[Fanfic] Momentum
Title: Momentum (Parts 3-4)
Fandom: Homestuck
Characters/Pairings: Aradia, Sollux, Nepeta, Vriska, Equius, Terezi, Eridan, Kanaya, Tavros, Feferi; Sollux?Aradia, Equius♥/♠Aradia, implied Eridan♠Vriska, implied Sollux♥Feferi
Warnings: Spoilers for Hivebent (Act5-1) I guess?
Word count: (total) 27,563
3
apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AA: hey s0llux?
AA: …s0llux?
AA: i guess y0ure busy
AA: d0 y0u think y0u c0uld let me kn0w when y0ure n0t?
AA: i need t0 talk t0 y0u
apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AA: s0llux please
AA: i really need t0 talk t0 y0u
AA: its n0t ab0ut the 0ther day
AA: we can f0rget that even happened if y0u want
AA: i just
AA: s0mething happened t0 tavr0s
AA: s0llux please i just need t0 talk t0 s0me0ne
AA: S0LLUX
AA: …
AA: 0k fine
apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
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apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AA: hell0
AA: s0llux c0me 0n
AA: this is getting ridicul0us
AA: im w0rried ab0ut y0u
AA: please s0llux i d0nt need any0ne else t0 w0rry ab0ut
AA: i need y0ur advice
AA: i need y0u t0 tell me im w0rrying 0ver n0thing and that everythings g0ing t0 be 0k
AA: s0llux
AA: what did i d0
AA: why w0nt y0u talk t0 me
AA: i d0nt understand
AA: please answer me
AA: please
apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
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apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AA: …
AA: just tell me what i did wr0ng
AA: im s0rry
AA: s0llux i d0nt expect anything 0f y0u
AA: all i really wanted was f0r y0u t0 be happy
AA: i d0nt kn0w what i did t0 make y0u n0t want t0 talk t0 me
AA: but whatever it was im s0rry
AA: please just say s0mething
AA: my best friend just g0t thr0wn 0ff a cliff by s0me psych0tic bitch and n0w this
AA: i d0nt kn0w what t0 d0
AA: s0llux…
apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
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apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AA: this is the last time im g0ing t0 c0ntact y0u
AA: after this ill give up
AA: i just wanted t0 tell y0u that
AA: i guess
AA: i was never angry at y0u
AA: i was never disapp0inted with y0u
AA: i may have been frustrated but that happens d0esnt it
AA: in the end i was 0k with whatever y0u wanted t0 d0
AA: except this
AA: this isnt fair s0llux
AA: just tell me what i did t0 make you angry
AA: 0r upset
AA: 0r whatever reas0n y0ure ign0ring me
AA: just s0 i can get 0n with my life i guess
AA: surely y0u can d0 that much f0r me
AA: cant y0u?
AA: …
AA: 0k i cant just keep blabbering here
AA: h0ping y0ull answer
AA: because the l0nger i talk the m0re chance i have that y0ull resp0nd
AA: and this w0nt be the last time i ever talk t0 y0u
AA: 0k i get it
AA: g00dbye i guess
apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]
TA: aradiia.
TA: iim not angry at you.
TA: iim 2orry ii diidnt re2pond.
TA: ii cant apologiize enough.
TA: ii thought ii could keep thii2 up but 2eeiing you hurt ii2 two hard.
TA: whiich wa2 what ii wa2 tryiing two avoiid but iit look2 liike no matter what iit2 goiing two happen.
TA: hey are you there?
AA: s0llux…
TA: ok good.
TA: lii2ten ii have two make thii2 2hort.
AA: i d0nt understand
TA: ii know.
TA: ii dont entiirely under2tand eiither but the voiice2 dont liie.
TA: theyve been gettiing louder.
TA: and 2tronger.
TA: iim afraiid they may have 2ome 2ort of control over me now and they may make me do thiing2 ii dont want two do.
AA: what d0 y0u mean
AA: theyve been getting l0uder and str0nger f0r me t00
AA: ever since i first met y0u
AA: but h0w can they p0ssibly c0ntr0l y0u
AA: s0llux what is this all ab0ut
TA: iim tryiing two explaiin.
TA: theyre 2ayiing iim goiing two kiill you.
AA: 0_0
AA: what
TA: ye2 lately that2 all that2 been clear.
TA: over and over iin2ii2tiing that ii have two.
AA: well d0nt listen t0 them!
TA: you know iit2 not that ea2y!
TA: and iit doe2nt work that way.
TA: theyre u2ually really ambiiguou2 but when theyre clear theyre clear for a rea2on.
TA: thii2 ii2 2eriiou2 aradiia the probabiiliity that ii could kiill you ii2 huge if theyre thii2 clear about iit.
AA: but h0w
AA: why?!
TA: II DONT KNOW!
TA: that2 the problem ii dont know 2o thii2 ii2 the only way two avoiid iit.
TA: after thii2 conver2atiion we cant talk two each other anymore.
TA: we cant 2ee each other anymore.
TA: that2 the only way youll 2tay 2afe.
AA: s0llux
AA: y0ure being stupid 0_0
TA: THII2 II2NT JU2T ME HATIING MY2ELF HERE ARADIIA thii2 ii2 2eriiou2 come on!
TA: why cant you 2ee thii2?!
AA: because its n0nsense!
AA: if the v0ices are that p0werful then y0u av0iding me isnt g0ing t0 st0p them
AA: if theyre just telling the future then it will happen anyway
AA: if theyre the 0nes making y0u d0 it then theyll make sure it happens
AA: i refuse t0 spend h0wever l0ng i have left dreading my death and n0t even being able t0 see y0u in the meantime
AA: s0 screw the v0ices and screw fate and screw this av0iding each 0ther business
AA: if y0u d0nt get over here right n0w s0 i can see y0u im c0ming t0 find y0u
AA: 0_0
AA: s0 make y0ur decisi0n
TA: …fuck.
TA: ok ju2t chiill out iill be riight there.
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]
------
Aradia was a mess, but Sollux couldn’t see that at first. By the time he came within range, without even planting his feet on the ground, she had already plowed into him, knocking him backwards into one of her dig sites. His heart nearly exploded with the terror of the unexpected fall before he came to his senses and suspended their bodies in the air moments before impact.
“Aradia!”
From her position on top of him, Aradia chanced a glance up at him. Even with his shades obscuring half his face he looked angry. Scared, and angry.
“You can thay to thcrew the fateth all you want, but no way are you going to make their predicthion happen fathter! Cut it out!”
“Sorry,” she responded--because he sounded the way he did, not because she was.
He sighed shallowly, too out of breath for anything else, and shook his head, keeping a tight grip on her as he righted them back onto their feet on ground level. When he let her go, she merely gripped him tighter, defiantly. Wary of her horns, he reached up and stroked her hair hesitantly and let her cry against his shoulder.
“I don’t even care if you’re angry with me,” she gasped between sobs. “It’s better to see you like this than not at all.”
“I’m not angry with you,” he told her, squeezing his eyes shut. “I’m jutht angry.” But he did his best to quell it anyway.
Time passed. Sollux had no idea how much the change in how clearly he could see had to do with his eyes adjusting to the low light and how much it had to do with the sun getting closer to the horizon. Eventually, her sobs slowed, grew further apart, and faded away, and soon the tenseness in her shoulders also diminished.
“How ith he?” he eventually asked.
She looked up at him, confused.
“Tavroth. Have you theen him?”
