The following day, I was startled by the fact that my legs had been completely severed off of my body! I guess it was to help me, maybe, but it really hurt sitting up! Not to mention, I was scared quite a lot by Kanaya and Equius's shadows that were indeed hovering over me. They were blurry, and so was everything else around them.
"A low blood like you is already useless enough, but without those legs, it was as though you were nothing but a dead insect, all you did was take up space." The low voice of the blue blood surrounded me. They seemed like mean words, but I could tell that something big was done to me at the same time that may be of help. Fortunately, or rather, not so fortunately, things were starting to get into focus, and I looked down to examine my legs, in which felt really numb at that point.
"Wh-wha...g-gAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! MY LEGS! WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?" Like I said, I was startled. Kanaya began to answer my question.
"Calm down Tavros. It was simply an experiment in order to help you re-obtain the physical ability to walk again. Nothing crucial, we just had to replace your old walking devices in order for you to obtain your original two leg status. You could have died, but seeing as you didn't, you will be learning how to stand immediately." While she was talking, she hoisted me up, but my time on two feet didn't really last long, because I fell down again right after. "...Standing immediately" She repeated after a brief awkward silence. I fell. "Standing immediately." A third time. I fell again. "You know what, never mind, we'll just let you teach yourself over time."
"Another thing Tavros." Equius said. "If you wish to walk properly, I suggest that you avoid all staircases until I say so."
"Uuh..." I tried to comment, but wasn't really able to. Equius was enjoying his moment of speech too much.
"We'll be attending to our own original duties now peasant blood. So take care. And remember what I said about those staircases." He didn't wait for an answer, and just got up and left. So did Kanaya.
"New legs...wow." I stretched them out. They were hard as, well, metal, and I kind of liked the fact that they were there. It seemed like they would be much stronger than my old ones.
"Ok..." I told myself. "I'm getting up now..."
I placed my hands on the floor firmly, making sure that they were strong enough to push myself up and off of the ground. My new knees bent rather well, back and forth I flexed. This was it, I was about to stand for the first time in, well, forever! Then when I shoved up from the floor with my shiny new feet, I was able to get myself balanced! It took a lot of wobbling with my hands, and placement of my heels, but I was still able to stand upright.
"Wow! I-I did it guys! I'm standing up!" I was excited! Here I was, straight as a pole! Well, I mean, my spine was still a little weak, but I could totally fix that! With Rufio to help me out, anything is possible! Real or not! That's what I figured anyway. My confidence was coming back to me!
"Clap claaaaaaaap Toresnoooooooore~" Vriska was talking. Why did she have to be the first one to notice?
"Oh, yeah...thanks Vriska..." Good thing she was many feet away, that way I didn't have to run to the other side of the room to get away from her furious spider wrath...
"Ha! Don't get big headed about it just yet though! I'm giving you no respect until you take at least five steps towards that computer over there!" She said. I looked over at the device she was pointing to, and it wasn't all that far away. She was going easy on me, surprisingly.
"Ok, I think I can do that much!" A little smile crossed my face. I had to keep thinking to myself positive thoughts, or else something bad could have happened. Slowly I lifted my right foot first to take a step. It felt like the floor was starring up at me, laughing with Vriska's eyes. Things were getting weird and unsettling, Rufio's voice was echoing in my ears to give me crucial advice! My moment to shine was nearing!
"Don't fall into the mouth Tavros! Don't do it man! I know you up and see what I'm seein' here, don't let that mouth in the floor gobble you up bro! Dont dooo iiiit~"
All was going well! My foot was in mid air! It was about to hit the ground again! No wait! My opposite ankle! It was twisting! No! This wasn't a part of the plan! RUFIO? Y U NO CATCH ME? My face was in dirt in a matter of seconds.
"Sorry Tavros. Did you forget I was a figment of your imagination? Tsk tsk, I taught you better than that!" He poofed away.
