Chapter Text
==> Shit, be Sollux when he finds Vriska!
"Vrithka!" Sollux shouted as he wandered about. The girl had walked off somewhere, presumably embarrassed over their fight/make-out session/heart to heart, or so he thought anyway. "You've done way worthe, I'm only judging you a bit!"
After ten minutes of walking, he began to get concerned, and traced his steps back to the edge of the forest where they had parted ways. Tracking had never been his forte; mostly because his glasses somewhat obscured his vision, and while he was much better at containing the optic blasts now, he still did not want to risk removing them. For another while he saw nothing of use, only the slightly trampled grass where they had fought... of course, he had not left her at the forest at all! Idiot, he told himself.
A little further ahead was the spot where he had really left her. He called again, "Vrithka!"
He paced about the site until he noticed something suspicious: drag marks. This did not look good, and without another thought, Sollux began to sprint, following the drag marks. Whoever it was being towed along, they clearly did not want to leave. The heels of the shoe were dug deep into the ground, occasionally coming up, presumably to attempt to kick whomever was dragging. A few shrubs had been pulled up or stripped of their leaves as well, and on these a small amount of blood.
Bright cerulean blood.
"VRITHKA!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. After five minutes of sprinting he saw a body. Vriska's. He dropped to his knees, before frantically taking her pulse, but there was nothing.
Nearly all her skin and clothes were saturated with her blood, and her eyes were still open, face contorted into an expression of utter fear and hopelessness.
A few months ago, Sollux would have welcomed the scene with open arms, hell, he would have even spat on her and announced 'good riddance'... but not anymore. If Tavros could see good in her, then Sollux decided that despite her heartless bitchy exterior, he would give a shot at being her moirail. After all, he knew better than anyone the damage she could cause if she was allowed to run about uninhibited.
But not anymore. She was dead, and there was no way she would be coming back. No more games or tricks or meddlings. Vriska was gone.
Sollux removed the shards of metal holding her limbs down and examined them. At first he had assumed one of the Condesce's underlings had found and killed her, but that did not seem to be the case, for they killed with bullets, and the Condesce wanted her alive anyway. Perhaps it was an enemy she had made when she was human, but that was unlikely, for they would not recognise her. A human who had just seen a mutant and wanted to attack? Unlikely again, for there was malice in this attack, though having said that there were doubtlessly huge numbers of people who had lost families and friends to the Condesce and would be more than happy to take it out on the first mutant they saw.
Upon further examination of the body, he found that her back had been snapped, which was a very specific wound to cause, and one that made little sense. He cast his mind to any trolls who had a vendetta against Vriska, and chuckled darkly, for that was basically all of them.
Only three candidates made sense from the trolls: Terezi, Gamzee... and Aradia. Yet Aradia was dead, so she could be removed from the list. Terezi 'dealt justice' against Vriska at the fights for Vriska was no longer the girl she had once known, having become more violent and cruel. Gamzee, well he had been in love with Tavros, and upon finding out that Vriska had been the one to both torment him and capture his affections, well Sollux had only heard rumours but what he had heard was not pretty. That had been one of many reasons that Vriska was kept hidden away from the other mutants.
Of course, Tavros himself could have harboured a grudge, but that seemed unlikely as he had forgiven her to Sollux's knowledge.
The cuts on her body seemed random at first, but he soon noticed a pattern to some of them. Along major bloodlines were smaller punctures to the skin, and in very specific locations. As a gold blood he was well aquainted to siphoning, as people of his cast were frequently targeted. Their blood was touted as boosting intelligence, tasting great (the hell) and if used correctly would give the drinker the ability to see the future for short periods of time. Gold bloods were targeted the most by siphoners along with olive bloods, and as such he recognised the signs well, but did not know what it meant. He had overheard Vriska telling Tavros that she used to siphon, but it was clear no one else would have known of that, and thus he grew even more confused.
It was looking like Tavros had the knowledge for all the attacks, as no one else knew about the siphoning, but lacked the want to kill her.
Sollux sighed. There was no use deliberating over this; Vriska was dead and he would never know who did it. The girl was by no means light, even though she had lost almost all of her blood, but he was determined to at least try to make some sort of grave for her; it was the least he could do after they sort of became moirails, and besides, it would be what Tavros would want.
Eventually, he got her a dozen metres from the edge of the forest, then went in to collect branches and young trees, weaving them into a low hanging hut of sorts. Sollux wiped the blood off her the best he could, before folding her into a foetal position and placed the woven hut over her. Hopefully it would allow her body some peace before it began to get torn apart by scavengers.
After picking up his bag, he then left, refusing to get overly emotional when he still had a while longer to travel.
A week later.
"This is Gihney Reyuok, reporting from Tain Falls, a town just on the border of an unexplainable phenomena that has been causing an immense stir. Now sometime yesterday morning, everyone who has crossed too far into the grassland to the east of this town have fallen into a deep unrousable slumber. Rescue efforts involving rope have been successful, but only if the victim was close to the boundary when they were affected by whatever this is, with a 90% chance of them waking after.
'Here we have a brother of one of the victims and lead of the rescue operations with us. Please tell us what we know so far, Mr Gurreu."
"Well we've tried gas masks, biohazard suits... uhh, just plain holding our breaths, hell, even tin foil hats! But none have been able to return. Now, we've now been experimenting with what little robotics we still have left but unfortunately we haven't got anything larger than a drone,"
"So you're going to be trying to find the root of this, this event?"
"Hopefully, ma'am. We have been able to get within about 100 metres of the centre of the fallout zone though,"
"And what did you see?"
"Well that's the darnedest thing, ma'am. It looks almost like there's some sort of, uhh, massive cocoon out there, just on the borders of the forest. Now, what we may be able to do is bomb it with these drones, but at the end of the day these are all just toys and won't make it that far, so we're experimenting still,"
"Have you spoke to any experts on cocoons?"
"Yes, we were very lucky to have a bug scientist living in out village, though she said that the cocoon was like nothing she had seen before,"
"Do you have any images?"