She shook her head, misery overcoming her expression once more. “It’s not an easy walk to get there. It’s shorter than to your hivestem, but there’s a really deep, wide river in the way, and I can’t--”
Stepping back, Sollux held out an arm to her. “Let’th go.”
“…Now?”
“How long hath it been thinthe it happened?”
“A couple hours, but--”
“Then we’d better hurry. Who knowth what could have happened to him between then and now?”
Aradia licked her lips nervously but nodded swiftly and stepped back into his arms. Their FLARP game may have ended, and with it any danger from the game-spawned monsters, but plenty of real-life dangers awaited an injured young troll with no way to defend himself. Holding her tight, Sollux focused on getting them off the ground and on following her directions to Tavros’s hive. He held his breath as they crossed the river, but she remained securely in his arms.
“There’s his hive!” she exclaimed finally, pointing as the top of a windmill appeared over a large hill in the distance.
“Thould we check that firtht?”
“…No,” she decided, thinking quickly. “We need to find that cliff, I have a feeling he’s probably still…”
Sollux floated around it and discovered that finding the location of Tavros’s incident would not prove too difficult; it lay just beyond the other troll’s modest hive, and from here it looked pretty steep.
Sollux set Aradia down near the edge of the cliff and peered over, spying a small green figure down below and an even smaller white speck that was probably his lusus. Lines in the green sand by the beach marked where the tiny creature had probably attempted to drag him away from the water’s edge, but it obviously hadn’t gotten very far, and it had little chance of lifting the injured troll up this huge cliff.
“Thtay here,” he told Aradia, pointing to the ground where they stood, “pleathe.” The desperation in his voice more than his words kept her feet planted as she watched him slowly descend the height of the cliff until she lost sight of him.
As Sollux went further down, Tavros’s form became more and more distinct, and the white speck that was his lusus began flapping around in a more agitated manner. It approached him, and he swiped at it to get it to leave him alone. “I’m trying to help him, thtupid, buthhh off!”
It seemed to understand him without taking offense to the slur and calmed down, following him as he landed beside Tavros’s prone form. “Great, at leatht yourth ith thmarter than mine,” he muttered, carefully rolling the motionless troll’s body into a more natural position. Beneath the green cap his eyes fluttered open, looking panicked at the unfamiliar figure next to him.
“Umm,” he started hesitantly, words coming thickly from his mouth as if he’d hit his head much too hard upon landing. “You can, uh…take my stuff if you want. But. I don’t have much. And…it would be nice, if you didn’t hurt me…
“Because,” he continued, struggling to keep his eyes open, “there’s not much left to hurt…either…”
Under any other circumstances, Sollux would have snorted out of mirth at the fact that Tavros apparently spoke exactly as he typed. But now was not the time.
“Tavroth, it’th me, tA. Aradia and I are going to bring you back to your hive, ok?”
“Oh. Sollux. She’s…told me a lot. About you. …Ok.”
Frowning, Sollux took stock of the other troll, the way his legs sat uselessly upon the rocky sand. He scooped Tavros up carefully, sure the damage to his lower half was irreversible but not wishing to cause further injury to the rest of him. To his left, the small winged lusus buzzed excitedly around his head.
“Tinkerbull, it’s…ok, I’m in good hands now…I think… And. Look, I think I’m about to. Fly.”
Sollux turned a disturbed expression away from Tavros and focused on the edge of the cliff high above them as they rose up slowly into the air. “Aradia, thtep back!” he called, seeing her eyes peering out over the ledge.
She had scrambled a couple yards back by the time he emerged from down below, the hurt troll in his arms struggling with all his might to stay conscious while he was carried through the air.
“Can you get hith door open?”
Together, they got Tavros inside his hive and onto the floor, troll respiteblocks lacking any more suitable piece of furniture onto which he could be deposited. His friends knelt beside him, prodding up and down his legs and asking if he could feel it, and each time he hesitated they were briefly hopeful, but the answer was always, eventually, no.
“I’m…not getting better. …Am I?”
Sollux and Aradia glanced at each other, various shades of frowns written on their faces.
“I don’t think tho,” Sollux finally said, standing up. While he paced the length of the block, sometimes pausing to take stock of what was contained within, Aradia scooted closer and took Tavros’s hand.
“Tavros, I’m so sorry… I never meant for this to happen. I don’t know what it was, while you were messaging me there was this guy standing there and just…I couldn’t move, he was just so…”
“Aradia, it’s…ok, it wasn’t your fault. And. I know that…if you hadn’t been distracted, that…you would have. Saved me. Probably. But that was just…another part of her plan I think. And. I guess it worked.”
Tears welled back up in her eyes as she listened to him stumble through his words, as she squeezed his hand and felt only the briefest of touches back.
“Does it hurt?” she said quietly.
“At first it didn’t, it was…just invisible. But. Now it is, very, very…painful. The parts that I can feel. Anyway.”
She choked back another sob. “Sollux, isn’t there any way to fix him?”
He stopped to glance over his shoulder at the two of them, Aradia looking back at him expectantly while Tavros simply lied still, lacking the strength even to be hopeful.
“That’th not really my area of exthpertithe,” he answered, frowning. “I could maybe think of a way to make it eathier for him to get around, but…”
“You could…do that. Maybe?”
Maybe he had enough strength left to be fed hope, if not make it himself. For some reason, though, it just made Sollux’s chest feel heavy with the weight of that responsibility.
“Maybe,” was all he would promise.
“At least now you’re out of immediate danger,” Aradia put in, trying to feed on some of that hope herself. “As long as we keep this on the down-low no one has any reason to think anything out of the ordinary happened, and you won’t…”
She couldn’t finish that thought out loud. Even without his powers, Sollux knew her worry was over him being culled. He wondered if Tavros understood the danger as well as he did.
“For now you’ll jutht have to retht and try to recover your thtrength,” he interjected, not entirely wanting to know the answer.
“Yes, I…think I will have plenty of time. To do that.”
Aradia shuddered and stood. “Where’s your husktop? I’ll bring it over so we can be in touch and you can let me know how you’re holding up.”
He directed her hesitantly, and soon the device was within reach and Aradia had gathered herself.
“It’th getting late,” Sollux eventually reminded her, giving her a meaningful glance. “And we both need to get back.”
“…Yes. Tavros.”
The injured troll blinked wearily from where he lay on the floor. “Umm. Yeah?”
He could barely summon the energy to appear surprised when she returned to the floor to hug him tightly. “I’ll make this up to you somehow,” she murmured into his ear. “I promise. I’ll talk to Terezi and if…if she’ll help me, great. If not, I’ll do it myself. But that psycho won’t get away with this.”
“That’s…nice, Aradia, but I think…that may not be necessary, and also it might…be a little danger--”
“Tavros, you’re too nice for your own good.” She was crying again: sorrowful, rusty tears running in streams down her cheeks. “Maybe you can forgive her, somehow, I don’t know. But I can’t. And I won’t.”
She stood before he could muster up a further protest and turned back to Sollux. “We can go now.”
“You thure?”
“Yeah.”
Once more he held out his arm for her, and once more she stepped into his hold, wiping the tears from her face with a sleeve.
“Feel better, Tavros!”
“I’ll be in touch with you when I make thome progreth.”
“Ok, ah. Hmm. Goodbye. Then.”
There was a crackle of blue and a spattering of red, and they were off the ground again, heading back the way they came. Sollux knew the way now, and their conversation as they returned consisted of the tightness with which they held each other.
He delivered Aradia safely back to her hive, but before she would let him leave, she made him make her a promise.
