A/N: Based on a drawing that my sister told me she found. I haven't seen this drawing, but it sounded sad enough to inspire this.
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They all got them back. Their Lusi. Their family. The ones they lost. They got to have them returned, reunited. They got that happiness, all of her friends.
Aradia looked out and spotted a certain blue-blooded bitch and frowned. Well, all her friends and then some, she supposed.
They got to have their parents, with perks. They could talk to them, hold the deep, sweet discussions never granted to most of their kind.
It was so sweet, seeing them.
Terezi, who had grown up without the constant presence of her dragonmom, now got to make up for lost time.
Karkat looked annoyed, but Aradia could tell, deep down, he was glad and even grateful.
The same went for Sollux, who used to bitch to Aradia about the annoyance and frustration of constantly feeding the bi-clops.
Nepeta looked close to teas, so thrilled to be reunited with her darling Pounce deLeon, tragically taken from her long before she had been ready.
None of them had been ready, of course. There was no good time to lose the one who had chosen you as a grub, deemed you fit to love and raise, and taken you in, doinavg their best to bring up up as a good troll.
The Virgin Mother Grub and Kanaya had always been particularly close, and the expression on Kanaya's face seemed almost one of relief as they conversed once more.
Feferi, too, looked replied. the standard kernelsprite size was vastly more manageable than her Lusus' natural dimensions. She could finally hug her properly.
Eridan looked slightly ticked off; his skyhorsedad seemed to be scolding him about something.
Aradia imagined that it would feel good to be scolded again.
Tavros was positively glowing as he showed off his new legs to Tinkerbull. It had taken hours to get him to stop apologizing for backing over the little Lusus. And even longer to make him stop crying.
There was a lot of flexing going on between Equius and his Lusus. Talks of 'spot me' were happening, just as they once had.
Even Vriska looked almost... Aradia really hated to say it... cute as she interacted with the spider she called mother.
But perhaps the most precious of all was Gamzee, who had been more abandoned than even Terezi, left largely to his own devices by his aquatic goatdad. Even hurting as she was, Aradia found it endearing to see the pair connecting at last.
The odd troll out sat in the corner, watching all of this. Her comrades-at-arms, finally with their Lusi/Kernelsprites.
She was a robot. She was not meant to feel. As a ghost she hadn't felt. Maybe this was sabatoge. Maybe Equius had done something to her, another stupid chip to make her turn to him in her desperate loneliness.
Because she was lonely. No Kernelsprite. No Lusis.
The sheep that was her mother, the only family she had ever known, was gone. and Aradia could not get her back.
Her lower lip trembled with a sound like softly shaking metal.
Suddenly, a comforting hand set down on her cold shoulder.
"Hey," said Sollux, tilting his head to one side as he looked down at his robotic friend. "Are you ok?"
Aradia didn't even try to play it off. Her Moirail knew her too well for that.
She shook her head. "I miss my Lusus," she confessed. Her voice was tiny, that of a scared child.
Sollux nodded sympathetically and sank down to sit beside her, sharing the darkened corner of the lab. He wrapped his arms around her and papped her gently.
"2oo2h," he soothed, Iit's ok. You can 2hare mine iif you want."
That made aradia crack a smile and start to cheer.
"...Thank y0u, S0llux," she said quietly, leaning into him.
He hugged tighter. "Anytiime."