Here it is, the first chapter of my pre-Hivebent fic. Before we begin, the characters are as follows:

Meenah Peixes: Her Imperious Condescension/The Condesce; Feferi Peixes: The Princess; Cronus Ampora: Orphaner Dualscar; Eridan Ampora: The Eleventh; Kurlas Makara (genderbent Kurloz): The Grand Highblood; Gamzee Makara: The Young Highblood (also known derogatorily as The Soporite); Equius Zahhak: E%ecutor Darkleer; Horuss Zahhak: The Engineer; Aranea Serket: Marquise Spinneret Mindfang; Vriska Serket: The Scorpion; Latula Pyrope: Judicate Redglare; Terezi Pyrope: Neophyte Redglare; Kanaya Maryam: The Dolorosa; Porrim Maryam: The Inspired; Meulon Leijon (genderbent Meulin): The Follower; Nepeta Leijon: The Disciple; Karkat Vantas: The Signless (later, The Sufferer); Kankri Vantas: The Singular; Mituna Captor: Redshine; Sollux Captor: Blueglow (the Captors are known collectively as The Ψiioniix and, later, The Helmsmen); Rufioh Nitram: The Summoner; Tavros Nitram: The Flighted; Aradia Megido: The Handmaid; Damara Megido: The Explorer; John Egbert: The Finalist; Rose Lalonde: The Grimseer; Dave Strider: The Musician; and Jade Harley: The Huntress.

Each chapter will follow a different character, and these titles (except for the Captors') are all first titles, or titles as they stand at the beginning of the fic.


The Dolorosa

The harsh Alternian sun beat down on Kanaya Maryam's skin, but far from fretting about the jade-green sweat beading up, she reveled in its warmth. Right now, the transport paths were deserted as trolls remained shut up in their hives—Kanaya was one of the few who could stand being in the sunlight. She walked along the path, glancing this way and that every so often, more out of habit than anything else, since the only other trolls she saw during the day were among the peasantry—and her own sister, of course. She usually took this daily constitutional with her sister Porrim, but today, her younger sister had been unusually tired. The Mother Grub was getting ready to hatch a new clutch of grubs, and considering the time of the sweep, it would only be a matter of weeks.

Kanaya was one of the more higher-ranking of the jade bloods who tended to the Mother Grub, so she was often spared the more menial tasks associated with the younger trolls. She didn't mind the work—it was what she'd been hatched for, after all—but the sweeps seemed to pass by faster and faster. Aging was not a heavy concern for her because she was still fairly young for her blood color (the lower castes would consider her old, and the fuchsia-blooded Empress and her sister would consider her to be barely older than a wiggler), but sometimes, she couldn't help but feel that she was destined for something greater than what she had here.

Which was why she went on her walks. She had hoped that happenstance would bring her upon some glorious purpose for her life that she couldn't realize otherwise, but after nearly three sweeps, she had seen little of import.

Today, though, she had a different goal. She had seen in the wee hours of the morning something that looked like a meteor impact. Kanaya hoped no one had gotten to the site first, but she wasn't unduly concerned—it had happened while everyone else was getting ready to shut themselves in for the day, so she could only imagine that they had all been far too busy.

Walking toward the site of the impact, a sense of excitement overtook her, so much so that she completely missed the white-gold flash behind one of the trees far to her right. As soon as she cleared the small hive cluster where she lived, she broke into a near run in her haste to make it to the site, her curiosity increasing by the minute.

She soon slowed as she realized how far off the crater was and how long she'd have to walk. She would have to conserve her energy. She could see the crater from here, but when it didn't grow as quickly as she expected it would, she felt a tinge of disappointment.

Finally, she swept the heaviest layer of her clothing—her cape—over her head and carried it over her shoulder. Her body temperature dropped soon enough and she could breathe a little easier now. The sweat on her skin cooled her further, and not for the first time, she was grateful that there were so few trolls who could stand the daylight. She liked night well enough, but the quiet of the day was something that could only be experienced—never described.

Kanaya drew level with the lip of the crater. She folded her cape neatly and set it on the ground before creeping to the edge and peering down, her heart rate beginning to pick up with excitement.

She didn't know what she expected—perhaps the beginning of a brutal alien swarm, the kind Her Imperious Condescension was always warning the Alternians about, reminding them of their need for an Imperial Fleet—but it certainly wasn't what she saw. She let out a squeak of horror, her heart in her throat, and scrambled over the lip of the crater to slide down the side as fast as she could.

There, in the middle, covered by soil and grass was, unmistakeably, a grub! Terror coursed through her, worry over the tiny little thing. There was no way it could have survived an impact like that, no possible way at all, but she still had to check on it. The mother instinct in her jade blood pushed her closer until she dropped to her knees and scooped up the little grub.

"Ooop." The tiny sound escaped the grub, and Kanaya nearly dropped it in surprise. It was alive? How was that possible?

It opened its eyes and looked around before its gaze settled on her. She felt her heart move with pity over the little thing—this was more than just a regular grub. Based on its eye and carapace color, it had some strange mutation—bright, candy-red blood that was never seen in common society. This would never do. If The Condesce's drones found this one, they would cull it immediately.

"Where did you come from?" Kanaya asked softly, as if the little wiggler could answer, and she looked up, searching the sky for a response and finding none. She looked back down at it—she couldn't be sure while the grub was so young, but she thought it was male—and wondered what she should do. In her heart of hearts, she believed that culling the defenseless was wrong, which was where she differed from troll society. Most Alternians believed that culling the weak was good, it enhanced the strength of the race, it created the fiercest fighters in the galaxy, but she could never convince herself that a society who ignored those most in need, who divided its citizens based on blood color, would survive for long.