“Talk to me tomorrow,” she said. “And the next day. And the day after that. And every day after that, until it happens. I don’t want there to be a day that goes by anymore that we don’t talk, or see each other.”
To this request he couldn’t say no. But to say yes was too hard, and to say goodbye was harder still, so he merely leaned down to kiss her gently on the forehead, and with a meaningful look that was lost behind his shades he rose up into the air and drifted away.
Aradia had little time to watch him go, she knew, but still she followed the shape of him as it shrank smaller and smaller into the distance before heading inside. She had a lot to do before sleep could be allowed to claim her.
------
It had been gradual at first, but ever since Aradia had begun speaking with Sollux about the voices they both heard, they had been gradually growing stronger in her own head as well, like a dream that, once acknowledged, came back night after night, each vision more detailed than the last. But when the shiny white head of that strange figure had appeared to her, they had grown exponentially worse, until it was sometimes difficult at times to parse what were her thoughts and what were their wishes.
Though at other times, those two were not so different.
At first, after speaking with Terezi, she thought that maybe the other was right and she should just leave this revenge business to her more skilled hands. After all, Terezi was usually right about things like this. Almost always.
Except, a voice reminded her, about Vriska in the first place.
And that had just opened the floodgates for others to speak, until she knew all about them and how they had died in the jaws of a monstrous lusus, fed to it by a monstrous troll girl. The more she listened, the angrier she got, and the easier it was to ignore Terezi’s advice.
Make her pay. Make her pay. Make her pay.
The spirits were more than willing to mobilize and haunt the girl who’d killed them, and for a while Aradia felt as if justice had been served.
But as she thought about it--about these devoured trolls, about Tavros--it still didn’t feel like quite enough.
4
Hey Captor!
“Oh fuck thith!” Sollux leaned back in his chair, drawing his eyes away from his screen. That voice was back. “I have thit to do, leave me alone!”
I’ll say you have “thit” to do, didn’t you promise your little girlfriend you’d talk to her every day until you killed her?
“Day’th not over, numnutth! And in cathe you were wondering I’m not going to not do it jutht becauthe you reminded me! Tho fuck off!”
Ooooooooh, thomeone’th grumpy today!
“Wow, real mature, imitating me like that. How old are you, two thweepth?”
Hahahahahahahaha!
“And the’th not…my girlfriend, you thaw to that!”
Hey, don’t blame your failures and complete lack of social skills on me Captor! I was just trying to help you, you’re the one who was too much of a wimp to go along with it!
“I didn’t go along with it becauthe I’ve had enough of you in my head! Now get ou--”
A deep grumble from above interrupted him, and it resounded in his head. “Thit! Not now!”
But the voice, at least for now, had fallen silent. Already agitated, Sollux stood up and stomped over to his apiculture networks to collect some honey. In his distress, his harvesting was sloppy, careless. He had a lot to do tonight; that help for Tavros wasn’t just going to design itself, and in order to uphold the promise he had made, he needed to contact Aradia before the lunar cycle was over. She had been eerily quiet all night. And now he had to feed his lusus. He’d never resented the responsibility more.
The grumble resounded again. Connected like this to him as she was, Vriska heard it, too, and it echoed hollowly within her psyche, mingling with the cries of the dead Aradia had sent after her. Some of that fear returned with the swell of noises and screams trapped within her head, but her tears had dried up when her concentration had shifted onto him. Gathering herself, she hung back, waiting, riding just behind his eyes--seeing what he saw. When he began collecting some yellow substance, she forced herself deeper into his mind to find out what it was, what it would do. He was too busy being frustrated and angry and upset to feel it, which was just perfect.
…Oh god, everything was just perfect.
Rather than calm down at Sollux’s approach as he ascended to the roof, the Bicyclops only seemed to grow more agitated, his grumbling gaining volume and weight, until Sollux was sure the vibrations would throw him from the roof if he’d been standing on it. His lusus raged at him, and he raged right back, shouting insults that half the time he’d find completely embarrassing. All the while, he stomped closer, brandishing the jar of honey like a weapon. “Thut the fuck up, you thtupid, mind-numbed wathte of thpace! All fucking night long it’th nothing but your fucking grumbling! Thomeday I’m jutht going to thtop feeding you, you utheleth piethe of thit, then you’ll thee what hunger feelth like--”
Oh yeah! Yeah! You just try and stop feeding that thing, see if you can handle the headache!
Sollux stopped. The voice sounded…angry. That was new.
Good thing you aren’t made of that honey shit, or maybe it would get so hungry it would try eating you!
The fury gathered in his head like storm clouds, roiling the more they grew in weight and darkness. It paralyzed him, a toxin, keeping him a foot or so away from his lusus. The Bicyclops kept raging, but in comparison to the maelstrom in his head, he barely noticed it.
God, you don’t have any idea how easy you have it do you Captor?! Maybe you should find out!
Sollux moved his hand, the one with the jar in it, closer to his mouth. There was something he was forgetting about this stuff, lost in the whirl of anger and voices and grumbling and shaking. Some sort of warning. But it probably didn’t matter. The urge to do this, to tilt the lip of the jar to his own mouth, was too strong.
The mind honey was a rich, viscous amber substance, and he found it agonizing the way it took so long to slip down the side of the jar. Crossing bifurcated eyes, he watched it slowly fall from the bottom of the jar towards him, until it slid out of his vision and into his mouth.
He had never tasted anything like it before. It was sweet, sickeningly so, and it burned in a way that was almost pleasant all the way down his protein chute. Even so, until then it was just like any other food.
Then it stopped obeying the laws of gravity and troll physiology alike. It turned, squirming wildly upwards past his mouth, and seemed to slam into his brain with a force not unlike that with which his lusus was stomping on the roof. And it buzzed, rattling him, stealing away any control of his consciousness he may have had left. His brain, his head, his entire body felt like it would never be still again. His lusus continued to grumble at him, but he took off into the night, as if the farther away from his hive he flew, the quieter the buzzing would get.
It never left him. There may have been words in his head, and they may have given him directions, but over the noise he didn’t hear them. He could only follow them subconsciously as they led him towards a place that may have been familiar, if he were in a position to recall anything at all.
When he got to a certain location, just outside the lawnring of some structure sitting squat in the distance surrounded by odd, irregularly-sized holes, he stopped, as ordered, and waited for further instructions. The buzzing was getting worse, straying to his eyes, and as he swayed back and forth in the air for the need of some sort of motion, he removed his shades. It was making his eyes itchy, but he was on orders not to relieve himself of that feeling yet. The wait was agonizing.
But it was a brief delay, nothing more. Eventually he was allowed to move on, and he floated forward again, towards that small structure. A figure had emerged from an opening in it and was staring up at him, transfixed. She smiled, then frowned, at the image of him suspended in the air above her, shades in one hand and empty jar in the other, with yellow smeared all over his mouth, but he could not make out any part of her clearly. The buzzing blurred his vision, energy beginning to stream uncontrollably from his eyes like tears.
“And what’s that?” she asked, nodding to the thick liquid leaking from his network.
Sollux’s lips twitched into a frown. “Mind honey. It’th what I feed my luthuth.”
She tilted her head at it curiously, then reached out as if to touch it. “What does it--”
“No!” He reached up and slapped her hand away urgently, then backed up a step when she turned a shocked face towards him. “You muthn’t.”
“You mean you haven’t ever…? Just a taste?”
“Not under any thircumthtantheth.”
He had refused to tell her why, or what would happen, or even if he himself knew, but that no longer mattered. Aradia felt as suspended as he looked, staring at her from up there, and if only he had willed her to move she could have obeyed. But he looked down at her with a blank, unrecognizing expression, and she was too terrified to budge.
