So John," Rufioh asks holding up the tank, "have you been trained to use one of these?"

"Well gee no I haven't but that's ok," you say as you pull your shoes off before jumping into the tank.

"Is he out of his mind?" Rufioh asks.

Tarvos just looks down at the tank and gives a weak smile "no, he's just a favorite that's all."

Sure enough the spider races to grab hold of you before you can damage any of her work and pulls you over to what is now designated as Vriska's Web. Which means now the spider will have to work to maintain the bubble's air supply leaving the others free to do their work.

Vriska doesn't say anything this time, she just holds you in a four-armed death grip that sorta reminds you of a child clinging to their favorite toy for comfort. Every now and then Vriska swims out to add more air to the bubble web you now sit in but mostly the two of you just watch as the others set up a large canvas net that runs the length of the tank; on the now empty side a large metal cage was placed against a wall near the platform. The plan was to first bring the Marquise to a special quarantine tank before moving her to the metal cage as a way of reintroducing her to her old tank. eventually they would let her out into her side of the now divided tank and work to get her and Vriska used to each other before removing it.

This was the plan anyways.

Watching the scene like a fly on the wall...

Eventually John had to leave Vriska when the net was up, the look on her face was a mixture of too afraid to be alone and too proud to admit it.

They all reconvene for another round of coffee and push on.

Sollux, Mituna, and Latula who were the medical staff on board were preparing the quarantine tank and all the needed supplies while Kanaya and Porrim kept things on schedule. John found himself helping Terezi block off certain hallways with warning tape to keep guests and other employees out. The official word was that a tank had somehow received a large crack and was being repaired, one sharp glare from Terezi kept anyone from asking otherwise.

Another round of coffee along with a quick lunch.

They all sat in the employee break room on the Beta side, eating sandwiches and laughing at each other's lame jokes. Pretending they weren't nervous.

They spent the afternoon doing practice runs along the sectioned off hallways. The Marquise was going to apparently be under enough sedation to knock out a small Asian elephant but there could still be no room for error. First just walking the route from the aquarium dock to the designated quarantine tank, then walking in the specific order they needed to be in, then again carrying an empty stretcher which lead to someone tripping over someone else's feet and all of them collapsing in the hallway in a massive argument.

So they stopped and had another round of coffee.

Another practice run with the stretcher and then again with the stretcher and any other equipment needed; towels, buckets, tranquilizers, first aid kits, rope, and duct tape. Finally one more time with all these things along with several sandbags placed inside the stretcher to mimic the spider's weight. John found himself struggling under the weight of the stretcher and the long walk. On either side of him was an empty space where apparently someone from the ship's crew would be, he could only hope they would make the walk easier but at the same time was terrified at the thought of meeting a spider this big.

At 4:13pm, ten hours after the day started for everyone, they all had one last round of coffee and called for a rest.

Several went to take care of their evening duties while others crashed in the employee break room. John found himself walking along a long platform that ended over a certain tank with a net running down the middle.

He sighed and sat down, his feet dangling over the edge. He could just see the tip of one of Vriska's legs sticking out of her hiding place among fake tree roots.

"...Hey Vriska?"

No response.

"Would you like to come up here?"

Nothing.

"... Its going to be ok."

Vriska's leg disappeared from sight.

Five hours later they were all standing on the dock, in the distance was the light of a ship. No one said a word; Sollux flipped through pages on his clipboard, Karkat tapped his foot and kept crossing and uncrossing his arms while Terezi nervously tapped her red cane in the palm of her hand. Out of nowhere Tarvos began to giggle.

Aridia arched her eyebrow at him, "what's so funny?"

Tarvos gave out a small laugh, "we're gonna need a bigger boat."

Karkat lost it, "ARE YOU SERIOUS? YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE A LAME JOKE LIKE THAT RIGHT-oh."

They all decided Karkat's "oh" was due to a mix of the joke being oddly appropriate, and the fact that the ship was docking.

They stayed out of the way while the crew worked. A ramp was placed along the ship's side and a small group began to descend. Leading them was a tall man that John could only describe as a dead set for an older Karkat, except he looked… calmer? He walked arm and arm with a similar older version of Kanaya who wore an elegant jade green outfit and a woman he had already met through an online chart after the alleged 'tank incident'. Aradia's ancestor whom everyone just referred to as the Handmaid.

John had no idea what all the nicknames were all about but he hoped maybe he could get one to. Something cool like the Prankster or maybe the Grand Comedian… nah never mind.

The trio approached the group who stood in awe at the stoic adults before them, hoping to only one day carry themselves with such certainty and aplomb.