"Rufio...you're not really helping me." I mumbled with my mouth to the ground. Vriska of course was already on the floor laughing her butt off because of my epic fail.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! That was the best fall ever! I can't believe you actually tripped on your first step! I was wrong about ever thinking that you could make it! You're a wimp like always Tavros! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" She didn't honk after that, but for a second I thought that she did. Turns out that a horn hit her in the back of the head, landing her flat on her stomach. Her butt was in the air when I looked up, and Gamzee, from his horn pile, had both hands on his mouth as though he was in great shock.
"My bad Vriskaaaa! I thought for sure I was up and aimin' to juggle, but my horn went in the air and slipped right out of my motherfuckin fingers! Hope you understand."
Vriska didnt' reply. I think that Gamzee accidentally knocked her out cold.
"Shit bro...I just wanted to stop her from laughing. Not knock her unconscious. Let's...hope that she doesn't remember what all went on before she motherfuckin' fell asleep...she scares me shitless sometimes." He looked around the room. "Nobody saw nothin', right?"
The other trolls that were there seemed quick to agree that they did not see anything, and continued on with whatever it was that they were doing in the first place.
"You didn't have to do that Gamzee. I think I'm pretty much use to it by now." I forced out a smile when getting on all fours to try and stand again. I was having a lot of issues with those new legs of mine.
"Hey bro, you need any help there?" He asked me kindly.
"No, I'm good. I have to learn by myself, otherwise I would have to ask someone to carry me around all the time, and it wouldn't much help me to remember how to walk."
"I wouldn't mind doin that bro..." Gamzee mumbled. I was too eager to get up to really pay attention though. "You sure you don't need any help Tav?"
"Nuh uh, I've got this..." My arms were wobbly this second time around, and I was stuck on all fours.
~After a good ten minutes of watching Tavros fail, the happy go lucky Gamzee fell asleep standing, until finally, success was found!~
"There! I did it Gamzee? See? I'm standing! Heh." I was very proud of myself. Almost as proud as the first time I got up. Gamzee shook his head quickly to wake himself up. He looked like he had been sleeping for hours.
"Oh, fuck, good job bro!" He put up his right thumb in approval.
"Heh! I am so eager now, to learn how to walk properly! Maybe this time I won't trip like I did the last time..."
"Yeah Tavbro! Make those miracles happen!" Gamzee cheered.
"Uh, ok! Here I go!"
~From the view of Sollux, who was not sitting too far away and watching this entire scene unfold, all you would note is the sheer idiocy of two very scrawny individuals raising their arms and flailing about like two excited preteen girls awaiting the final release of some bad vampire movie. Being that he was finally feeling too smart for this scene, he rolled his eyes and continued on with whatever the crap he was doing on his computer device in the first place. Probably some troll version of pong or something.~
I worked really hard on walking that day. Gamzee cheered me on the entire time. It was actually pretty fun! Even though I tripped a whole lot, and at one point had to talk to Equius about fixing my other ankle, which seemed kind of loose at that point. He did that, and I was doing pretty good afterwards. Gamzee was nice enough to catch me from then on whenever I slipped. I guess because I finally let him do more than just be a trollleader after I felt that I was falling way too much to manage.
"You're gettin' better brother! Keep going!" He said with a smile. I think that we were getting on Eridan's nerves though, and maybe if Karkat was awake, he would have yelled at us anyway. And besides, it looked as though Eridan was concentrating on something really hard where he was.
"Wwould you twwo land dwwelling lovve birds be so kind as to do that somewwhere fuckn' else! You're givvin' me a migraine ovver here!" He said with his usual troll slur. It made us both stop completely in our tracks.
"Awwww, is somebody jealous Eridan?" Terezi teased with a scratchy chuckle. She was pretty good at cheering me up some too I think.
"N-no! I'm just tryin to get some vvery important wwork done here! I can't fuckin' concentrate with these twwo morons bein' so loud and...disgustingly romantic...wwith each other. It's drivin' me glubbin nuts!" Eridan said.