Was this it…?
“Sollux…” she whispered, voice tangled up in her tight, petrified throat. Her mind made one last connection, a more instinctual understanding of the situation: Tavros and the cliff; the voices; Sollux’s avoidance; Vriska’s last message to her; Terezi’s warning.
Oh god, this was it.
The energy leaking from his eyes built in strength, too fast for her mind to process it, and before she could even think to dodge it was too late. He released it, red and blue light joining together in a brilliant beam, hitting her, tearing at her clothing, her hair and horns and flesh. It ripped her, pulling at skin and muscle and bone and lungs and other parts. It vaporized all that in an instant, until all that remained was a core of emotion, of anger and fury and retaliation, for the legs she had taken from Tavros and the free will she had taken from Sollux and the life she had taken from her.
And then that core, too, was gone. Was she angry? She couldn’t remember. She couldn’t even remember what that felt like. She was dead, but the voices assuaged her that that was supposed to happen, that that was all part of the plan all along. Everything was going according to plan, so why be angry? Exactly. Everything was fine, completely ok.
Very close by, she could hear a sound like an animal in pain, rising into a wordless cry as if it meant to pierce the very stars in the sky, all at once, but missed every one. She listened to it for a while, but it kept going, growing to a height of anguish and then lingering on forever, breathless and eternal.
She soon grew bored of it, and left for somewhere else.
------
gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]
GC: 4R4D14 H3Y
GC: 1 TOLD YOU 1 WOULD H4V3 1T 4LL F1GUR3D OUT 4ND 1 DO
GC: SO YOU DONT N33D TO WORRY 4BOUT 4 TH1NG >:]
GC: …4R4D14?
apocalypseArisen’s [AA’S] computer was vaporized.
GC: 4R4D14!
GC: >:O
------
gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
GC: SOLLUX 1 N33D YOUR H3LP
GC: TH1S 1S SO NOT TH3 T1M3 TO B3 4LL MOODY 4ND S4D 4ND WH4TNOT!
GC: TH1S 1S URG3NT!!
GC: WH3R3 4R3 YOU?! >:O
gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]
TA: TZ.
GC: TH3R3 YOU 4R3 >:[
GC: WH4T TOOK YOU SO LONG
TA: TZ ii ju2t diid 2omethiing awful.
GC: WH4T 4R3 YOU T4LK1NG 4BOUT
TA: ii ju2t kiilled aradiia.
GC: >:O
GC: WH4T?!
TA: there wa2 thii2 voiice iin my head ii couldnt iignore.
TA: iit wa2nt liike the other one2 iit wa2 iin2ii2tant and iit conviinced me two eat the miind honey and go fiind her.
TA: ii had no control over iit.
TA: ii vaporiized her and her hiive and her lu2u2.
TA: everythiing2 gone.
TA: 2he2 gone TZ.
TA: ii dont know how thii2 happened ii couldnt 2top doiing what that voiice told me two do.
GC: 4LR1GHT LOOK SLOW DOWN
GC: TH1S
GC: CR4P >XO
GC: SOLLUX TH1S 1SNT YOUR F4ULT
TA: what the hell are you talkiing about of cour2e iit2 my fault!
TA: ii kiilled her!
GC: Y34H OK4Y YOU D1D BUT YOU D1DNT H4V3 4NY CONTROL OV3R YOURS3LF
GC: 1F 1M R1GHT
GC: 4ND 1M PR3TTY SUR3 1 4M
GC: VR1SK4 M1ND CONTROLL3D YOU 1NTO K1LL1NG H3R
GC: WH1CH 1S 4CTU4LLY K1ND OF MY F4ULT >:[
TA: what are you talkiing about?
TA: who2 vrii2ka?
GC: 4R4CHN1DSGR1P
GC: SH3 MUST H4V3 TR13D TROLL1NG YOU B3FOR3
TA: yeah 2he triied but 2he 2ounded liike a major tool two be honest.
GC: YOU H4V3 NO 1D34 >:[
GC: 4NYW4Y TH3 PO1NT 1S 1 G4V3 H3R YOUR TROLL14N H4NDL3
GC: WH1CH G4V3 H3R TH3 POW3R SH3 N33D3D TO K1LL 4R4D14
TA: why would you giive her my name?
GC: >:[
GC: 1 W4S BL1ND
GC: SH3 S41D SH3 N33D3D 4 H4CK3R 4ND 1 TRUST3D H3R
GC: BUT 1M THROUGH W1TH H3R 4ND 4LL H3R L13S >:[
GC: 4ND 1TS T1M3 TO S3T H3R STR41GHT
GC: NOW 4R3 YOU GO1NG TO S1T TH3R3 4ND F33L SORRY FOR YOURS3LF OR 4R3 YOU GO1NG TO H3LP M3 G3T R3V3NG3?
TA: ii a22ume you have a plan?
GC: D4MN R1GHT 1 DO
TA: what ii2 iit?
GC: 1TS COMPL1C4T3D
GC: 4ND 1 DONT W4NT H3R G3TT1NG B4CK 4T YOU 1F SOM3TH1NG GO3S WRONG
GC: SO 1M GO1NG TO SP4R3 YOU TH3 D3T41LS
GC: 4LL YOU N33D TO KNOW 1S TH4T TH3R3S SOM3ON3 1 N33D TO G3T 1N CONT4CT W1TH
GC: C4N YOU TR4C3 H1S M3SS4G3S?
TA: 2eriiou2ly that2 iit?
GC: 1 KNOW 1 KNOW 1TS 4 HUG3 W4ST3 OF YOUR T4L3NTS SORRY >:/
TA: iit2 fiine iit2 2omethiing for me two do ii gue22.
TA: two get back at her and ii gue22 repent for what ii diid.
TA: even iif ii couldnt control iit.
GC: TH4TS TH3 SP1R1T
GC: OK4Y 1LL HOOK YOU UP W1TH TH3 1NFORM4T1ON
GC: L3T M3 KNOW WH3N YOUR3 DON3 W1TH 1T
TA: iitll take two 2econd2 dont worry.
TA: but terezii.
GC: Y34H?
TA: that ii.
TA: that aradiia2 dead do you thiink we can keep that a 2ecret between u2 for the tiime beiing?
GC: TH4T WONT L4ST LONG 4S 4 S3CR3T
GC: SH3S K1ND OF D34D >:/
TA: ii know.
TA: but iif que2tiion2 2tart beiing a2ked iit2 goiing two come down two beiing her agaiin2t me.
TA: who do you thiink ii2 goiing two be blamed for thii2?
GC: 1 COULD CONV1NC3 TH3M >:[
TA: ii dont want two have two deal wiith that.
TA: and you 2houldnt have two eiither.
TA: 2o can we ju2t keep thii2 between u2 for a2 long a2 we can?
GC: S1GH.
GC: F1N3.
GC: 1F TH4TS WH4T YOU W4NT
GC: WH4T3V3R G3TS YOU TO WORK ON TH1S F4ST3R
GC: NOW COM3 ON SOLLUX W3 4R3 ON 4 STR1CT V3NG34NC3 T1M3T4BL3 H3R3
TA: ok ok chiill ju2t 2end me the iinfo.
GC: ON 1TS W4Y!
GC: 4ND SOLLUX?
TA: what.
