Chapter 1

That morning, Sollux awoke to bright rays of sunshine casting in from the window. He sat up slowly, stretching before sliding out of bed.

It wasn't until he passed by the sleeping figure on his couch that he realized she was still there.

That girl, Aradia Megido, as she was called, was resting like an angel in the middle of his apartment. He smiled a little to himself, somewhat glad that she was still there.

He shuffled over to his computer, starting it up as soundlessly as he could before going into the kitchen again. He cracked some eggs into a frying pan, and began to make breakfast.

Awoken by the sound of eggs being scrambled, Aradia sat up and yawned. She looked around, took in her settings, and then relaxed into the couch once more. At least she was safe for now- safe from the events of the previous night. But then she realized… Tavros. What had become of him?

She slipped off the couch and tiptoed over to Sollux's computer. He wouldn't mind… would he?

Sollux walked into the main part of the apartment with a plateful of eggs, but stopped when he saw the girl on his computer.

"Um… Aradia, what are you doing?" he coughed into his hand, not intending to be rude.

Aradia turned around and a deep red bloomed on her cheeks.

"I, well, I needed to inform my friends that I was all right."

Sollux looked concerned. "Do you have your phone?"

"I left it in my friend's apartment…" She looked down in shame.

"Well after we eat thome breakfatht, I'll drive you home. How'th about that?"

Her smile returned and she stood. "Thanks! Sollux, right?" He nodded. "But I have a request first… could we stop by the hospital on the way there..?"

He raised an eyebrow in confusion, but merely pushed up his glasses and shrugged. "Thoundth fine to me."

She shut off the computer and they sat down, both only nibbling at the eggs. At some point Sollux noticed that the other was watching him, so he looked up.

"Thomething wrong?"

She shook her head, "no, not at all! It's just your eyes… they remind me of a cat." She giggled, and Sollux chuckled a little.

"It'th called heterochromia iridium," he explained rather thoroughly, as if he was well rehearsed on the matter. "It'th a condithion where one of my eyeth ith dithcolored. In thith cathe, I have a blue eye, and a brown one." She looked intrigued.

He laughed at her expression. "It'th not that big of a deal." But she kept grinning. "Anywayth… would you mind telling me what happened latht night? Before I found you."

She looked suddenly uncomfortable and shifted in her seat. "Well…" she grew quiet. "Okay. So last night my friends and I went out to a club. It got a little crazy so my friend Terezi and I decided it would be a good time to leave. But when we went to look for Tavros and Vriska, they weren't there. We searched everywhere. Eventually we heard from someone that there was a commotion on the roof, so we checked it out. And it was them. They were in some sort of fight, and Vriska was shoving him around, and he was actually shoving back, and… she pushed him! He… he fell off the roof."

She paused and pulled her hair behind her ear nervously, then continued.

"The ambulances came, and naturally, Terezi and I were very worried. But Vriska showed no remorse whatsoever. Instead she had the audacity to tell us that he would be just fine. Terezi blew up at her and well… she threatened that Vriska would pay. I tried to get between the two of them, but Vriska landed a couple hits on me and I was out of the way. The two of them ended up disappearing in different directions.

I was lost, so I just wandered through the streets. It began to rain… and I just couldn't see straight. After I tripped over the curb, I just laid there helplessly until you showed up. I was ready to give up. But… thanks for taking me in."

Sollux breathed in astonishment, "wow… I'm thorry…"

She looked close to tears. He didn't know what to do, so he leaned forward and awkwardly patted her back. And feeling the comfort, she shifted forward and pulled the other into a tight hug.

Sollux, distracted by how soft she was and how nice she smelled, almost forgot about their conversation. But she eventually pulled back and wiped her eyes, reminding him that reality still existed.

He offered her a smile and stood, pointing to the door. "Let'th go vithit Tavroth."