"Jelooooous~" Terezi taunted yet again. She was good at that when she felt like it. "Don't worry about him you two, just be fair. There's another room next door that I'm sure would be fine you use as your class room."
"Oh, thank you Terezi. We'll do that now. Right Gamzee?" I looked up at my friend with happy eyes.
"Sure thing Tav! It sounds like a motherfuckin' deal to me." He smiled back, showing me his sharp teeth, those in which I think a lot of other trolls thought looked really threatening, but I knew that Gamzee wouldn't hurt anyone. Not from what I knew about him at least. "Let's get our move on brother! I'm all up for a good school feed on teachin' you how to up and motherfuckin' walk again!"
"Right!" I smiled happily. It didn't really occur to me that I couldn't just walk up to the other room at this point, so I ended up falling again on my first step. Lucky for me, Gamzee was there to pick me back up. He put my arms around his shoulders, and carried me by the underside of my new legs. I was blushing again.
"Awww, you two smell lovely together!" Terezi said. "Like a freshly made peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Yum!" Gamzee glanced over at her through the sides of his eyes and smiled half way. There was even a little chuckle that came out. He then proceeded to take me into the other room for some practice!
When we got inside, Gamzee gently placed me down on my feet and helped me to maintain balance.
"My brother, you missed a heck of a lot of motherfuckin' funny when you were sleeping not too long ago." He said with his hands on my shoulders. He was also dusting me off from how many times I had fallen before.
"I did?" I said, distracted by his hand movement. He got back up after dusting off my robo legs to speak again.
"Yup! Motherfuckin' best friend got up from his nap for a minute to get a drink, and ended up witnessing your legs bein chopped right off your body! You should have seen his face bro, it was hilarious! " He smiled.
"Oh, uh...I hope that I don't get yelled at too much then, whenever he wakes up."
"Nah bro, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Best friend means well! He's just a little bit cranky ! Motherfucker is a crab, so I guess it all up and makes some motherfuckin' sense..." What Gamzee said made me laugh a little bit, but I still felt bad for Karkat having to witness it. Oh well...
"Hey bro..." Gamzee continued. "When you're motherfuckin' standing up like that, make sure your feet don't look like motherfuckin' sky beasts on land, it'll help your balance a little bit." I looked down and noticed that the toes of my metal feet were in fact facing each other, so I must have looked really weird. I was able to adjust them pretty easily though. "There ya go bro! You've got this!" He smiled. It made me feel pretty good to see how excited he was about me accomplishing something, even though it was just something little. "Alright, now lift your foot like it's got motherfuckin' wings on it and step down real fast towards me. Gravity won't know what motherfuckin' hit it!"
"Uh, ok, I think I can do that!" I said with a hopeful smile. I watched my legs wobble below me, then with a quick lift and a step, I was able to to advance a few inches forward, only, with a whole lot of wobbly tension. Gamzee though, was able to stop me from falling by holding my hands out in front of me with his own.
"When you start loosin' your balance, just press on my palms Tav. It'll help you steady yourself." He looked at me in the eyes when he said this. It made me blush, and nod steadily in agreement.
"Alright bro, next step, take your time, I won't let go. Not even to look at that motherfuckin bugbeast in the corner of the ceiling." When he said that I automatically glanced at the corner of the ceiling to see if there was actually something there. Turns out there really was something. A small bugbeast with tiny little wings. So small, but I didn't care, because it was the closest thing I could get to seeing an actual fairy. Maybe it was a little metaphorical glimmer of hope! I looked back down, this time, very ready for my second step.
I lifted my other leg quickly, then lowered it down again as fast as I could. Gamzee stepped back a little so that I wouldn't step on his fully functioning foot.
"There ya go Tav! You're doing it right. Keep on motherfuckin' going my brother. Least till we up and hit the wall behind us." He was so focused. More so than I have ever seen. It was a good comfort. Gamzee really cared about me!