GC: DONT WORRY
GC: TH1SLL T4K3 C4R3 OF H3R ONC3 4ND FOR 4LL
GC: >:|
gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
This will teach me not to save my formatting documents /SHOT
/Keeps going
Fandom: Homestuck
Characters/Pairings: Aradia, Sollux, Nepeta, Vriska, Equius, Terezi, Eridan, Kanaya, Tavros, Feferi; Sollux?Aradia, Equius♥/♠Aradia, implied Eridan♠Vriska, implied Sollux♥Feferi
Warnings: Spoilers for Hivebent (Act5-1) I guess?
Word count: (total) 27,563
3
apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AA: hey s0llux?
AA: …s0llux?
AA: i guess y0ure busy
AA: d0 y0u think y0u c0uld let me kn0w when y0ure n0t?
AA: i need t0 talk t0 y0u
apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AA: s0llux please
AA: i really need t0 talk t0 y0u
AA: its n0t ab0ut the 0ther day
AA: we can f0rget that even happened if y0u want
AA: i just
AA: s0mething happened t0 tavr0s
AA: s0llux please i just need t0 talk t0 s0me0ne
AA: S0LLUX
AA: …
AA: 0k fine
apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
------
apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AA: hell0
AA: s0llux c0me 0n
AA: this is getting ridicul0us
AA: im w0rried ab0ut y0u
AA: please s0llux i d0nt need any0ne else t0 w0rry ab0ut
AA: i need y0ur advice
AA: i need y0u t0 tell me im w0rrying 0ver n0thing and that everythings g0ing t0 be 0k
AA: s0llux
AA: what did i d0
AA: why w0nt y0u talk t0 me
AA: i d0nt understand
AA: please answer me
AA: please
apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
------
apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AA: …
AA: just tell me what i did wr0ng
AA: im s0rry
AA: s0llux i d0nt expect anything 0f y0u
AA: all i really wanted was f0r y0u t0 be happy
AA: i d0nt kn0w what i did t0 make y0u n0t want t0 talk t0 me
AA: but whatever it was im s0rry
AA: please just say s0mething
AA: my best friend just g0t thr0wn 0ff a cliff by s0me psych0tic bitch and n0w this
AA: i d0nt kn0w what t0 d0
AA: s0llux…
apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
------
apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
AA: this is the last time im g0ing t0 c0ntact y0u
AA: after this ill give up
AA: i just wanted t0 tell y0u that
AA: i guess
AA: i was never angry at y0u
AA: i was never disapp0inted with y0u
AA: i may have been frustrated but that happens d0esnt it
AA: in the end i was 0k with whatever y0u wanted t0 d0
AA: except this
AA: this isnt fair s0llux
AA: just tell me what i did t0 make you angry
AA: 0r upset
AA: 0r whatever reas0n y0ure ign0ring me
AA: just s0 i can get 0n with my life i guess
AA: surely y0u can d0 that much f0r me
AA: cant y0u?
AA: …
AA: 0k i cant just keep blabbering here
AA: h0ping y0ull answer
AA: because the l0nger i talk the m0re chance i have that y0ull resp0nd
AA: and this w0nt be the last time i ever talk t0 y0u
AA: 0k i get it
AA: g00dbye i guess
apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]
TA: aradiia.
TA: iim not angry at you.
TA: iim 2orry ii diidnt re2pond.
TA: ii cant apologiize enough.
TA: ii thought ii could keep thii2 up but 2eeiing you hurt ii2 two hard.
TA: whiich wa2 what ii wa2 tryiing two avoiid but iit look2 liike no matter what iit2 goiing two happen.
TA: hey are you there?
AA: s0llux…
TA: ok good.
TA: lii2ten ii have two make thii2 2hort.
AA: i d0nt understand
TA: ii know.
TA: ii dont entiirely under2tand eiither but the voiice2 dont liie.
TA: theyve been gettiing louder.
TA: and 2tronger.
TA: iim afraiid they may have 2ome 2ort of control over me now and they may make me do thiing2 ii dont want two do.
AA: what d0 y0u mean
AA: theyve been getting l0uder and str0nger f0r me t00
AA: ever since i first met y0u
AA: but h0w can they p0ssibly c0ntr0l y0u
AA: s0llux what is this all ab0ut
TA: iim tryiing two explaiin.
TA: theyre 2ayiing iim goiing two kiill you.
AA: 0_0
AA: what
TA: ye2 lately that2 all that2 been clear.
TA: over and over iin2ii2tiing that ii have two.
AA: well d0nt listen t0 them!
TA: you know iit2 not that ea2y!
TA: and iit doe2nt work that way.
TA: theyre u2ually really ambiiguou2 but when theyre clear theyre clear for a rea2on.
TA: thii2 ii2 2eriiou2 aradiia the probabiiliity that ii could kiill you ii2 huge if theyre thii2 clear about iit.
AA: but h0w
AA: why?!
TA: II DONT KNOW!
TA: that2 the problem ii dont know 2o thii2 ii2 the only way two avoiid iit.
TA: after thii2 conver2atiion we cant talk two each other anymore.
TA: we cant 2ee each other anymore.
TA: that2 the only way youll 2tay 2afe.
AA: s0llux
AA: y0ure being stupid 0_0
TA: THII2 II2NT JU2T ME HATIING MY2ELF HERE ARADIIA thii2 ii2 2eriiou2 come on!
TA: why cant you 2ee thii2?!
AA: because its n0nsense!
AA: if the v0ices are that p0werful then y0u av0iding me isnt g0ing t0 st0p them
AA: if theyre just telling the future then it will happen anyway
AA: if theyre the 0nes making y0u d0 it then theyll make sure it happens
AA: i refuse t0 spend h0wever l0ng i have left dreading my death and n0t even being able t0 see y0u in the meantime
AA: s0 screw the v0ices and screw fate and screw this av0iding each 0ther business
AA: if y0u d0nt get over here right n0w s0 i can see y0u im c0ming t0 find y0u
AA: 0_0
AA: s0 make y0ur decisi0n
TA: …fuck.
TA: ok ju2t chiill out iill be riight there.
twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]
------
Aradia was a mess, but Sollux couldn’t see that at first. By the time he came within range, without even planting his feet on the ground, she had already plowed into him, knocking him backwards into one of her dig sites. His heart nearly exploded with the terror of the unexpected fall before he came to his senses and suspended their bodies in the air moments before impact.
“Aradia!”
From her position on top of him, Aradia chanced a glance up at him. Even with his shades obscuring half his face he looked angry. Scared, and angry.
“You can thay to thcrew the fateth all you want, but no way are you going to make their predicthion happen fathter! Cut it out!”
“Sorry,” she responded--because he sounded the way he did, not because she was.
He sighed shallowly, too out of breath for anything else, and shook his head, keeping a tight grip on her as he righted them back onto their feet on ground level. When he let her go, she merely gripped him tighter, defiantly. Wary of her horns, he reached up and stroked her hair hesitantly and let her cry against his shoulder.
“I don’t even care if you’re angry with me,” she gasped between sobs. “It’s better to see you like this than not at all.”
“I’m not angry with you,” he told her, squeezing his eyes shut. “I’m jutht angry.” But he did his best to quell it anyway.
Time passed. Sollux had no idea how much the change in how clearly he could see had to do with his eyes adjusting to the low light and how much it had to do with the sun getting closer to the horizon. Eventually, her sobs slowed, grew further apart, and faded away, and soon the tenseness in her shoulders also diminished.
“How ith he?” he eventually asked.
She looked up at him, confused.
“Tavroth. Have you theen him?”
She shook her head, misery overcoming her expression once more. “It’s not an easy walk to get there. It’s shorter than to your hivestem, but there’s a really deep, wide river in the way, and I can’t--”
Stepping back, Sollux held out an arm to her. “Let’th go.”
