When Equius arrived on Kanaya's planet, he found the Sylph sitting atop the volcano near her hive. She had been deep in thought and was surprised by his sudden appearance.

„Equius? What are you doing here?" Kanaya stood up to greet her visitor.

„I was informed that you had issues of a mechanical nature. You see, I am quite a skilled craftsman. I'm here to lend my assistance." Equius was not like how she had imagined him. Sure, his steady, deep voice and considerable muscles exuded the impression of strength, but considering his preoccupation with keeping up appearances, she had expected him to look the part of the noble a bit more. However, his hair was long and unkempt, his face and body were full of bruises, he was missing several teeth and half a horn and the cracked shades covering his eyes looked rather goofy. He also seemed to be perspiring more than average.

Yes, Kanaya could see, why Vriska and Karkat were so quick to make fun of the guy, but she reminded herself, that he had only ever been earnest in helping her. And here he was again, to help her with…

"A mechanical problem…? Oh, I suppose you mean the forge." She couldn't help but smirk a bit at the apparent misunderstanding.

"Indeed." he nodded, looking out over the volcano's crater. "Where is this forge, and what problem are you experiencing in particular?"

"You are looking right at it." she explained to Equius' confusion. "I have studied the pictograms in the nearby ruins and they all suggest the same thing. The Sylph, that being me, can't begin her true quest, until she has stoked the Forge. I have strong cause to believe that the forge refers to this very volcano we are currently standing on."

"I see" Equius replied. "I must confess, the nature of the problem is different from what I expected, and somewhat outside my field of expertise. How do you plan to achieve this?"

Kanaya's expression darkened. "Frankly, I have no idea. I have scoured the ruins, but I couldn't make out any more useful hints. I have also looked beyond the first gate, but it only leads to an even smaller island with even less in the way of clues. It seems my path is truly blocked, until I am able to overcome this obstacle. The game seems to expect me to know what to do instinctively, but… my instincts have not proven very reliable lately. I don't think I'm being a very good Sylph, whatever that actually entails. Everyone else has already begun adventuring, but I am still stuck at the starting line." In truth her outlook was even bleaker. Her client player had stopped responding to her messages and she was not making any progress helping Karkat with his Operation. She felt like dead weight.

While he listened patiently, Equius slowly began to understand. She was just like him. Ever since the fight with Aradia, he, too, had felt without purpose. That was the whole reason he had come here, to have someone depend on him again. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"Stop. It seems to me, that you are experiencing an unwarranted amount of self-doubt. It is unbecoming of a lady of such strength and elegance as yourself to give in to such feelings. You should trust yourself more. Brooding over your problems won't make you feel better. Only taking action can do that."

Kanaya was taken aback. What did this guy know about her? "But I don't know what to do!" she replied, pushing his arm away in frustration.

"Then I will show you. I advise you to take a step back." Equius went to his knees, the muscles in his legs bulged and he jumped high into the sky. Kanaya's clothes and hair fluttered from the wind, that his enormous momentum caused, and she stared with her mouth agape as he ascended over the volcano and then, like a meteor, crashed down, fist first into the crater.

'Of all the reckless things to do!' She thought to herself, as the ground itself shook from the tremendous impact. For a few long seconds thereafter everything was still. Kanaya stood at the edge of the crater, still completely flabbergasted. Equius sat in the center, his fist still to the ground. His arm was pulsating heavily and everything hurt. But then, quiet at first, but swelling louder by the second, a rumbling could be heard from underground.

Kanaya finally broke out of her stupor. The crater began to crack. "Equius!" she shouted. "Get out of there!" But he was still recovering his breath. She wanted to run and help him, but the ground split between her legs and she tripped. The rumbling was deafening now and, just as she got back on her feet, the crater exploded.

Kanaya was thrown back by the incredible force of the eruption and sent rolling down the side of the mountain. About halfway down she managed to catch herself on the side of a rock to stop her descent. Overhead she could make out Equius flying among the debris that was plummeting into the sea. She adjusted her direction and continued sliding down the side of the volcano in a more controlled manner.

From about that point on, Kanaya's recollection of the events became blurry. She remembered the smoke and ash descending upon her. She remembered swimming out far into the sea, looking for Equius. She remembered getting hit in the head by a small rock and blood running over her eye. She remembered the red glow of the lava reflecting on the waves. And she remembered her relief when she finally found Equius and dragged him back to land.

Now she was back in her hive recovering from the ordeal. Next to her Equius lay, still unconscious, on a pile of her colourful fabrics. She had bandaged her own head injury and removed Equius' shirt to tend to his wounds. As if through a miracle he had not only survived, but his only major wound was a broken arm, which she had stabilized for the time being. She had also cleaned the numerous smaller wounds all over his torso. The highblood's resilience was truly remarkable.

He looked peaceful now. The blue of the light-rays in the ocean mixed with the red of the lava, to create a beautiful ambience. She hadn't noticed just how tense he had been until now, when his muscles where all relaxed. She could feel how stressful just being awake must have been for this troll. And yet he was so brave; stupidly, recklessly brave, but brave nonetheless.

His words had touched her. She didn't have time to be wallowing in self-doubt. And he had proven it through his actions. This boy was dangerous, no doubt about it. But then, danger had always fascinated her. She noticed that she had been staring at him for a while now.

She shook her head. It was too bad, that he was already in a stable moiraillegiance. She could feel a bond with him. But wait, was that really what she felt? Was she not repeating the same mistake she had made with Vriska? Downplaying her own emotions so she wouldn't have to act on them?

'Brooding over your problems won't make you feel better. Only action can do that.' The words hit her like a train, sending her reeling. She looked back at Equius. His broken horn; his black eyes; the broken teeth behind his lips; his lips; the countless bruises, that couldn't mar his muscular, yet slender torso; the nobility behind the scars; his lips. Before she noticed, she had sat down next to him. Her face was burning up.

He was still asleep. Nobody was around. Surely it couldn't hurt. Her face approached his. The lava hissed as it touched the sea. And her lips touched his.


Aradia Megido was very confused. She didn't know what she felt. It was a lot of things at once. She felt guilty over blowing up at Equius like she did. She felt the rush of having taken revenge against Vriska. She felt weird about Tavros intervening. He had been her friend. She felt weird about killing Vriska. What was even left of the Aradia, who had once been wronged by her? What kind of coherent emotions could a ghost-frog-robot even have?

All of those feelings were swirling in her head, when she finally found Equius again, shirtless, in a passionate kiss with her former friend. Something broke inside her. Something that had still been there, somehow intact throughout everything.

"A-Aradia!" Equius exclaimed.

"Is that Vriska's blood?" Kanaya stammered.

But Aradia didn't hear them. "Ah… so this is how the voices punish those, who defy them." she said to herself.


Later, after her rage had subsided, Aradia investigated the timeline and found the anomaly that had caused it to go off the rails. She concluded that those two could not be allowed to meet. And so she returned to the Alpha timeline, her hands stained with the blood of her friends, both Navy and Jade.