"Of course,"
"Okay, so for our listeners at home, this can best be described as a large round cocoon, it looks almost like a spider's egg case, and on the side are what appear to be a pair of eye spots, presumably to warn off predators, and size wise it appears to be about one metre tall, and one and a half metres for both width and length, I've just been informed. Now then, how... what? Oh God, the border is expanding FUC-"
Krrrshtttttttt.
==> Wait... Vriska isn't dead is she?
Error: requesting information about deaths is not permitted.
==> Yeah yeah. Ummm, be the Handmaid!
You cannot be the Handmaid, but you can follow her about.
==> But that's the same thing?!
You are now following the Handmaid, who has been ordered to report to the hall.
Initially the maroon blood was confused at her orders. Due to her future self helping some of the mutants to escape, and another one of her copy's inability to bring out a pair of human's powers, the Handmaid tended to be confined to her cell, with the exception of exercise sessions twice a day with the Condesce. Reporting to the hall was not something she had to do since before all the mess, which meant one of two possibilities: the Condesce had forgiven her (very unlikely), or that there were more mutants to train and the sea witch did not have anyone else to do the job. After all, no one could defeat the Handmaid in a training-new-recruits-off. She was simply the best there was.
Thus, here she was, stood with her back against the wall in the food court next to the other tutors and the head of security, waiting for the Condesce.
The remaining mutants from the original twelve sat close together somewhat miserably around a single table. Only Terezi, Kanaya and Gamzee were left, though Gamzee was left in the Condesce's chambers for the protection of the non purple blooded mutants.
Suddenly, the doors burst open as the Condesce swaggered in, followed by Doc Scratch and a cluster of mutants. She took her place behind the podium and waited for the trolls to take their seats. It was then when the Handmaid noticed a strong flush on the empress' cheeks, the bruises and the scratch marks all over her shoulders, neck and back, and she pulled a face. The idea that someone would want to even talk to a rogue purple blood let alone sleep with one was completely beyond the Handmaid. And to have clearly been engaging in... something... right before a talk was as unprofessional as it got. Urgh. No wonder the Condesce had been late.
"Good evening. I would not usually address you personally like this, but I have exciting news. First, it is my pleasure to introduce six new mutants to take the place of those lost. As you may or may not be aware, Mr Zahhak and Ms Leijon perished in the floods, along with Mr Vantas, Mr Ampora and Ms Peixes being killed by the humans after being caught. As for Captor, Serket and Nitram, we have a good idea on their location, so we should have them caught and returned soon.
'To replace these deaths, we have Meenah, Cronus, Horuss, Meulin, Mituna and Rufioh. The new teams are as follows: Team One: Terezi and Rufioh. Team Two: Kanaya, Meenah and Cronus. Team Three, Gamzee, Horuss and Meulin. Each team has been assigned one original mutant to help the new mutants with life here. As for you, Mituna, meet me after this talk; I have something special in mind for you," the Condesce said with a smile that did little to placate those in the room.
The Handmaid recognised the tyrian seadweller from the creepy vehicle the Condesce had taken her to. Presumably these were all the mutants or whatever they were that she had been able to salvage.
'Next, is that we are all going to be moving to a new base," With a wave of her hand, the projector turned on, showing an enormous glass building jutting out of the ocean in a somehow obnoxious manner. Though the Handmaid would not know, Terezi was thinking to herself how similar it looked to the American base they visited, and then blunk back tears as she remembered that her team mates for that mission had both died. There was time for tears later, in private.
"All underwater floors will be for any refugees who come, should they decide to surrender to me. All those abovewater are the replacements for this building. You are all my guests of honour, and as such you will be living right below my suite, where I can keep a better eye on you. I shall be creating another flood, one that will rid humans of even more landmass so we should have plenty of followers to help wipe out the last remains of humanity.
'The move will be taking place in an hour, so get your personal belongings together and wait in your sleeping quarters for an errand boy to escort you to your plane, of course, this only applies to those who have such things."
The Condesce then turned to the three tutors behind, and told each of their group, informing them to escourt the new to the plane.
"Group one, excluding Terezi, to me," called the Handmaid. Before her was a boy about her current age at seventeen. "Oh, of course, only one 'a you. I'm the Handmaid, and I'm your trainer,"
"Uh, I'm Rufioh. Do... do we have to pretend like we don't know each other, Damara?"
"Well not to sound like a joker, but this is genuinely the first I've seen a' your lot," said the Handmaid with a frown. "So you can stop that from eatin' you,"
"Right,"
The name Damara did sound oddly familiar, but she had been called the Handmaid all her life. How bizarre. Making a mental note to quiz the boy later, the maroon blood then led him the plane.
He seemed intent on avoiding all eye contact with her throughout the walk, and once they were outside waiting for Terezi and Kanaya it only became more pronounced.
"Is something the matter, kid?" she aasked, but was met with an awkward silence. "Suit yourself,"
The plane journey to the new base was equally awkward, even with the addition of Terezi, for it was clear she was doing her best to avoid breaking down into tears. While there were many things the Handmaid was good at, comforting people was not one of them, or not at this age anyway. The other teams were talking amongst themselves, with the exception of Kanaya, who quickly took a seat beside Terezi before they began murmuring softly to one another.
Though she would liked to have seen this new base that they were moving to, all windows on the plane had been covered up and as such the Handmaid had not a clue where she was going. Disappointing. How would she knew which direction to escape now?
A future version of her had done so, but that was when they had been situated in the US. Escaping this new base without a boat would be impossible... Damn.
The Handmaid rested her face in her hands and pouted subconsciously. 'At least I know I escape in the future. Though I have no idea how...'
After an hour of flight, most of the new trolls fell asleep, with the exception of the fushia blood. Putting this down to their recent 'birth' from the weird machine the Condesce had, the Handmaid turned to Meenah.
"Hey, mini Condesce?"
"Me?"
