I am not Andrew Hussie, so it is not possible for me to own Homestuck.
The day Mituna changed was nothing special. After the sun went down, the air was cool and humid, not exactly the best of days, but it wasn't anything like the worst. The air was void of the screams of lowblood trolls, and no colorful blood marked the shredded remains of a friend or acquaintance. Yet something still felt off.
Something felt wrong.
Mituna shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to ignore the shudder that crept between his thin shoulder blades. The soft, yellow t-shirt he wore nearly every day was beginning to get quite foul smelling and he supposed he could wash it when he came home. His friends had planned a hangout, which he planned on not missing.
Ever.
When he looked up, Mituna stood directly in front of Aranea's hive, a large, ovalish shaped building which he had come to know as somewhat of a second hive. His friends would often gather here and just talk for hours on end. Often, they would wake up the next morning, scattered around the floor as if they were dolls. It was safe, cozy, and reminded him that with his friends, he was never unhappy.
Only then could he drown out the voices. The voices of the dead. The voices of the soon to be dead. Sometimes, he could latch onto one of these voices and see glimpses of what they had seen right before death. Often, it would be the face of an angry friend or a hungry beast, but now, he would see a flash, a bright light, a meteor destroying Alternia. He remembered the odd dream he had the night before with the weird orange troll with no horns.
"Here." The man had said to him. "It's a game. If you and your friends play it, you'll be saved from the meteor."
"2o, iit'2 all real? All of them wiill diie? Our whole planet? Our whole 2peciie2?"
"Yup. Now take this." The man shoved the gaming grub into his hand. A bright light flashed and all he felt was pain. Horrible pain.
Not even a second later Mituna awoke, gasping and clutching his chest. In his right hand, he held the grub from his dreams. On it in bold, black letters was the word Sgrub. He hadn't slept since that night. Yet, something made him feel like he needed to keep the gaming grub close. So, he had put it in his pocket.
He didn't even realize he was stroking it when Aranea opened the door, a large, fanged smile on her lips.
"Mituna! How nice of you join us, even if you are 20 minutes l8, as per usual." She led him inside, then immediately turned back to a bored looking Meenah, an excited looking Rufioh, and a Horuss that was paying way more attention to Rufioh than the story. Porrim listened to the story, trying to look impressed. Kankri was lecturing Damara about why she should use hashtags and trigger warnings in her speech, even though he never had a clue of what she was ever saying. Kurloz and Meulin were furiously signing to each other, and every few minutes, Meulin would giggle and Kuloz's shoulders would shake. No sound would come out of his stitched mouth.
"Look wvho's here!" Cronus's hand fell on to Mituna's shoulder and he jumped in surprise. "I take it you'vwe finally decided to grace us with your presence, Mituna!"
"II'm afraiid 2o." Mituna smiled a crooked, playful grin. "You're not makiing me feel anymore welcome by greetiing me wiith your hiideou2 face."
"Wvhere's the board?"
"II broke iit. IIt'll be fiixed iin about a week."
Suddenly, a weight dropped onto his shoulders and covered his eyes. He almost stumbled against the wall when a familiar voice said, "Gu3ss who?!"
A large, toothy grin flashed onto his gray face.
"Tuliip!" He flipped her off of his back and she landed gracefully on her feet. "Been takiing le22on2 from Meuliin, II 2ee."
"W3ll, sh3 do3s know 4ll of the b3st tr1cks." She leaned against him and kissed him straight on the mouth.
"Ewv. Really guys? It's a social event. If he gets a chance, don't I get one to?"
Latula pushed away. "Only 1n your lon3ly, p4th3t1c dr34ms, 4mpor4."
Cronus laughed, taking his cigarette from his mouth so it wouldn't fall out. "I get a lot more than a kiss in my dreams, babe."
Latula mimed puking on the floor. "1'm gonn4 go g3t som3 w4t3r."
"Grab me some, too!" Cronus called after her. "One day I'm gonna get my self a girl, and evweryone wvill laugh until they see her-"
"Cronu2..." Mituna's eyes began sparking. His voice was strained as if he was in pain. His right hand held his temple. "2omethiing'2... 2omething'2 not riight." He grabbed at the other trolls shirt as if to try to stabilize himself, but his grip fell slack as he fell to the ground, hyperventilating.
The room fell silent, everyone watching as Mituna's eyes began to spark more fiercely.
"Aaaah..."
The voices...they were so loud. He couldn't even hear his own thoughts. Their pain slashed at the inside of his head, feeling as though they were burning his brain and slicing it to pieces. A bright, white light blocked out his sight, blinding him.
"AaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAH!" He screamed, mustard tinted tears rolling down his cheeks. His eyes were wild, sparking like a taser.
"TUN4!" Latula's water glass dropped to the floor, smashing into a million shards. She ran over to him and cradled him as one would a baby. He writhed in her arms, screaming and sobbing continuously.
The trolls were frozen in shock and horror, watching as Mituna screamed in agony, bucking as tears rolled down his cheeks, his eyes nearly singeing Latula's hair. His hands latched onto Latula's shirt and she began to cry. Meenah looked around, and seeing that no one was going to take control any time soon, she grabbed her chance.