“…Now?”
“How long hath it been thinthe it happened?”
“A couple hours, but--”
“Then we’d better hurry. Who knowth what could have happened to him between then and now?”
Aradia licked her lips nervously but nodded swiftly and stepped back into his arms. Their FLARP game may have ended, and with it any danger from the game-spawned monsters, but plenty of real-life dangers awaited an injured young troll with no way to defend himself. Holding her tight, Sollux focused on getting them off the ground and on following her directions to Tavros’s hive. He held his breath as they crossed the river, but she remained securely in his arms.
“There’s his hive!” she exclaimed finally, pointing as the top of a windmill appeared over a large hill in the distance.
“Thould we check that firtht?”
“…No,” she decided, thinking quickly. “We need to find that cliff, I have a feeling he’s probably still…”
Sollux floated around it and discovered that finding the location of Tavros’s incident would not prove too difficult; it lay just beyond the other troll’s modest hive, and from here it looked pretty steep.
Sollux set Aradia down near the edge of the cliff and peered over, spying a small green figure down below and an even smaller white speck that was probably his lusus. Lines in the green sand by the beach marked where the tiny creature had probably attempted to drag him away from the water’s edge, but it obviously hadn’t gotten very far, and it had little chance of lifting the injured troll up this huge cliff.
“Thtay here,” he told Aradia, pointing to the ground where they stood, “pleathe.” The desperation in his voice more than his words kept her feet planted as she watched him slowly descend the height of the cliff until she lost sight of him.
As Sollux went further down, Tavros’s form became more and more distinct, and the white speck that was his lusus began flapping around in a more agitated manner. It approached him, and he swiped at it to get it to leave him alone. “I’m trying to help him, thtupid, buthhh off!”
It seemed to understand him without taking offense to the slur and calmed down, following him as he landed beside Tavros’s prone form. “Great, at leatht yourth ith thmarter than mine,” he muttered, carefully rolling the motionless troll’s body into a more natural position. Beneath the green cap his eyes fluttered open, looking panicked at the unfamiliar figure next to him.
“Umm,” he started hesitantly, words coming thickly from his mouth as if he’d hit his head much too hard upon landing. “You can, uh…take my stuff if you want. But. I don’t have much. And…it would be nice, if you didn’t hurt me…
“Because,” he continued, struggling to keep his eyes open, “there’s not much left to hurt…either…”
Under any other circumstances, Sollux would have snorted out of mirth at the fact that Tavros apparently spoke exactly as he typed. But now was not the time.
“Tavroth, it’th me, tA. Aradia and I are going to bring you back to your hive, ok?”
“Oh. Sollux. She’s…told me a lot. About you. …Ok.”
Frowning, Sollux took stock of the other troll, the way his legs sat uselessly upon the rocky sand. He scooped Tavros up carefully, sure the damage to his lower half was irreversible but not wishing to cause further injury to the rest of him. To his left, the small winged lusus buzzed excitedly around his head.
“Tinkerbull, it’s…ok, I’m in good hands now…I think… And. Look, I think I’m about to. Fly.”
Sollux turned a disturbed expression away from Tavros and focused on the edge of the cliff high above them as they rose up slowly into the air. “Aradia, thtep back!” he called, seeing her eyes peering out over the ledge.
She had scrambled a couple yards back by the time he emerged from down below, the hurt troll in his arms struggling with all his might to stay conscious while he was carried through the air.
“Can you get hith door open?”
Together, they got Tavros inside his hive and onto the floor, troll respiteblocks lacking any more suitable piece of furniture onto which he could be deposited. His friends knelt beside him, prodding up and down his legs and asking if he could feel it, and each time he hesitated they were briefly hopeful, but the answer was always, eventually, no.
“I’m…not getting better. …Am I?”
Sollux and Aradia glanced at each other, various shades of frowns written on their faces.
“I don’t think tho,” Sollux finally said, standing up. While he paced the length of the block, sometimes pausing to take stock of what was contained within, Aradia scooted closer and took Tavros’s hand.
“Tavros, I’m so sorry… I never meant for this to happen. I don’t know what it was, while you were messaging me there was this guy standing there and just…I couldn’t move, he was just so…”
“Aradia, it’s…ok, it wasn’t your fault. And. I know that…if you hadn’t been distracted, that…you would have. Saved me. Probably. But that was just…another part of her plan I think. And. I guess it worked.”
Tears welled back up in her eyes as she listened to him stumble through his words, as she squeezed his hand and felt only the briefest of touches back.
“Does it hurt?” she said quietly.
“At first it didn’t, it was…just invisible. But. Now it is, very, very…painful. The parts that I can feel. Anyway.”
She choked back another sob. “Sollux, isn’t there any way to fix him?”
He stopped to glance over his shoulder at the two of them, Aradia looking back at him expectantly while Tavros simply lied still, lacking the strength even to be hopeful.
“That’th not really my area of exthpertithe,” he answered, frowning. “I could maybe think of a way to make it eathier for him to get around, but…”
“You could…do that. Maybe?”
Maybe he had enough strength left to be fed hope, if not make it himself. For some reason, though, it just made Sollux’s chest feel heavy with the weight of that responsibility.
“Maybe,” was all he would promise.
“At least now you’re out of immediate danger,” Aradia put in, trying to feed on some of that hope herself. “As long as we keep this on the down-low no one has any reason to think anything out of the ordinary happened, and you won’t…”
She couldn’t finish that thought out loud. Even without his powers, Sollux knew her worry was over him being culled. He wondered if Tavros understood the danger as well as he did.
“For now you’ll jutht have to retht and try to recover your thtrength,” he interjected, not entirely wanting to know the answer.
“Yes, I…think I will have plenty of time. To do that.”
Aradia shuddered and stood. “Where’s your husktop? I’ll bring it over so we can be in touch and you can let me know how you’re holding up.”
He directed her hesitantly, and soon the device was within reach and Aradia had gathered herself.
“It’th getting late,” Sollux eventually reminded her, giving her a meaningful glance. “And we both need to get back.”
“…Yes. Tavros.”
The injured troll blinked wearily from where he lay on the floor. “Umm. Yeah?”
He could barely summon the energy to appear surprised when she returned to the floor to hug him tightly. “I’ll make this up to you somehow,” she murmured into his ear. “I promise. I’ll talk to Terezi and if…if she’ll help me, great. If not, I’ll do it myself. But that psycho won’t get away with this.”
“That’s…nice, Aradia, but I think…that may not be necessary, and also it might…be a little danger--”
“Tavros, you’re too nice for your own good.” She was crying again: sorrowful, rusty tears running in streams down her cheeks. “Maybe you can forgive her, somehow, I don’t know. But I can’t. And I won’t.”
She stood before he could muster up a further protest and turned back to Sollux. “We can go now.”
“You thure?”
“Yeah.”
Once more he held out his arm for her, and once more she stepped into his hold, wiping the tears from her face with a sleeve.
“Feel better, Tavros!”
“I’ll be in touch with you when I make thome progreth.”
“Ok, ah. Hmm. Goodbye. Then.”
There was a crackle of blue and a spattering of red, and they were off the ground again, heading back the way they came. Sollux knew the way now, and their conversation as they returned consisted of the tightness with which they held each other.
He delivered Aradia safely back to her hive, but before she would let him leave, she made him make her a promise.
“Talk to me tomorrow,” she said. “And the next day. And the day after that. And every day after that, until it happens. I don’t want there to be a day that goes by anymore that we don’t talk, or see each other.”