"Yeah. How d'you end up in that machine, if you don't mind me askin',"
"Nice try, but I've been forbidden to tell anyone about that upon pain of death. The boss has even implanted something into me so she can listen in at all times. And this collar ain't just for show either. It'll shock me. Glubbin' weird but what can you do,"
"Huh, okay then. Guessin' you don't feel as doggone tired as the rest of you machine babies,"
"Nope, did my time for that post wake up nap a while back. Worked well for me," Meenah smirked, splitting her hair into two chunks. Then, she began the process of braiding what she had left, as the Condesce had ordered it cut to her mid back.
"Ain't that the cat's pajamas," the Handmaid smiled, clutching her knees close to her chest. Something about the girl felt familiar, and she welcomed any chance of knowing who she was and where she came from.
==> Who even is the Handmaid?
You are not permitted to know.
==> Oh come on! Please!
==> Reminisce about tragic past
The Handmaid thought back to her childhood. It was not something she dwelled upon often, deciding that keeping the past in the past would be best for her, but something about Meenah seemed to trigger old memories in her.
Her earliest memory was-!
Suddenly, the plane jolted down into a rough landing, and the new trolls were jolted awake violently, some shouting out in confusion and fear.
"Stay calm everyone," the Handmaid shouted. "This is just how the plane lands. It's old,"
Sure enough the door opened and they filed out, some a little shakily. One of the new kids vomited over the side of the building, Horuss, she believed. The Handmaid wrinkled her nose but said nothing.
"So, uhh, how come you were in the plane with us, and not the rest of the staff?" Ruhioh asked as they waited for an errand boy.
"Someone had to watch over you kids," she replied absentmindedly, keeping an eye out for the staff's arrival.
"You're barely older than the rest of us," Meenah snorted. "You're a prisoner as well, right?"
"Drop it, bearcat," replied the Handmaid. "I'm in charge here,"
"No you're not, or you wouldn't be getting so angry and flushed!"
"Oh stop being a gimlet!"
"A what?" Rufioh said.
"A bore. Just be quiet, or I'll have half a mind to throw y'all into the sea,"
"Excuse me," said the serene voice of an errand boy. The Handmaid had never been so pleased to see one; it always pissed her off when her students realised that she was as much of a prisoner as they were. "I'm here to show you to your rooms,"
"About damn time," the rust blood muttered before talking in a louder tone. "Follow me, kids,"
==> So we don't get to hear her tragic back story?
Not today.
==> Okay then. Well... is Eridan okay? Let's be him!
You are now Eridan Ampora and your body is full to the brim with an awful cocktail of drugs.
When Eridan awoke, he could feel the tension hanging thick in the air, and a glance at the window to his left revealed that he was still placed far beneath the surface of the ocean. A haze fogged over his mind and body, possibly the result of drugs, with the only part of his body in focus being the stab wound on his leg, which seemed to pulse painfully.
The trio of soldiers in the room noticed his waking, and instantly marched over, untying him from the bed and instead handcuffing his hands, as Eridan was too out of it to fight back. He was strapped into a wheelchair, then pushed out of the room by one soldier, the other two standing in front, and behind him. Due to being so slumped forwards the mutant saw barely any of their journey, instead seeing only his gown clad lap.
"I'm surprised you still have that streak in your hair," commented the soldier pushing him. "Thought you'd have gotten rid of it once you left your career as a teen hearthrob and began fighting for that insane leader of your organisation,"
"It makes him look like such a stereotypical villain though, that'll be why. He always was obsessed with his looks wasn't he?" the guard in front of them suggested. "How you manage to bleach and dye your hair is beyond me though,"
"Sa mutshn," he murmured, slurring his words heavily.
"A mutation? As if a mutation would give you a little purple hair streak!"
"Enough!" barked the guard at the back. "We're not here to chat,"
The corridors fell silent once more.
"We're not supposed to chat but I've got to know what on earth is going on with his horns," sighed the guard pushing him. "Are they real or what? It makes no sense for the same species to all get different horns,"
"Real," he managed.
"I don't believe that for a second!"
Eridan was vaguely aware of the guard talking at great length about the science behind horns, but it was too much for his drugged brain to understand so he blanked out after a matter of seconds.
The chair stopped.
"Excuse me! I'll be taking him from here on out," a new voice said. He heard shuffling before the chair began to be pushed once more. "Eridan, isn't it? I heard about your leg, you poor thing. Hopefully the drugs are taking the edge off that. Let me know if you need anything when we get to our destination, okay sweetie?"
"Wus goin n?" he slurred.
"Someone very important wants to speak to you, flower," the woman pushing him replied. "Don't be scared though, she won't hurt you,"
Eridan managed a snort, before noticing all the strange huffing sounds coming from behind him.
"Wasat nois?"
"Hm? Oh, don't worry about it, everything will make sense when you meet her, my lovely," This mini pep talk was accompanied by the woman giving his hair a quick stroke, as if to calm him. It was too weird. "Ah! Here we are. Hang on just... a second... there!"
The sound of a door opening filled his ears, before the comforting sounds of a fireplace replaced it, and a warm amber glow lit him. With a considerable amount of effort he lifted his head up to see into the room, and saw none other than... the Condesce?
"E-ridan!" she sang joyfully, and rushed up to enclose him in a tight hug. "I'm so shore-y about all that happened. We couldn't risk her knowing that you were anyfin more than a prisoner here until you went under the knife to get those horrid implants removed,"
This was not the Condesce.
"F-Fef?" he asked, before she pulled back and he got a good look at the woman's face, and suddenly there was no doubt it was his childhood friend. " Fef! Thought you wer ded, prncess"
"Oh dear, you're still so drowsy from the medic-ocean. That's to be expected, you've been sleeping for a good week!" Feferi frowned. "Su, is there any chance you cod help him with that?"
"Of course my dear, he's not going to try and kill anyone now, are you, pet?" the woman who pushed him in smiled, before leaving the room.
"Whozat?"