"Water you all sittin around for?" She pointed her trident at Kankri. "Crabby, go get some ice or salt water to cool his head."
"I w9uld never-" he began to start in indignation, but Meenah prodded him with her trident. "9W! Fine!" Aranea pushed him out of the door and he stumbled off with a bag in his hands.
"Cronus, make sure he gets there." Cronus nodded, his cigarette clenched tightly between his teeth, following the mutant out the door.
"Horuss, give me your belt."
"But Meenah," he began to sweat, "I-"
"ここに。これを使用してください。" Damara took a belt from under her dress. Rufioh blushed in horror.
"Damara... why d1d you have that-"
"Rufioh, clean that table off."
He scrambled to put everything on the floor, carefully so that they wouldn't tip or break. Horuss began to help him.
"Porrim, grab somefin soft. We need to put it under his head so he won't hurt himself." She nodded, scrambling to find something suitable. In all of the commotion, Damara slipped out of the back door, unnoticed.
"Latula, put your boyfrond on the table."
"But 1 don't w4nt to hurt-"
"JUST DO IT!"
Latula picked him up and Porrim put a bundled up carpet on the table where his head would rest. Once she put him down, his hands fell from Latula's shirt. It looked like his energy was running out. Mintuna's teeth were clenched tightly around the belt, making imprints of his mouth. He began to sob as his screams died down, then his sobs turned to whimpers. Yellow blood ran down from the palms of his hands, which been cut open by his own nails, to the floor as his grip relaxed.
"Kurloz, grab some sopor slime. We need some to clam him down." Meenah commanded. The giant troll nodded, going into the other rooms, looking for the sopor slime.
"I'll-I'll show him where it is." Aranea walked quickly after Kurloz, giving a heart broken glance to Mituna.
"Meulin, Porrim, find some blanket to pull over him so that he stays warm." The two ran off.
"Horuss, make somefin that'll block out the voices."
"1'll go w1th h1m!" Rufioh and Horuss left, leaving only Meenah, Latula, and Mituna.
"Tu...lip..." Mituna said in a hoarse whisper.
"1'm h3r3, b4by." She cupped his face, her green-blue tears mixing with his yellow ones. Her glasses lay a few feet away from them, completely forgotten. The sparks around Mituna's had died down until they only fizzled every minute or so.
"Where... WH3R3 4R3 Y0U?" His speech began to slur. They hoped he was just drunk on panic. "1 C4N'7 533 Y0U, 7UL1P. 5H17H!" He began to yell. "7UL1P! N0! PL3453 D0N'7 L34V3 M3-"
"1'll n3v3r l34v3 you, Tun4. N3v3r!"
There was a brief silence. Meenah sat down.
"7ul1p..." His voice was barely more than a whisper. Tear tracks stained his cheeks as they fell silently onto the table. "17 hur75 50 much, 7ul1p. M4k3 17 570p, pl3453. M4ke it 57h0p."
"W3'll find 4 w4y, Tun4. Just hold on for 4 bit longer!"
"1...d0n'7 w4n7...70..."
Kurloz came back with a bowl of sopor slime, and Aranea immediately sat Mituna up and poured it in his mouth. He tried to spit it out, but Meenah held his nose and mouth until he had to swallow.
The belt fell from his lips.
"It is 8etter to keep him in this st8 until Horuss can make the device." Latula nodded, sniffling, not meeting her eyes. "You can stay with him here, if you'd like?" Latula nodded.
For three days, they kept Mituna unconscious or heavily drugged.
For three days, Mituna was in constant pain
For three days, neither Horuss nor Rufioh slept, working through both night and day.
For three days, Latula didn't move to eat or drink or do anything.
For three days, they all waited, even Kankri and Damara.
When the helmet was secured on Mituna's head, they took him off of the sopor slime.
For the first time in three days, he got off of the table, heavily sided by Latula and Meenah. He was no longer in pain, but still weak from the illness.
But after that...
Mituna was never the same.
Heya, guys. For anyone who doesn't know me, I'm REM. What's your name? Oh! I love that name!...
So, this is my first Homestuck story that I've ever posted. My others are shit that my friends wanted me to write. This is also quite probably shit, but me BRAIN wanted to write it SO BAD, so I just had to write it. Then, I sent it to my friend, who told me to post it. So, here it is. I know there are probably plenty of better stories like this one out there, so I have to thank all of you for reading my version!
Um... people who are reading Nowhere to Hide... sorry. Please don't kill me! I have a little bit of it written out, but I need to keep on writing it. I don't think I even have 1000 words yet. :o And two more words. Well, actually, four. BLAME HUSSIE and Sickness. I'll probably be finished with the next chapter (hopefully) in the next several weeks or so.
Please please PLEASE review! Criticisms are always welcome. "Hey, good job!" is also VERY MUCH appreciated. So is, "HEY, ASSHOLE. YOU SUCK AT WRITING. YOU SHOULD NEVER WRITE AGAIN." Although, seriously, guys. I'm as desperate as both Ampora's combined.
Thanks for reading, and see ya next time!
REM