HA. HAHA. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA FOUR MONTHS I'M SO SORRY. HERE'S THE CHAPTER I HOPE YOU ENJOY TwT I'M SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT OH MY GOD
I'M GOING TO ACTUALLY TRY TO BE REGULAR NOW AUGHGHGHGHG
A few months had passed before you finally were able to get over losing John. Or, you told yourself you were over it. It didn't matter. He wasn't coming back, and it was time to realise that. You had more important things to worry about. Crabdad had begun to get sick a few days ago. First you thought it was nothing, but it escalated rather quickly.
You didn't have the money to get what he needed though. So, reluctantly, you decided that you needed to get a job. It took some serious nerve, seeing how young you were. Not only that, but also the fact that you were, are, a freak with your cherry red blood.
You were scared to hell about this. There were so many things that could go wrong. Each scenario played out separately in your head. What if you got cut somehow, and everyone saw? They would cull you on the spot! Or maybe something even worse...
No. You shook your head furiously, clearing away the awful thoughts. This had to be done. You needed the money so you could take care of your lusus. Nothing else mattered right now. When the sun went down, you'd begin your search.
When the sun went down, and darkness enveloped the surrounding land, you decided that it was time to go. No more procrastinating. So, laying Crabdad out carefully, though with much difficulty, you told him to relax until you returned. You told him everything was going to be okay, and left the hive to begin your new life of labor.
You wandered the streets for a little while. This was the first time you had ever been out on the streets all alone. It was frightening, to say the least. There were trolls everywhere. Even though they all seemed to be about your age, it made you nervous.
Any one of them could be the reason you never went home. "Shit..." You were making yourself paranoid again. You took a deep breath and stood tall, looking confident. That was a thing, right? Look confident, and people will be less likely to fuck with you.
You continued with your back perfectly straight, your chin held high. No one looked twice at you. 'Good. Little fuckers better back off,' you thought proudly to yourself.
You were thinking to yourself about where you may be able to find work when you can across what appeared to be some kind of laboratory. Funny, you'd never seen this with Crabdad. You looked around, trying to get a scope on where exactly you were.
"Fuck!" You had wandered really far from your hive without even thinking about it, and now you had no idea where you were. You'd have to find your way back soon, but for now, you turned your attention back to the laboratory. There was a "Help Wanted" sign on the front of it.
Yeah, this could work. You walked through the front door cautiously, alarmed at the immediate amount of technology. Bright lights hung from the ceilings, buzzing contentedly as you proceeded beneath them, examining the computers, manned by older trolls.
There were countless hallways leading to other rooms, each illuminated by the same artificial lights. All, it seemed, but one. It was hard to notice, but there was a rather dark hallway far back among the other ones. However, it was impossible to see what lay beyond it, as it took a sharp turn a few feet after it began.
It piqued your curiosity, but you figured it was off limits, judging by the looks of it. Even so, you couldn't look away. Something seemed very off about that particular hallway. You began to take a step towards it subconsciously, only to be restrained by a cold hand on your shoulder.
Startled, you jumped forward and spun to face him. He was a tall individual, with horns that curved backwards smoothly. His indigo tinted irises were set in a hard face, his chiseled features seeming almost unreal, except for the large scar that stretched from his left eye to the right side of his chin.
He wore professional clothing, with a lab coat hanging down to his ankles. A nametag on his jacket read "Haxian". Judging by the way he examined you, you figured he was the head around here. That and his blood colour. Not many indigo bloods in these parts, so it was very likely. After a moment, he rose an eye brow and spoke with a deep, stoney voice.
"What do you want?"
"I'm here about the job..? It said you were hiring."
"Whats your name?"
"...Karkat Vantas."
"Age?"
"7 sweeps."
"You're rather young. Try coming back in two sweeps."
You began to panic as he turned away. You really needed this job! "No wait! Please, my lusus is sick and I don't have the money to care for him. I really need this position. I don't care what it is."
He stopped for a moment, apparently thinking.
"Please, I promise I'll do everything I need to. I won't screw up."
Haxian spun around and stared at you with a venomous glare. "You are damn right you won't. If you make one fuck up, you will regret it, boy." He spat the last word.
You smiled and bowed respectfully to him."Thank you sir, you won't regret it." As degrading as it felt bowing to him, you were happy. You would be able to take care of Crabdad now.