"That is Supura Pyrope, one of the highest renowned lawyers in the UK. Terezi's mother. She and Terezi have been communicating psychically for years now, and the informa-shore-n she has given us has been invaluable. Unfort-shore-nately Terezi cannot know that her mother has been working to free her for years, as the Condesce would take it out on her," Feferi said while absentmindedly playing with her hair. "But that's not why you're here. I'll explain all that when Su gets back with somefin for your drowsiness."
After five minutes of one sided small talk, Terezi's mother returned with a nurse, who injected what was presumably another drug to lessen the effects of whatever had been slugging about in his veins. After a few more minutes, his head fully cleared, and he sat up straight in his chair.
"I don't knoww wwhat you wwere feedin' me for the pain, but it wwas total owerkill wwhatewer it wwas,"
"Pff!" Feferi quickly covered her mouth with a hand as she began to giggle. "How is your accent still so thick?"
Eridan shrugged, a small pout on his face before asking, "So howw come you're not a prisoner? I.. I heard your screamin' before the coms cut. Fef, wwe all thought you wwere dead."
At this, Feferi frowned, and Eridan knew she meant business, which meant no fish puns. A welcome change, though hearing all the silly puns did make him feel at ease again.
"I imagine that's exactly what the Condesce would want you to think! Apparently she told Terezi today that you and Karkat died on this mission. Those screams you heard were genuine though, I thought I was going to die when they caught me, and then I woke up about a day later, out of it like you were, but in an interrogation room. They asked me all sorts of questions, and... I just told them everything. Some of the guards clearly held resentment against me for my mutation, and many still do, but the interrogator was amazing. She was so patient and kind, she let me have time for my head to clear, and didn't, you know, hold me accountable for all that has happened.
'Once I told her what had really happened, she took me in for a personal meeting with the US president, and I told him what I told her and he decided that he trusted me."
"Yeah wwell they wwould trust you ower me wwouldn't they!"
"Whale you're not exactly known for your kind and gentle personality, sunshine," replied Feferi with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, the reason you're here is because we're hatching up a plan. Our knowledge of how the Condesce and her armies work is going to be used by the humans to fight back for this planet, before we lose even more landmass.
'There are rumours that the Condesce is making an enormous floating city to harbor all the refugees, and we have managed to find the location of it. She's using those poor little carapace people to do all the labour on it, but it's almost done, or so we can tell. But that isn't the worst bit at all! She's going to release another flood. I guess there was another icecap we didn't know about, but regardless, she plans to use this as a means of getting refugees to travel to her base if they fight for her,"
"Right... so wwhat do wwe do? Wwe're of no use anymore, wwe hawen't got any inside information now,"
"A pair of seadwellers is always useful. Plus if needed we can always return to the Condesce as if we escaped,"
"She wwould never buy that, princess,"
"She's grown even more cocky than usual. You'd be surprised,"
"And wwhat about Kar? He's not a seadwweller. Speakin' a' wwhich, wwhere is he? I assumed he'd be here wwith us,"
"He's still recovering from the operation to remove all the listening devices. He's really tired, but he should be round in a few hours. He's barely slept at all the past month, from what we can tell,"
Eridan snorted, "Sounds right. No wonder he's always so crabby,"
"Maybe that's why he's codename cancer," Feferi suggested with a sly smile. "Anyway, enough beach-ing about Karcrab- oops! Karkat. Enough beach-ing about Karkat, we have more to talk about,"
"Like wwhat?"
"Have you heard more information about team eight?"
"You mean more information about Sollux? No, I hawen't,"
Feferi flushed angrily, "I meant all of them!"
"She is asking on my behalf too. I knew Vriska when she was a child," Ms Pyrope said, interrupting the seadwellers. "She was childhood friends with my Terezi. They used to be so sweet together! Oh, you would not believe it knowing how Vriska is now, but she was the cutest little thing before she hit the dreaded teens. I'd always find them in the garden together, hunting down millipedes and spiders so they could keep them as the pet of the day. They even insisted on wearing matching little outfits on non uniform days to pretend they were twins,"
Eridan just listened to the woman with his mouth agape, "This... are you sure you're talkin' about Wriska Serket here?"
"Quite sure! Oh, I should have brought my photo albums! They were utterly precious. It breaks my heart to know that my poor Terezi is out all alone and scared in that awful place, but knowing that the little girl I knew could be... well, in an even worse situation somewhere,"
"Ter wwon't be alone. Kanaya, a jade blood, is still wwith her, and I'd trust Kan wwith my life. So you don't need to wworry about howw Ter is alone," Eridan said, hoping he could put the saccharine woman at ease. He then wondered how a blind woman could take photos, but decided that Terezi's weird skill of smelling and tasting colours had to come from somewhere. "So, uh, wwhen you say they wwore matchin' outfits, wwhat do you mean by that?"
"Oh!" cried Ms Pyrope. " I just remembered, I have a photo on my phone. Of course it's useless now what with all the phone lines being broken, but it's still got a good camera on it. Here, this is from when they were... hmm, seven I think?"
The woman passed Eridan her phone. On screen was a picture of two little girls in yellow raincoats and matching oversized wellingtons, both giving enormous grins at the camera, while giving the other bunny ears, thinking they were being subtle. Su was right, they were damn precious.
"Me and Tezi had just gotten back from a holiday in Japan to visit my father, and of course it was raining as soon as we got back on English soil! And here's another one when they were both fairies in their year three play,"
"Never thought I'd say this about Vriska of all people, but she reel-y is cute! And so is mini Terezi, wow!"
"Wwhat wwas Wriska's home life like if you don't mind me askin'?"