To this request he couldn’t say no. But to say yes was too hard, and to say goodbye was harder still, so he merely leaned down to kiss her gently on the forehead, and with a meaningful look that was lost behind his shades he rose up into the air and drifted away.
Aradia had little time to watch him go, she knew, but still she followed the shape of him as it shrank smaller and smaller into the distance before heading inside. She had a lot to do before sleep could be allowed to claim her.
------
It had been gradual at first, but ever since Aradia had begun speaking with Sollux about the voices they both heard, they had been gradually growing stronger in her own head as well, like a dream that, once acknowledged, came back night after night, each vision more detailed than the last. But when the shiny white head of that strange figure had appeared to her, they had grown exponentially worse, until it was sometimes difficult at times to parse what were her thoughts and what were their wishes.
Though at other times, those two were not so different.
At first, after speaking with Terezi, she thought that maybe the other was right and she should just leave this revenge business to her more skilled hands. After all, Terezi was usually right about things like this. Almost always.
Except, a voice reminded her, about Vriska in the first place.
And that had just opened the floodgates for others to speak, until she knew all about them and how they had died in the jaws of a monstrous lusus, fed to it by a monstrous troll girl. The more she listened, the angrier she got, and the easier it was to ignore Terezi’s advice.
Make her pay. Make her pay. Make her pay.
The spirits were more than willing to mobilize and haunt the girl who’d killed them, and for a while Aradia felt as if justice had been served.
But as she thought about it--about these devoured trolls, about Tavros--it still didn’t feel like quite enough.
4
Hey Captor!
“Oh fuck thith!” Sollux leaned back in his chair, drawing his eyes away from his screen. That voice was back. “I have thit to do, leave me alone!”
I’ll say you have “thit” to do, didn’t you promise your little girlfriend you’d talk to her every day until you killed her?
“Day’th not over, numnutth! And in cathe you were wondering I’m not going to not do it jutht becauthe you reminded me! Tho fuck off!”
Ooooooooh, thomeone’th grumpy today!
“Wow, real mature, imitating me like that. How old are you, two thweepth?”
Hahahahahahahaha!
“And the’th not…my girlfriend, you thaw to that!”
Hey, don’t blame your failures and complete lack of social skills on me Captor! I was just trying to help you, you’re the one who was too much of a wimp to go along with it!
“I didn’t go along with it becauthe I’ve had enough of you in my head! Now get ou--”
A deep grumble from above interrupted him, and it resounded in his head. “Thit! Not now!”
But the voice, at least for now, had fallen silent. Already agitated, Sollux stood up and stomped over to his apiculture networks to collect some honey. In his distress, his harvesting was sloppy, careless. He had a lot to do tonight; that help for Tavros wasn’t just going to design itself, and in order to uphold the promise he had made, he needed to contact Aradia before the lunar cycle was over. She had been eerily quiet all night. And now he had to feed his lusus. He’d never resented the responsibility more.
The grumble resounded again. Connected like this to him as she was, Vriska heard it, too, and it echoed hollowly within her psyche, mingling with the cries of the dead Aradia had sent after her. Some of that fear returned with the swell of noises and screams trapped within her head, but her tears had dried up when her concentration had shifted onto him. Gathering herself, she hung back, waiting, riding just behind his eyes--seeing what he saw. When he began collecting some yellow substance, she forced herself deeper into his mind to find out what it was, what it would do. He was too busy being frustrated and angry and upset to feel it, which was just perfect.
…Oh god, everything was just perfect.
Rather than calm down at Sollux’s approach as he ascended to the roof, the Bicyclops only seemed to grow more agitated, his grumbling gaining volume and weight, until Sollux was sure the vibrations would throw him from the roof if he’d been standing on it. His lusus raged at him, and he raged right back, shouting insults that half the time he’d find completely embarrassing. All the while, he stomped closer, brandishing the jar of honey like a weapon. “Thut the fuck up, you thtupid, mind-numbed wathte of thpace! All fucking night long it’th nothing but your fucking grumbling! Thomeday I’m jutht going to thtop feeding you, you utheleth piethe of thit, then you’ll thee what hunger feelth like--”
Oh yeah! Yeah! You just try and stop feeding that thing, see if you can handle the headache!
Sollux stopped. The voice sounded…angry. That was new.
Good thing you aren’t made of that honey shit, or maybe it would get so hungry it would try eating you!
The fury gathered in his head like storm clouds, roiling the more they grew in weight and darkness. It paralyzed him, a toxin, keeping him a foot or so away from his lusus. The Bicyclops kept raging, but in comparison to the maelstrom in his head, he barely noticed it.
God, you don’t have any idea how easy you have it do you Captor?! Maybe you should find out!
Sollux moved his hand, the one with the jar in it, closer to his mouth. There was something he was forgetting about this stuff, lost in the whirl of anger and voices and grumbling and shaking. Some sort of warning. But it probably didn’t matter. The urge to do this, to tilt the lip of the jar to his own mouth, was too strong.
The mind honey was a rich, viscous amber substance, and he found it agonizing the way it took so long to slip down the side of the jar. Crossing bifurcated eyes, he watched it slowly fall from the bottom of the jar towards him, until it slid out of his vision and into his mouth.
He had never tasted anything like it before. It was sweet, sickeningly so, and it burned in a way that was almost pleasant all the way down his protein chute. Even so, until then it was just like any other food.
Then it stopped obeying the laws of gravity and troll physiology alike. It turned, squirming wildly upwards past his mouth, and seemed to slam into his brain with a force not unlike that with which his lusus was stomping on the roof. And it buzzed, rattling him, stealing away any control of his consciousness he may have had left. His brain, his head, his entire body felt like it would never be still again. His lusus continued to grumble at him, but he took off into the night, as if the farther away from his hive he flew, the quieter the buzzing would get.
It never left him. There may have been words in his head, and they may have given him directions, but over the noise he didn’t hear them. He could only follow them subconsciously as they led him towards a place that may have been familiar, if he were in a position to recall anything at all.
When he got to a certain location, just outside the lawnring of some structure sitting squat in the distance surrounded by odd, irregularly-sized holes, he stopped, as ordered, and waited for further instructions. The buzzing was getting worse, straying to his eyes, and as he swayed back and forth in the air for the need of some sort of motion, he removed his shades. It was making his eyes itchy, but he was on orders not to relieve himself of that feeling yet. The wait was agonizing.
But it was a brief delay, nothing more. Eventually he was allowed to move on, and he floated forward again, towards that small structure. A figure had emerged from an opening in it and was staring up at him, transfixed. She smiled, then frowned, at the image of him suspended in the air above her, shades in one hand and empty jar in the other, with yellow smeared all over his mouth, but he could not make out any part of her clearly. The buzzing blurred his vision, energy beginning to stream uncontrollably from his eyes like tears.
“And what’s that?” she asked, nodding to the thick liquid leaking from his network.
Sollux’s lips twitched into a frown. “Mind honey. It’th what I feed my luthuth.”
She tilted her head at it curiously, then reached out as if to touch it. “What does it--”
“No!” He reached up and slapped her hand away urgently, then backed up a step when she turned a shocked face towards him. “You muthn’t.”
“You mean you haven’t ever…? Just a taste?”
“Not under any thircumthtantheth.”
He had refused to tell her why, or what would happen, or even if he himself knew, but that no longer mattered. Aradia felt as suspended as he looked, staring at her from up there, and if only he had willed her to move she could have obeyed. But he looked down at her with a blank, unrecognizing expression, and she was too terrified to budge.