"Yeah yeah. I'm General Haxian, and you are to refer to me as such. Now then, your job is rather important, and I've had many people attempt it. So far, all of them have failed because they question my methods. You will be tending to our power room, and taking care of the power source. It is what runs the entire lab, so we need someone to just keep the place tidy and know when to activate it. Can you do that?"
You nodded eagerly, your smile fading into something more serious. "Yes sir." You were contemplating whether or not to salute him when the dark hallway began to flash an electric blue, and a high pitched scream emanated from it.
Frightened by this, you jumped away from it, right into Haxian. He grabbed you by the shoulders and you looked up, right into his eyes. His mouth twisted up into a wicked smile, showing his slightly yellowed, pointed teeth.
"Welcome to the establishment."
When you got home that day, you noticed someone had been trolling, wait no, it said pestering. You hadn't seen that since... No. The text was a bright red.
-turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 8:16-
[TG]: yo
[TG]: karkat
[TG]: do you know where john is
[TG]: we have been looking every where for the damn kid
[TG]: were hella worried bout the kid
[TG]: like a fucking eagle after her chick has fallen from the tree
[TG]: majestic little shits
[TG]: seriously though its been months and you are the last person he talked to
[TG]: i know we should have come to you first
[TG]: rose figured that was a bad idea
[TG]: whatever
[TG]: i finally decided to see what the fuck was up
[TG]: knew things were getting weird when he started talking to some random troll
[TG]: nothings wrong with trolls though bro
[TG]: just want to know where he is
[TG]: ya feel me
[CG]: LOOK I DON'T KNOW WHO THIS IS BUT...
[CG]: JOHN IS DEAD.
[TG]: woah hold the phone
[TG]: what do you mean he's dead
[TG]: what happened
[CG]: HE CAME TO ALTERNIA AND GOT HIMSELF FUCKING CAUGHT BY THE DRONES. THEY CULLED HIM BECAUSE HE WAS A HUMAN, NOT A TROLL.
[CG]: … I'M SO SORRY.
[CG]: I COULDN'T SAVE HIM.
-carcinoGeneticist [CG] ceased trolling turntechGodhead [TG] at 8:21-
The next night came sooner than you expected. You climbed out of your recuperacoon and wiped the remaining slime off with a nearby towel. Yawing, you looked at the clock. "OH MY FUCK!" You were going to be late on the first day!
Muttering profanities to yourself, you hustled and pulled on the uniform you had been given. Khakis, a long sleeved grey polo shirt with a blue tie, and a long lab coat, much like Haxian had been wearing.
You ran for the door of the Hive, calling out a goodbye to your lusus. He clacked at you and you ran out, nearly slamming the door behind you. You rushed back to the lab, starting to panic. What if you were already late? "Shit shit shit! I can't be late!"
You had to push through many people to get where you were going, earning multiple "fuck you's" along the way. You couldn't be bothered to reply. You had more important things to do.
By the time you reached the lab, you were out of breath. You stumbled in the door, barely making it in time to clock in. You looked up, laughing quietly in spite of yourself. When you set your card in the box and turned around, Haxian was waiting for you.
You jumped a bit. "Oh, hello sir."
"Just in time. Huh. Get here earlier next time." He looked you over. "Right then. Come on."
He lead you down the dark hall, which made you get an empty feeling in the pit of your stomach. You couldn't stop thinking about the scream from yesternight. As you rounded the corner and entered a large rounded room, you found that you had to squint to be able to see. Those broght lights threw you off, making it harder to see after stepping into the dark.
There appeared to be a large, clear cylinder in the center of the place. Something was dangling in it. You figured it to be a sort of ore that would redirect electricity or something. You honestly knew nothing about this shit, but you were pretty sure that iron didn't scream.
Haxian brought you over to the controls, showing you the dial that would send the electric currents to the generator. There was a counter that showed when to turn it. Every half an hour there needs to be a small burst, and every two hours there needs to be a larger one.
After he had explained things, he left you to it. Your eyes had adjusted pretty well, but you still had a hard time determining what was in the cylinder. And despite your common sense telling you to leave it be, you were very curious. You approached it, the figure becoming more and more clear with every step. Your eyes widened to the size of dinner plates when you saw what was being held captive in this clear prison.
Before you hung a seemingly lifeless body, with pale skin and black hair. He was clad in blue pajamas, which had a hood that appeared to have been torn off at the start of it. The boy was alarmingly thin, and his cerulean eyes were just barely open. For a minute, he seemed to not even notice you.
A pang struck your heart when he looked at you with those dull eyes.
"Kar...K-kat...?"
"John..."