"Ahh, the poor thing. It was not ideal to say the least. Before Vriska's mother was born, her grandmother had a relationship with a bronze blooded man, and of course back then that was frowned upon and so she was cast out by other high bloods to live in a mid blood district, where she met Vriska's grandfather. Though she was killed along with her partner when Vriska's mother was about fifteen, and it was all downhill after then for Spidermum, as Vriska liked to call her. I met her in one of those support groups for single mothers, when she was about eighteen, and she looked so miserable I knew I had to try and help, but she decided the only way for her was down the more illegal routes, and I could do nothing more for her. If I reported her, Vriska and her sister would have gone into a cerulean care home, though after her mother was arrested for siphoning and murder, well I know now I should have just reported her and fought for the girl's custody,"
"You made the best choice with what you knew at the time, Su," Feferi said, resting a hand on the older woman's arm. "I'm sure that Vriska really appreciated all the time she spent with you too! Vriska has made some bad choices as well now, it sounds like she needs you,"
"It's just knowing that my inaction resulted in Vriska killing and inadvertedly eating people just... I wish I could make it up to her and her sister, though of course what remains of her family are dead now,"
"Hold up. Wwhat?"
"Vriska's mother ate the bodies of her victims. I think I must have gone round for roasts at their house a number of times as well. Makes me want to throw up when I think too hard about it. I can only hope poor Vriska doesn't ever find out... This conversation got dark suddenly! Sorry my lovelies,"
"So you had Terezi at eighteen too?" Eridan asked before being elbowed in the ribs by an angry Feferi.
"No no, I don't mind! I had Terezi in my thirties. I guess all this information is important now. My mother was killed before Spidermum was even born, by Vriska's grandmother,"
"Wwait, so all of our ancestors wwere connected?"
And thereee it is!" Feferi piped up. "That is what we found out! All our ancestors were linked. And do you know what else we found out? Do you remember that purple blood who stabbed you?"
Eridan shuddered at the memory, then said, "Yeah I do. Wwhat about her?"
"We found her on a missing persons database. Guess who her cousin is?"
At this, the prince put his face in his hands in that typically melodramatic way he had. "Don't tell me it's fuckin' Gamzee, I swwear to God,"
"Well I don't know what to say then! But whatever, all of the other children who we... killed, they were our cousins or half siblings. And this was not the first time they did this. Remember the rainbow drinkers when we first arrived? They were another batch of mutants that had to kill like we did, only they got infected by something,"
"We have found almost everyone's ancestors, bar Aradia's, Sollux's and Equius'. I don't suppose you would know anything, flower?" Su added.
"Wwell, I remember Wriska going on about howw she wwas sure her trainer wwas related to Aradia a number a' times,"
"Oh, you knew Vriska well then?" smiled Su brightly. With anyone else, he would have bragged about how they totally slept together every night (leaving out that it was only sleeping next to one another as opposed to sex), how rough their make outs were and so on... but this woman knew Vriska when she was a little girl so that would be damn weird! Feferi shot him one of her impish grins, and he realised he was flushing heavily. "My, are the two of you an item?"
"Not anymore. Used to be though,"
"Oh! Eridan, you're hungry I bet!" Feferi said suddenly, changing the topic to one less awkward. "We haven't got anything amazing here, but there's a farm of sorts in the middle and higher floors so there's vegetable soup if you want it,"
"Uh sure, hit me up,"
At that, Feferi got up and left the room for a hunt for soup, before Ms Pyrope began asking how Vriska and Terezi were, how tall they were now, and if they still had lessons on maths, English and science.
The pair spoke for a while before a soldier came in carrying a tray with steaming soup and a bread roll on. While it was nothing compared to the food at the Retainment Organisation, it was still heaven sent after not eating for so long. As he ate, Ms Pyrope casually chatted to him, asking about all manner of topics, such as his favourite subjects when he was at school (history of course), what he wanted to be when he was older and such.
It was as he was telling the woman about how he would love to be the general of a fleet of ships that Feferi burst in.
"They've located Equius and Nepeta!"
"Wwhat?"
"They've been living in a small town for the past few months. It looks like the locals only just realised that they were mutants, so they're being held in the prison for their safety, as most of the people in the town want to kill them,"
"Wwhat are wwe goin' to do about it?"
"Rescue them, silly! I couldn't let fronds rot in jail!"
"Didn't knoww you wwere friends wwith Equius. Nep, sure, but Equius?"
"He's pretty creepy most of the time, but I think he's just shy! Though of course it could be because I'm a fushia blood so he was only being nice because of that. Either way he's not so bad once you get used to him, otherwise Nepeta couldn't stand him!"
"Siblin's don't mind that stuff as much though do they? But wwhatewer. Let's bust them out," Eridan sighed, lifting himself out of his chair.
"No, neither of us are going. They won't let me because I'm 'special', and you're too weak obviously,"
"Surprised you're standin' for that, Fef,"
"I don't personally agree with it, no. But they've done a lot for me so I'm letting them have this,"
"Wwell so far the only thin' I'we noticed is that our cell is a lot fancier. Doesn't seem at all like they're wwantin' you to be their co-lead or wwhatewer,"
"You've been awake for all of two damn hours, you little beach!" pouted Feferi before sticking her tongue out at him. She then added in a serious tone, "Besides, there's a lot more to leading than simply getting your way all the time. Compromise is a huge part of successful leading. Not that you'd know!"
"An' wwhat's that supposed to mean?" Eridan replied haughtily.
Feferi grinned at him, "That you're a little shellfish!"
==> PFF! Too many bad puns! Be someone else!
You are now Aradiabot, wandering aimlessly though forests and grasslands alike.
After the brutal murder of Vriska Serket, Aradiabot knew not what to do with herself. Killing Vriska had been such a driving focal point in her existence for so long that she felt lost. Though it had been little over a week since the event, the robot was still debating on what to do.
Was she really a human soul in a robot shell? How could Equius even bring about such a thing? Whatever she was, Aradia grew increasingly concerned at the emotions swimming about in her skull. Sitting before the ocean helped calm her mind, and she spent long passages of time watching the waves, as she had while wondering what to do with the Vriska dilemma.
While debating on whether to just walk about on the sea floor for a while, a message appeared, as if there were another voice in her mind, but one that spoke in a dry monotone, as if reading aloud a message.
'Aradia, can you hear me? It's Equius.'
"Equius?" she said aloud, then added wryly, "What are you doing inside my head? I thought it was my job to do all that stuff!"
'There's no time for humour. Can you meet us at these coordinates?' he replied, with a location appearing in her mind.