I stepped foreword again, this time, filled with confidence. I was doing really great! Another step, and another! Five steps, six! Turns out though, I was getting a little bit too confident, if that's possible. I completely forgot about Gamzee's wall warning, and he ended up backing into it! I fell foreword, and my head pressed against his chest as I tried to retain my balanced. I gripped at his shirt, once again pigeon toed like before. He kind of smelled like grapes... This was getting embarrassing!
"Woah Tav! You alright?" The Capricorn took me gently by the wrists to keep me standing. It was kind of hard for me to reply though, because much of my face was pressed up against his chest. "Don't worry motherfucker, I've got ya!" That was reassuring.
After that was said, he took me up from underneath my arms and placed me properly on my feet. I didn't realize that I still had a grasp on his clothing until I looked down, and quickly pulled my hands away. This time I think that I saw a little bit of purple cross his face when he looked at me... my eyes drifted away. A lot of me was trying to avoid any flushed feelings for him, and now that I think about it, I don't really know why. It could have been because there was someone else that I really really liked...and her name, was Jade Harley.
Jade Harley was really nice to me one time when I was talking to her. She sounded pretty, and I liked the fact that she was so friendly the first time I spoke with her. Usually not very many like me. And to top it all of, she had this sense of exoticness about her. She was a human. Like a creature from a fairy tale, and I liked that. If only I could tell her how I feel... Well, why not tell her? Why not prove to her that I was worth something now? Gamzee made me feel like a prince, and every prince needs a princess, right? That was it! Jade was going to be my princess!
...I came back to Alternia thanks to Gam.
"Hey bro, are you feelin' ok? I thought motherfuckin spacin out and shit was my job!" He said jokingly.
"Oh, uh, yeah. I'm fine." I smiled. "Just thinking again."
"You sure have been doin' that a motherfuckin lot lately Tav." Gamzee said while scratching the back of his head.
"Uh, is that ok?" I asked.
"Yeah bro, it's cool. I just feel like whatever it is you're up and thinking about is causing you some motherfuckin stressfulness is all."
"Oh...really?" Weird how he could sometimes read my mind like that.
"Yup. Says so in your eyes! Mind tellin' me your mind stories bro? Or is it a motherfuckin' secret?"
"Um...I...it...er...you remember when...when you compared us to kings?" I asked him while biting my lower lip.
"Yeah bro?"
"Well...doesn't every king...need a queen? And every prince, a princess?"
"I motherfuckin' guess so..." Gamzee said. He looked kind of confused.
"The reason I ask is because...I think I have flushed feelings for someone, and I really want to let them know. But...at the same time, I feel as though I have to do something for them first. What do I do?"
There was a shimmer in Gamzee's eyes and he smiled. I figured that maybe he was proud of me for wanted to express my feelings for Jade! It didn't occur to me until later though, that he thought I was talking about him...
"My brother, don't worry about it too much first! Just tell 'em how you motherfuckin' feel! Follow your ticker bro, that's all you need to up and motherfuckin do!"
I bit my lip again, not really satisfied with his idea. Now that I had my legs back, my confidence was returning too. I had to practice walking more, and prove my love! I had to rescue her, I had to be a part of her past! Something that would make her like me! Then after finally getting with her, I wouldn't have to worry about these weird and uncomfortable feelings I was having with Gamzee! At the time, I thought it was a good idea...at the time, I was not very smart...
"You don't look like you motherfuckin' like my advice Tavbro, and Just lettin' you know, you don't have to do it the way I say. It was just some motherfuckin words of wisdom to help a troll out is all. No biggy!" He shrugged, keeping it cool like always.
"Oh, well, thanks for the advice, but I'm pretty sure I know what to do now! I have a plan, and Jade will be my matesprit for sure! I'm going to get on it right away!" Uh, yeah, me saying that, bad idea. What was really sad is the fact that I ended up leaving after that in the fastest way I could because of how eager I was to pursue in my plan, leaving Gamzee alone in the room...
"Wait, Tavros...wh-what?" I only heard a little bit of what he said. Certainly it was due to my selective hearing at that point. He was confused...and I think I hurt him a lot...he didn't follow me.