Then all at once the Signless got the goofiest grin on his face, and broke out into a run before sweeping Karkat up into a great bear hug.

"Karkitty! How have been bud!" He greeted the mini him with such enthusiasm it left the smaller one speechless. Along with everyone else.

However they recovered when the woman in Jade wrapped both Kanaya and Porrim in a warm hug, "hello my dears it's so good to see you again."

Kanaya blushed and returned the hug, Porrim smiled and returned the greeting.

Aradia and Handmaid said nothing, the latter just ruffled her girl's head and smiled, that was all that was needed.

Soon they were all swept up into the reunion, save for one. John took a step back and watched, it had never occurred to him how much of a family thing this aquarium was, to be honest it made him feel somewhat of an outsider.

"You!"

John found himself spun around and facing a man with Rufioh's hair and Tarvos' smile, only bigger and more confidant than the two of them combined.

"This guy!" The Summoner shouted pointing at John. "This is the guy Signless! Oh man its great to meet you John, the whole tank incident was crazy right? But look at you making it out in one piece!" John found his hand in a death grip as the Summoner shook hands with him and with a grin so big John though the guy's face would break. With his other hand the Summoner pulled Tarvos and Rufioh into an awkward hug, that suddenly Signless dragged Karkat into, and before John knew it he was at the center of one massive group hug.

For just a moment, none of them were afraid of what would come next.

But then it was time to get to business.

"Right," Sollux said as he straightened out his lab coat, "so how is she?"

The Summoner's smile fell and all at once he was the guy brave enough to take on a spider queen. "We have her pretty heavily sedated, however that doesn't mean she may not try something. Remember the Marquise likes to mess with people's heads and even in this state there is no telling what she will do. I'll stay in her eyesight at all times, the danger word is "blue" if I say that then you are to drop everything, even if it is her, and get away. The safe word will be "yellow" is that clear?"

They all nodded yes, then got moving.

The Summoner re-boarded the ship along with the Handmaid. Soon they were descending again only this time on a platform suspended from a crane. One the platform with them was something else, and it was big.

Marquise Spinneret Mindfang was not the size of a small Asian elephant.

But she was awfully close.

John up to this point just imagined either a normal house spider but monster sized, or a bigger version of Vriska. In a way he was right on both counts.

Like Vriska she had four arms and four legs with one arm missing and replaced with some kind of robotic prosthetic. The markings down her body reminded him of some grand pirate queen dress and her skin a darker grayish color than Vriska's. A massive set of horns erupted from her long dark hair which only half hid three sets of her glowing eyes while one on the bottom set had taken a frightening red color to it both iris and pupil that look a lot like Terezi's glasses. Those eyes were looking everywhere at once but she still kept a lazy smile on her face, sharp fangs just visible.

All in all she was more than twice the size of Vriska and all the more terrifying.

Because of the all her legs plus her abdomen, carrying the spider would prove an awkward and difficult task. But soon they had her loaded onto the stretcher and covered in wet towels so not to let her skin dry out. John found himself between Summoner and Signless as they lifted the spider up and carried her away from the docks. The Marquise was much heavier than the sandbags and with the wet towels over her the floor became slippery. They had made it to the second corridor on their route before stopping to soak the towels again. As they set off John took one step and slipped in a puddle. A hand reached out to grab his, its fingers long and nails gently pressing into his skin. John looked down to see the Marquise's hand wrapped around his own, he had slipped and she tried to steady him. John looked at the spider who still looked on at the ceiling. Then slowly her good bottom eye shifted till it was staring at him. John couldn't move, he felt as if someone was gently but haphazardly poking the inside of his head for attention. But then there was the feeling of someone stepping down on his heel. John gasped in pain and looked behind to see Signless looking down at him in concern.

"... Summoner?"

"Sigh… yeah I got it."

The Summoner reached out and took the Marquise's hand away from John's and into his own. The was the sound from the spider, almost like a sigh as she closed all eight of her eyes as seemed to drift off to sleep.

At long last they reached the quarantine tank, it was not far from Vriska's tank so the next move would be much easier. The spider was placed in the tank with her body cushioned in an odd, half-inflated raft to keep her head above water for air. This began a long night at the end of a long day. Summoner, Handmaid, Sollux, Mituna, and Latula worked to keep an eye on the spider as she slept off the sedatives. Summoner taking on the duty of staying in the tank with her to make sure her head stayed above the water. The others decided to call it a night, none of them bothering to go home but at John's request, turning several rafts into mattresses and camping out by the tank of a small diving bell spider who stayed wide awake, and waiting.