"Why should I?"
'We need your help, please Aradia,'
"Fine," she frowned. "Why are you in the middle of the ocean?"
'It's basically a big boat, hurry Aradia! :33' said another voice that was clearly Nepeta.
With a huff, Aradia got into her pre-flight stance, then took off. Thankfully the flight was much shorter than her last one, and after a full days flight she landed on the top of what appeared to be a skyscraper emerging from the waves. The sun was setting in the distance, falling below the endless expanse of water before her, a sight that made her oddly sad.
Shortly after her arrival, a trap door in the floor opened up and out of it came Nepeta, Equius and Feferi, the latter of which looking rather shocked.
"Aradia, is that really you?" the princess asked.
"Feferi! Ah, you look so grown up now, it's been too long," Aradia smiled, feeling more like the girl she used to be after seeing her old friend, and they hugged tightly, the seadweller tearing up until she was flat out crying into the robot's synthetic shoulder.
"I can't believe it's reel-ly you! Glub, aaah gosh!" the fuchsia blood laughed. "Sorry about the tears, I'm just so happy to sea you again!"
"Me too!
"Well it's been, what, three years or some-fin since… you know. You look older too, somehow. I have absolutely no idea how it happened but water-ver he did, Equius did a good job,"
"Ahh, thank you, your highness," replied Equius, looking noticeably flustered.
"Don't worry about it," Feferi said, before linking her arm through Aradiabot's and all but dragging her into the building with her. The seadweller's strength was surprising, it was not far from Equius' in fact. Perhaps super human strength ran in the highblood's genes. "Come on! We have so much to talk about!"
"Feferi, I would love to catch up with you later, but for now I need to talk to Nepeta, please," Aradiabot said with a sheepish expression.
"Oh, of course don't worry about it! I'm just glad the three of you are safe. Let one of the guards know when you want to come back inside, and they'll take you to our rooms, kay?"
"Merçi, Feferi,"
"Well, you didn't die. What's up?" Nepeta asked once Feferi and Equius left.
"I killed Vriska,"
Nepeta's eyes widened in horror, before she pulled her 'I'm really mad but trying to conceal it' face, which she used often when the three of them were in the Retainment Organisation.
"Well, how do you feel now?" the olive-blood replied in a clearly annoyed tone. "Is there meaning to your life now?"
"Cut the attitude! You have no idea what I've gone through!"
"No idea? My family are all dead, and the only ones still around didn't want me because of my blood caste. But you didn't see me hunting them down when we lived in the UAE to go kill them!"
"I am sorry for your loss, but they did not kill you," Aradia sneered.
"They may as well have! I was a child and they left me fur dead. Do you even know Equius' relation to me? His dad was fur-iends with mine in university. That's it. If not fur that I have no idea where I may have been dumped. But again, I focus on the good, my real family, the Zahhaks. They're not purrfect, but I love them. I don't waste my time thinking about the others,"
"That is completely different, and you know it,"
"I know it's not the same, but I'm trying to get you to understand," Nepeta sighed, frustrated, then asked, "How was Vriska when you saw her?"
"She seemed… happy. She was moirails or matesprits with Sollux, though they'd just been… blackrom kissing. I'm not sure what was going on between them,"
"Sollux is alive? Feferi will be happy, though not about the Vriska stuff. Still if she wasn't just winding you up, it seems you've got a pissed off Sollux on your hands now."
"Why wouldn't she like to know about Vriska and Sollux?" Aradia asked, ignoring the other part of what Nepeta said.
"Sollux is Feferi's boyfriend," Nepeta said. "They're utterly infatuated with the sounds of it, or were. Eridan told me when I asked about… uh, the gossip I'd missed,"
Aradiabot's face reverted into the blank state that was the default for the fake muscles, a sign that she was very shocked, and how her internal circuits were experiencing somewhat of an overload from the flood of emotions. Vriska had been lying… or telling the truth rather about Sollux and Feferi. All this for nothing. While it was unlikely that she had a chance with Sollux after killing his moirail (she assumed that was what she was to him anyway), now she knew his heart was firmly with Feferi she knew she had no chance. Part of her mind told her that if Feferi was no longer in the picture then Sollux would be available, and Aradia knew not what to think.
'What have I become?'
"Oh, Aradia," murmured Nepeta, and before Aradia knew it, the olive blood had enveloped her in a tight hug. "There's no need to cry,"
Cry? Aradia brought her fingers to her cheek and felt a liquid on the synthetic fabric of her face. Synthetic. The sensors in her fingers identified the silicon, then something in her mind told her about the slight wear and tear the seawater had done to the artificial skin on her legs, and the robot girl then clutched Nepeta closer, buried her face in her neck and began to loudly weep.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Nepeta,"
"Shoosh you! I'm angry that you ignored my purr-fectly advice when it came to Vriska, but at the end of the day I'm not the one you should be apologising to. Is this what the crying is about?"
"I don't know what is wrong with me! I used to be such a nice happy girl, and now here I am murdering people,"
"We've all grown up dif-fur-ent. It's exactly what T.R.O.L.L wanted. I know for sure that if we didn't have all this stupid mutation stuff going on that you would be a happy normal girl,"
"But I'm not! I'm not a… a happy normal girl, I'm a fucking robot! I'm glad I'm alive again, but I'm stuck in this stupid metal shell and all I think about is killing people and getting revenge on all those who hurt me, and… I don't know what to do! I hate being like this,"
"Maybe Feferi could help you? She dealt with Eridan fur years and we all know how much anger she helped ease,"
"No, not Feferi," replied Aradia, shaking her head furiously. All that she had learnt about Sollux and Feferi, and the thought she had about killing the poor girl for something as insubstantial as a crush, she could not bear to face her.
"Why not… oh. Of course, is that why you're upset?"
"Sorry, it's so stupid! I just… I don't know, everything just got to me all at once I guess. It's not just the Sollux thing, it's also being a robot and all this aggression… I don't know,"
"Sounds like you need a moirail. I would but my hands are full with Equius, and I don't even want to think about how bad he would be without me," Nepeta said apologetically.
