I'm baaaaaaack!

And I'm so sorry! It's been months since I worked on this. Between school, work, losing the notebook that had this chapter, and complete laziness. For the most part, I have no excuse, and I really do apologize.

That being said, somehow I got followers, and for that I'm grateful! Thank you so much for liking what I wrote. This chapter is focusing on a... different group of people :) Enjoy, and if you have any suggestions, please tell me. I would love to improve and continue this.

Sincerely,

-Oleander Grimm

Safe and Sound

A young girl looked out of the window of her new home, the sun creeping slowly from below the horizon. The past few weeks were a blur, but she distinctly remembered death, and suffering, and loss.

The girl and her friends didn't look that different, save for having grey skin and horns protruding from their head. And for this, they paid dearly.

Technically, they were demons. But until the other demons, they were humanoid in shape and personality. After watching other kinds of demons- and how the humans reacted to them- they renamed themselves trolls.

The young troll felt the steady warmth of the early morning sun wash over her. Like most demons, her sensitive skin burns easily, but these days she didn't mind. It was a reminder that she's still alive, and that despite all that has happened, the sun still rises everyday. Besides, if she kept the windows mostly drawn, the sun wouldn't bother her too badly.

"Kanaya! Get your ass away from the window. You know the rules,"

Kanaya sighed, and closed the window before heading towards the voice.

The rules were put in place while they were travelling to this house, as a precaution when they arrived. The rules were simple:

1. Never go out of the house during daylight, and

2. Never go near the humans.

After watching the humans murder their race; after finding each other, the last twelve of their kind, everyone gladly accepted to these rules. This didn't mean that everyone got along, though. Sometimes, Kanaya wondered how they haven't started killing each other yet.

The house they chose was a large Victorian mansion, one of the many abandoned houses in the city. Neither rich nor poor was safe. It was large enough that all twelve trolls had a room to themselves; yet sometimes they still felt too close for comfort.

Case in point: the last thing Kanaya wanted to deal with right now was their self-appointed leader, Karkat. He made up the rules and strictly enforced them. Though if Kanaya was being reasonable, she supposed that he did this all because he cares about them. She should be grateful. But at that moment, she felt that she did nothing wrong.

"What the fuck are you doing? You're going to get us all killed, standing out there in the fucking open!" Behind Karkat, some of the trolls rolled their eyes, while others fought to hold back their snickers; Terezi didn't hold back at all. No one took him seriously.

"I hate to inform you, but I was never outside. I remained inside our safe haven the entire time. I merely opened the windows to let some air in," Kanaya explained halfheartedly.

"You could be sighted! The humans would kill us all. I am sick of your fucking sass, all of you!" Karkat said, acknowledging the people behind him. "If you nooksuckers don't believe me, then you can leave now!"

That wiped the smiles on their face. While no one took him seriously, the rules were obeyed for this one reason.

"I thought so," he said, leaving for his room. The others were furious, but said nothing.

This was how it always was. But it wasn't always like this.

Before the massacre, in their old village, Karkat was... well he was still a angry, overdramtic kid. But it seemed like he cared then, no matter what he said. Now no one was sure.

The others left to stew in their anger. Kanaya was going to go to her room, when she heard a long, dramatic moan.

"Whyyyyyyyy does Karkat have to be such a whiny bitch?" Vriska stretched herself out on the couch. "Why are we so afraid of them? We never see more than two at one time. We outnumber them, we could take them on!"

Kanaya sighed. Out of all of them, Vriska has taken this the worst. She was restless, and pissed. Well, they all were. But she was like this back in their village, too. Always seeking out trouble out of boredom.

"While there may be two when we see them, they gather in larger groups at night. If they are provoked, they all wouldn't hesitate to kill us. Beside, they are trained to fight and kill demons," Kanaya explained.

"Well I could take them on," Vriska bragged. "You probably could, too. We don't need these idiots. We could survive on our own!"

Kanaya wasn't sure what to say to that. The relationship she had with Vriska was... complicated, to say the least. Feelings went back and forth from complete hatred to something... more. It was hard to describe, but it felt like more than what they had right now. She wasn't sure. Since they left their village, things have gone cold between the two of them. Now all of a sudden Vriska was suggesting they run away together. Does it even mean something? Her head was starting to spin.

"I-I really don't think that's such a safe idea," Kanaya said.

"Are you going to be like the rest here? God, I thought you were better than that. How disappointing,"

"Vriska, please don't leave. I think you're underestimating our opponents,"

Vriska looked at Kanaya, trying to get some insight as to what she meant by that. "You really think so?"

"You saw what they did to our family? Our people? You know this,"

Vriska sighed. "Fine, whatever. I'll just rot my ass here, doing absolutely nothing!" she complained. She went to her room in a huff.

Kanaya should have felt relief. She should have trusted Vriska's answer. But she knew Vriska far too well to entirely believe her.

The day was rough for everyone. After the incident that morning, all they could do is sleep in the morning. At night was when they got stuff done; a few of them would go out to get food, while the rest wasted the night away. Nothing much to do when you're refugees.

This night, no one could sleep. Creaking wasn't unnatural, since everyone was restless. But near sundown, Nepeta was certain she heard creaking by the front door... and maybe a door shutting carefully, like someone was trying to keep quiet. She had quite good hearing. She considered telling Karkitty or Equius about this curious occurrence.

But there was only an hour or so until night... and she did need at least a little sleep. She was going to search for food that night. So, passing it off for a settling household, she curled up in her blankets and went to sleep.