She knew what she had to do.

She looked around the edge of the crater, trying to find the easiest slope to climb one-handed. It certainly wasn't back where she'd come from—no, she'd have to go around to a different side. Even then, the going was very slow, and it took her nearly ten minutes to scale the wall and ease the little grub as gently as she could onto the grass before dragging herself over the side and flopping back on the ground for a few moments to catch her breath.

When she looked at him, he was looking back at her, a tiny, bubbly smile on his face. She sat up and picked him up again, cradling him close to her chest. She had to raise this wiggler, she knew—but what would Porrim say? It was crucial that she had her sister's help. If Porrim breathed a word of this to the wrong troll, both Kanaya and the grub would be culled. It was dangerous, but she had to help him.

She located her folded-up cape in the grass, shook it out, and swaddled the little grub in it as snugly as she dared. She didn't want to cover his face, but she realized the importance of it. If anyone saw, it would be over.

Before she made the final tuck, though, she looked down at him and gave him a small kiss on his cartilaginous nub. "It's okay, little one. Shoosh, don't fret. I'll be your lusus. Porrim and I both will be your lusii. You'll be just fine, my darling."

He whimpered but didn't struggle as she pulled the fabric of her cape over his face. "I've got you," she whispered.

Reassuring herself that everything would be fine, she started back toward her and Porrim's hive.


Kanaya heard her sister's sigh from the entertainment block as soon as the entrance portal opened. "I'm delighted that you've returned, sister," Porrim called. "My head has been paining me terribly. I need—what the almighty fuck is that?" she asked as she caught sight of the bundle in Kanaya's arms. Her air of dignity dropped at a moment's notice.

"Shoosh, please," Kanaya pleaded, glancing back at the portal as if expecting drones to burst through any second. "You'll wake him."

"Wake... who?"

She hurried to Porrim, who stood up, and Kanaya pulled back the cape from the grub's face. Her sister gasped and covered her mouth.

"Where did that come from?"

"The crater—remember that explosion we saw earlier this morning?"

Porrim nodded, her eyes never leaving the grub in Kanaya's arms.

"I think he was what landed. He's alive, though. And I don't know why, but I think... he's special."

Porrim nodded again, her eyes beginning to fill with tears. "So what will we do?"

Kanaya was relieved. Now that her sister had calmed down slightly, she seemed to be on her side. The grub, meanwhile, had fallen asleep on the walk back, and remained asleep now, but Kanaya didn't know for how long. The poor thing would be hungry very soon. "We raise him, be his lusii. We cannot tell anyone, though. The drones will cull us and him. So... will you help me?"

Porrim nodded immediately. "Of course." She gingerly reached out and ran her fingers over the grub's head. Her gaze softened to something akin to tenderness while she looked at him. "Can I... hold him?"

Kanaya handed off the grub to her sister. Her arms had been getting tired—it wasn't that the grub was particularly heavy, but she was used to carrying hatchlings, and he seemed to be a little older than that, maybe a quarter of a sweep old, if that.

The motion jostled the grub and he squirmed, opening his eyes. Porrim gasped again, and then pulled back the rest of the cape to get a good look at his carapace. "Kanaya. He's a mutant!"

"I know," Kanaya said. "But he'll be culled all the same. Look at him—he's clearly no longer a hatchling anymore, and even if he were, the Mother Grub hasn't laid any eggs yet. They'll know he's a freak just by looking at him. I don't know where he came from or how he got here, but, Porrim, he's special. We must care for him."

"He won't have trials."

"The drones would cull him, and he'll be too old by the time this clutch enters their trials. Having this bright-red blood... don't you think that's trial enough? It's a trial he'll have to live with every day for all his sweeps."

"I've never seen anyone with his blood color have a sign," Porrim pointed out, referring to the identical symbol both she and Kanaya wore, denoting their jade-green blood and their status in Alternian society.

"Signless, I know. Porrim, please, you said you would help."

"That was before I knew he was a mutant!"

As if on cue, the grub hiccuped and began to cry. Kanaya snatched him out of Porrim's arms and cradled him close. "Please, get some of the milk from the thermal hull—I think he's hungry."

"You mean the fridge?" Porrim grumbled, heading to the sustenance block all the same.

Porrim was always trying to get Kanaya to call things by their "proper," high-blooded names, but Kanaya could never remember the terms. The low-blooded terms were just fine for her.

Porrim returned from the sustenance block with a feeding cylinder from one of the previous sweep's hatchings filled with milk. She handed the feeding cylinder to Kanaya, who adjusted the wiggler until he could eat comfortably. Almost immediately, he stopped crying.

Porrim sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "I don't know, sister. I'm not sure this is such a good idea."

"I understand your concern, sister, but I couldn't just leave him out there for the drones to cull him. This isn't like a typical culling during the trials. He was out there in the nature assemblage, in the middle of a crater. I don't know why, but he was meant for something great, and we have to care for him."

"He's a mutant."

"What if only a mutant can do what he is intended to do?"

Porrim sighed, and Kanaya knew she'd finally persuaded her. "What will we call him?"

Kanaya looked down at the wiggler, who was close to halfway finished with the feeding cylinder and slowing fast. He looked like he was ready to nod off. "Karkat. His name will be Karkat Vantas."


So... if you can't use context clues and figure out what trollian terms mean what, let me know and I'll explain in the next chapter.