"That's fine, I understand… I just, when you told me about Feferi and Sollux, part of me just thought that killing her would be the best option, and I don't know why! Why am I like this?"
"Listen, I know you really don't want to talk to Feferi, but I think it would help a lot. She really is the best there is when it comes to this kind of stuff. You don't need to tell her about the whole wanting to kill her thing, but I really think she could help you. I know you won't kill her. Now shoosh. Go talk to Equius when you're ready about the aggression issues. If it's a problem with your programming then he should be able to fix it,"
"Alright," Aradia sniffed. "Thanks,"
"That's okay! You're not a bad person… or robot, whatever. E-fur-ryone makes mistakes, you've just got to try and be a better person now,"
"Okay, I'll try,"
"Just to warn you though, Terezi's mother is also with the others, and she knew Vriska as a child. You're going to have to break the news to her,"
Aradiabot nodded at this, a sombre expression upon her face. "You still don't trust me, do you?"
There was silence for a while, before Nepeta eventually answered, "I don't know how I feel,"
At this, the robot turned her eyes out to the ocean again. "That's fair. Who else is here?"
"Currently, its us three, along with Feferi, Eridan and Karkat. They almost got Terezi, but they lost her at the last minute unfortunately,"
They walked to the doorway, before the soldier standing guard passed them onto another who began to lead them to where Feferi was waiting.
"Oh, they have Karkat, do they?" the robot said with a sly grin as they followed behind the woman leading them about. "I'm sure you appreciate that,"
"Shoosh! I don't even like him!" Nepeta exclaimed in a barely hushed whisper, though the flush on her face said otherwise. "I don't know where e-fur-ryone gets this idea!"
The soldier took them through the building and into a warm room with a fireplace, where Feferi, Eridan and Equius were sat beside one another, accompanied by a tall older woman. Their soft conversation halted at the entrance of Nepeta and Aradia, with Eridan clearly gawking at Aradia's chassis.
"Why don't you take a photo?" she replied dryly, before tapping Equius on his shoulder and asking to have a private word with him.
"Wwell sorry, not like I see a sentient robot a' a dead girl i used to knoww ewery day is it?" huffed Eridan. "Jeez,"
While walking out, Aradia noticed the lack of Karkat in the room, and wondered what had happened to him.
The two of them were taken to an empty conference room instead of the landing pad on the roof, then left alone with instructions to press a button on the wall when they wanted a soldier to come escort them back.
"What is it, Aradia?" Equius asked once their escort had left the room.
"You know that chip you put in my he-art?" she said to him, trying her best to keep a strict poker face. It worked until her voice broke in the final syllable. She cleared her throat. "The chip you put in my heart."
At this Equius turned his face to look at the floor to his left.
"Yes, I know the one,"
"I can't be bothered to argue or fight about this, I just want to know one thing. Could it possibly cause aggression in me?"
The mechanic seemed to be shocked at this, for clearly he had been expecting another fight and hell he certainly deserved it if that had been what Aradia were planning.
"Ah, no at all. It was only supposed to… well, stimulate romantic feelings of attraction… to me," he muttered in response. "Aggression would be a stupid thing to include in it,"
"Are you sure? This is very important," she insisted. "There isn't a chance that the… forceful removal of it could have caused some short circuiting or something in my emotions, is there?"
"Well, I guess theoretically the forceful removal of the chip could have caused a problem. Would you like me to check?" he offered, and after a period of awkward silence, Aradiabot gave a curt nod, before slowly laying herself down on one of the desks.
Her mechanic pulled up a chair and lowered himself into it, then reached a hand out towards the chest panel, "Do you mind?"
"Sure, though it would have been nice if you asked last time," the robot said softly, anger strongly present in her voice, though an anger she was trying to hold back. "Go ahead,"
Pulling out a number of tools from his belt, he placed them on the table before him, then picked up his item of choice and unscrewed a number of minuscule screws to reveal a small panel inset between her breasts. A code was then entered, which made another panel retreat, allowing a small latch to be seen, and upon being pulled, made the left half of her chest click and slowly swing to the side, and under all this, an artificial heart.
"I repaired the damage before we left the UAE, there should not be a problem here, though I shall check anyway. We were in somewhat of a rush so it is possible I made a mistake" he murmured, clearly so into his work that he did not sweat profusely as usually would. Aradia stared at the ceiling, trying to avoid looking at the boy for she was still in a foul mood and wanted to avoid violence.
They remained in the same position for a further ten minutes as Equius ran tests and the like on the robot's heart, ensuring that there were no errors on it or the surrounding area. It was incredibly surreal for the girl to see her heart beating literally in the hands of someone else, and she was not sure quite how she felt about the situation.
"Equius," she said eventually, as she had grown bored. "I have to ask. Why is your screen name so… you know?"
At this he froze, flushing a little, then continued his work.
"I have always loved horses, and as such one of the maids bought me one of those anatomy books about them for my birthday, so I could begin drawing them if I so chose. For whatever reason, the chat client I joined with Nepeta only allowed me to pick a username that had the initials C T, and naturally I picked a centaur for the first word, then picked a random piece of horse anatomy that began with a T from the book's dictionary at the back. I promise you I knew not what it meant at the time, though it is still only a piece of anatomy in the end. Just one with slightly more… sexual connotations," he explained.
"Sure," she snorted, the grimaced as one of the tools he was using dug into part of her insides.
"Careful, I'd recommend against laughing while I have tools inside your chest,"
After another few minutes of fiddling about in her chest, Equius shut the panels, put in the screws then asked her to sit in the chair before him. This time, he pushed her hair over her shoulder and began to undo screws situated at the base of her skull.
Aradia could feel her heart beat beginning to increase as his fingers brushed over the skin on the back of her neck, and was very thankful he was not fiddling about around her false heart. His breath fanning out over her shoulders suddenly made her breath hitch, a strange thing for someone who does not breathe.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she replied quickly, doing her best not to move her head at all.