Was this it…?
“Sollux…” she whispered, voice tangled up in her tight, petrified throat. Her mind made one last connection, a more instinctual understanding of the situation: Tavros and the cliff; the voices; Sollux’s avoidance; Vriska’s last message to her; Terezi’s warning.
Oh god, this was it.
The energy leaking from his eyes built in strength, too fast for her mind to process it, and before she could even think to dodge it was too late. He released it, red and blue light joining together in a brilliant beam, hitting her, tearing at her clothing, her hair and horns and flesh. It ripped her, pulling at skin and muscle and bone and lungs and other parts. It vaporized all that in an instant, until all that remained was a core of emotion, of anger and fury and retaliation, for the legs she had taken from Tavros and the free will she had taken from Sollux and the life she had taken from her.
And then that core, too, was gone. Was she angry? She couldn’t remember. She couldn’t even remember what that felt like. She was dead, but the voices assuaged her that that was supposed to happen, that that was all part of the plan all along. Everything was going according to plan, so why be angry? Exactly. Everything was fine, completely ok.
Very close by, she could hear a sound like an animal in pain, rising into a wordless cry as if it meant to pierce the very stars in the sky, all at once, but missed every one. She listened to it for a while, but it kept going, growing to a height of anguish and then lingering on forever, breathless and eternal.
She soon grew bored of it, and left for somewhere else.
------
gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling apocalypseArisen [AA]
GC: 4R4D14 H3Y
GC: 1 TOLD YOU 1 WOULD H4V3 1T 4LL F1GUR3D OUT 4ND 1 DO
GC: SO YOU DONT N33D TO WORRY 4BOUT 4 TH1NG >:]
GC: …4R4D14?
apocalypseArisen’s [AA’S] computer was vaporized.
GC: 4R4D14!
GC: >:O
------
gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
GC: SOLLUX 1 N33D YOUR H3LP
GC: TH1S 1S SO NOT TH3 T1M3 TO B3 4LL MOODY 4ND S4D 4ND WH4TNOT!
GC: TH1S 1S URG3NT!!
GC: WH3R3 4R3 YOU?! >:O
gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]
TA: TZ.
GC: TH3R3 YOU 4R3 >:[
GC: WH4T TOOK YOU SO LONG
TA: TZ ii ju2t diid 2omethiing awful.
GC: WH4T 4R3 YOU T4LK1NG 4BOUT
TA: ii ju2t kiilled aradiia.
GC: >:O
GC: WH4T?!
TA: there wa2 thii2 voiice iin my head ii couldnt iignore.
TA: iit wa2nt liike the other one2 iit wa2 iin2ii2tant and iit conviinced me two eat the miind honey and go fiind her.
TA: ii had no control over iit.
TA: ii vaporiized her and her hiive and her lu2u2.
TA: everythiing2 gone.
TA: 2he2 gone TZ.
TA: ii dont know how thii2 happened ii couldnt 2top doiing what that voiice told me two do.
GC: 4LR1GHT LOOK SLOW DOWN
GC: TH1S
GC: CR4P >XO
GC: SOLLUX TH1S 1SNT YOUR F4ULT
TA: what the hell are you talkiing about of cour2e iit2 my fault!
TA: ii kiilled her!
GC: Y34H OK4Y YOU D1D BUT YOU D1DNT H4V3 4NY CONTROL OV3R YOURS3LF
GC: 1F 1M R1GHT
GC: 4ND 1M PR3TTY SUR3 1 4M
GC: VR1SK4 M1ND CONTROLL3D YOU 1NTO K1LL1NG H3R
GC: WH1CH 1S 4CTU4LLY K1ND OF MY F4ULT >:[
TA: what are you talkiing about?
TA: who2 vrii2ka?
GC: 4R4CHN1DSGR1P
GC: SH3 MUST H4V3 TR13D TROLL1NG YOU B3FOR3
TA: yeah 2he triied but 2he 2ounded liike a major tool two be honest.
GC: YOU H4V3 NO 1D34 >:[
GC: 4NYW4Y TH3 PO1NT 1S 1 G4V3 H3R YOUR TROLL14N H4NDL3
GC: WH1CH G4V3 H3R TH3 POW3R SH3 N33D3D TO K1LL 4R4D14
TA: why would you giive her my name?
GC: >:[
GC: 1 W4S BL1ND
GC: SH3 S41D SH3 N33D3D 4 H4CK3R 4ND 1 TRUST3D H3R
GC: BUT 1M THROUGH W1TH H3R 4ND 4LL H3R L13S >:[
GC: 4ND 1TS T1M3 TO S3T H3R STR41GHT
GC: NOW 4R3 YOU GO1NG TO S1T TH3R3 4ND F33L SORRY FOR YOURS3LF OR 4R3 YOU GO1NG TO H3LP M3 G3T R3V3NG3?
TA: ii a22ume you have a plan?
GC: D4MN R1GHT 1 DO
TA: what ii2 iit?
GC: 1TS COMPL1C4T3D
GC: 4ND 1 DONT W4NT H3R G3TT1NG B4CK 4T YOU 1F SOM3TH1NG GO3S WRONG
GC: SO 1M GO1NG TO SP4R3 YOU TH3 D3T41LS
GC: 4LL YOU N33D TO KNOW 1S TH4T TH3R3S SOM3ON3 1 N33D TO G3T 1N CONT4CT W1TH
GC: C4N YOU TR4C3 H1S M3SS4G3S?
TA: 2eriiou2ly that2 iit?
GC: 1 KNOW 1 KNOW 1TS 4 HUG3 W4ST3 OF YOUR T4L3NTS SORRY >:/
TA: iit2 fiine iit2 2omethiing for me two do ii gue22.
TA: two get back at her and ii gue22 repent for what ii diid.
TA: even iif ii couldnt control iit.
GC: TH4TS TH3 SP1R1T
GC: OK4Y 1LL HOOK YOU UP W1TH TH3 1NFORM4T1ON
GC: L3T M3 KNOW WH3N YOUR3 DON3 W1TH 1T
TA: iitll take two 2econd2 dont worry.
TA: but terezii.
GC: Y34H?
TA: that ii.
TA: that aradiia2 dead do you thiink we can keep that a 2ecret between u2 for the tiime beiing?
GC: TH4T WONT L4ST LONG 4S 4 S3CR3T
GC: SH3S K1ND OF D34D >:/
TA: ii know.
TA: but iif que2tiion2 2tart beiing a2ked iit2 goiing two come down two beiing her agaiin2t me.
TA: who do you thiink ii2 goiing two be blamed for thii2?
GC: 1 COULD CONV1NC3 TH3M >:[
TA: ii dont want two have two deal wiith that.
TA: and you 2houldnt have two eiither.
TA: 2o can we ju2t keep thii2 between u2 for a2 long a2 we can?
GC: S1GH.
GC: F1N3.
GC: 1F TH4TS WH4T YOU W4NT
GC: WH4T3V3R G3TS YOU TO WORK ON TH1S F4ST3R
GC: NOW COM3 ON SOLLUX W3 4R3 ON 4 STR1CT V3NG34NC3 T1M3T4BL3 H3R3
TA: ok ok chiill ju2t 2end me the iinfo.
GC: ON 1TS W4Y!
GC: 4ND SOLLUX?
TA: what.
GC: DONT WORRY
GC: TH1SLL T4K3 C4R3 OF H3R ONC3 4ND FOR 4LL
GC: >:|
gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling twinArmageddons [TA]
This will teach me not to save my formatting documents /SHOT
/Keeps going