Damn these feelings! This was a boy who had literally installed a microchip into her heart to give her feelings for him, what was she thinking?
But she had to know. She had to know why he put a chip in her heart.
"Equius?" she asked. "Why did you do it?"
He froze.
"Why… did I do what?"
"You know what,"
He said nothing, but finished unscrewing the bolts in the back of her head, and after pulling a similar latch as the one on her chest, the two halves of her head parted and opened out, allowing her equivalent of a brain to slowly rise up and click into position.
"I… I have not got a good answer,"
"I need to know what you were thinking," she replied, a hint of pleading leaking into her voice.
"I think you already know why I did it," His words were barely audible they were so quiet. "I am sorry,"
"What was that?"
"I am sorry, Aradia. I caused you a great deal of hurt, and gave you a perfectly valid reason to distrust and hate me,"
His words were met with silence.
"It was a stupid decision,"
"But why did you do it?"
"I'm infatuated with you," he finally admitted. "I did not know what to do. I had behaved so awfully towards you the past few years so I took a reckless and drastic approach. One I did not think through,"
"So that's why you gave me blue blood,"
"That, and also ease of acquisition. I know the siphoning trade is not immensely difficult to find, but as far as the rumours go it is immensely expensive to purchase blood, especially in the quantity I needed,"
"So not only did you force me into having feelings for me, but you gave me your blood so you could feel better about said feelings!"
"Yes. I see how that it was wrong, I'm sorry,"
"Sorry isn't going to take back what happened,"
"I know,"
They fell silent again as Equius began to work on her brain. Aradia closed her eyes for a second, then once open again noticed the light outside had changed; rather than it being completely dark, the sun had begun to peak over the ocean. Had she fallen asleep?
"I have finished. My apologies, it seems you fell into a sleep mode while I worked, though it was probably for the best,"
"How long were you working?" she asked
"I'm not sure, several hours though,"
Part of her was flattered that he had done such a thorough job to help her, though there was still the element of distrust, and as such she ran a quick scan on her body to find what had been changed. As she read through the list her robotics had provided, she asked, "Did you find anything?"
"I did not find any physical problems that would have indicated increased aggression, however I did find indications that someone may have been accessing your mind. I ran some minor updates and fixes though, which should prevent anyone else tampering with your emotions or breaking into your mind,"
"What do you mean by someone has been accessing my mind?"
"I found suggestions that someone may have been hacking into the hard drives that make up your mind. How though I'm not sure. But I'm not certain if anything has happened or not, like I said I only found suggestions, no proof,"
"How could you know for certain?"
"Catch them in the act, or ask someone who has better knowledge of hacking than me,"
They paused, trying to think of hackers they knew.
"Sollux would certainly be the strongest choice, but none know where he is. As for Karkat, I have memories of him bragging about his skills at hacking but I very much doubt their validity,"
"But there is no way that there's something in my mind that would make me aggressive?"
"Not that I found,"
Aradia did not know how to feel about such a thing. On the one hand, she was glad there was nothing wrong with her mind, but at the same time it meant that the aggression had come from her, and that was terrifying.
"Okay, thank you," she said, and stood up from the chair. As they headed for the exit, perhaps because her circuits were still slow from just waking up, she turned and added, "I just… I wish you'd never put that microchip in me!"
"I know, I'm truly sorry, Aradia,"
"No, you don't understand. I liked you, Equius! You didn't need to put a chip in my heart! I was with you every day for years, and I couldn't feel anything, but something kept pulling me back to you instead of just wandering around by myself. And I was stupid enough to believe that you had actually changed, and got past all the stupid caste stuff, and you were stupid enough to ruin everything with that fucking chip!"
Equius' face turned to one of flushed horror.
"Oh,"
"Oh? Is that all you have to say? You idiot! You can create a complete working robotic body from scratch but you don't even know how to just, just talk to someone and tell them how you feel!"
"Aradia, please, I'm sorry for all this but you must calm down, this isn't good for you,"
"Why don't you install another chip in me! That sure would do the job wouldn't it? Ugh! I just… I hate you!" shouted Aradia, who then covered her mouth with both hands in shock, then whispered softly, "I hate you,"
"Ah,"
"You just, ugh! You have the gall to be so nice and make me this body and, and you used your own damn blood for it! And then you screw everything up, and look so fucking attractive while doing it. I said it, you're attractive, puberty was very good with you after the sweating phase, but would it kill you to just use more deodorant and tie your hair back or something, like, you have no idea how to look nice, who the fuck wears tights with cut offs? Shorts sure, but cut offs?" she rambled angrily, then noticed Equius' gobsmacked expression. "Stop looking at me like that!"
"I'm so sorry, I never knew,"
"Of course you never knew, you don't know how to talk to people! I hate it!" she snarled, before bursting into a fit of relieved laughter. "I'm glad I got that off my chest,"
"Yes, well," Equius replied, looking incredibly uncomfortable.
"Well what?"
"Is my hair and clothing really that unattractive?"
With a roll of her eyes Aradia tugged out what was holding her hair in a ponytail, but found it to be a piece of now dried seaweed, so threw it out the windows and hunted about in the drawers instead for an elastic band.
"I can't believe the secret base for the US doesn't have elastic bands," she huffed, before eventually finding a pot of them in a filing cabinet and marched over to Equius, tying his hair back in a low ponytail, excluding the strands that were just short enough to escape the band. Aradiabot took full notice of the hitch in his breath as her fingers brushed over the back of his neck, and smirked for now he was in her situation. "There, already better,"
His hair had grown much longer over the years they were in the Retainment Organisation, and then in confinement, and this look suited him much more than his almost navel length, freely flowing hair. At least he had bothered to take care of it, unlike some boys Aradia had once known. They gazed at one another for a few seconds, before against her better judgement Aradiabot leant in and gave him a soft kiss on his mouth, one very different to the last they shared. It was warm and gentle, their clasped hands swinging loosely at the waist
Then without saying a word, she broke it off and left the room to find the soldier. They did not talk again that night.