Hi guys! I'm back with another chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Homestuck.

As we rejoin our troll friends, Cateni is trying to keep her friend in a happy mood, despite the circumstances.

"I! Can't! Wait! To defeat the Seadweller King! It! Will! Be! So! Fuuuuuuuun! I! Can't! Wait! To defeat the Seadweller King! By drowning him! In! The! Suuuuuuuun!" Cateni sang as they walked to their next destination.

Mazano chuckled. He enjoyed his friend's optimism as much as the next troll, but they had a more pressing matter at hand. "You do realize we have to walk to the desert next?" he asked.

"Of course!" Cateni replied.

"So wouldn't we need something to block out the Sun?" He continued.

Cateni thought for a bit, then nodded. She ran of into the few trees that were around them, leaving Mazano to his thoughts.

I hope Birddad's alright. He thought. Well, he's always told me to be strong and to go with the flow, so I guess now's a better time than any to listen to his advice.

Cateni hummed to herself as she returned with a pile of sticks. She set them in front of Mazano and pointed at them, saying "Put these on your head!"

Mazano raised an eyebrow. "How will that-?"

"DANGITPUTTHESTICKSONYOURHEAD !" Cateni yelled.

Mazano put the pile of sticks on his head as normally as possible, but they decided to fall every few seconds. Cateni smiled, then returned to the forest.

The things I do for friends. He thought.

Cateni returned with more sticks, and she placed them on his head. This continued for several minutes until Mazano was covered horns to toe in sticks.

"What is this supposed to do?" Mazano asked as Cateni started to cover herself with sticks.

"You'll see!" she replied. She whistled, and several animals came out of their tree homes and, upon seeing piles of sticks, started to gnaw on them, creating protective suits. Mazano gawked at them.

"How did-?" he started.

"Rabbitmom taught me!" she replied. "Trolls with brown blood have the ability to communicate with animals, remember?"

"Oh yeah." he replied.

"TO THE DESERT!" Cateni exclaimed, pointing to the sky.


After several minutes of trying to get through the desert without their eyes melting out of their sockets, they finally arrived at a desert hive. Compared to the other hives they'd seen, this one looked untouched.

Or at least, on the outside.

The inside was completely trashed. Dressers were overturned, fabrics were ripped apart, and they swore they could hear someone crying in another room.

They were about to leave when Cateni stepped on an extravigant looking dress. The crying stopped, and the rev of a chainsaw took its place. The younger trolls beat feet to the door, but they were intercepted by an adult troll.

Leave it to Kanaya to scare children.

"Who are you?!" The jade-blooded troll asked. "Identify yourselves!"

The young trolls gulped.

"I'm Mazano," the blueblood said "and this is Cateni." Cateni waved.

"Are you Kanaya?" the brownblood asked.

The troll raised an eyebrow, slowly lowering her chainsaw.

"You must be the young trolls Equius and Nepeta sent." She answered. She walked into another room, not making another noise. She returned shortly after with...

"Bandanas?" Mazano asked as he took his in his hands, playing with it a bit.

Cateni stared at hers for awhile. She tied the cloth around her head, smiling at the results in a nearby broken mirror. She giggled.

Something broke nearby.

Kanaya turned to the noise. A shadow ran past a broken dresser. She aimed her chainsaw in the direction of the movement.

"Get out of here." She whispered to the trolls.

"What?" Cateni asked.

"Get out of here!" She commanded as she ran to another room and revved her chainsaw, telling the enemy where she was. Glass broke as the shadow moved towards the noise.

"But-!" Cateni started as Mazano grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the hive.


As they reached the edge of the desert, Cateni finally broke free of Mazano's grip. She glared at him.

"Why'd you do that?!" She yelled.

"She told us to leave!" He replied as he shrugged off the protective suit. "And Equius taught me to listen to everyone, no matter how stupid their thought!"

"But that thing was threatening her!" Cateni retaliated. Her cheeriness was gone, and she yanked at her exxessivly large pigtails. "Why must you always be so negative?! You always go with the stupider, more life threatening thought!" She turned to her friend and looked at him with big eyes. " Why can't you be like me and try to think like I do?" She asked, tears forming in her eyes.

Mazano tried not to look into those eyes. He called them the Eyes of Deception because they always betrayed everyone they met. Whenever someone looked into the Eyes of Deception, they tell Cateni whatever she needs to know. He couldn't fall for it today, or after what'd just happened. He fought those eyes, and he eventually won.

"I don't know, and I don't care." He said as he stared at the ground. He grabbed his backpack and walked away. "Y'know, maybe we should split up." He choked out.

Cateni's eyes grew wider as her friend finished his thought. She stared at him, dark brown tears now falling from her face to the packed earth of the forest floor.

"What?" She asked, trying not to cry in front of him.

Mazano didn't look at her. "You take three trolls, I'll take four. Then we get our items and bring them back to Nepeta and Equius." He turned his head slightly enough that Cateni saw a lone, light blue tear sitting on his cheek. And in the next words he said were words Cateni never knew were on his mind.

"Good bye Cateni." And he walked away.


The seadweller watched this event take place. He frowned at Cateni's sadness, but chuckled silently at Mazano's. When the older troll left his friend, he was almost squealing with joy. He was so busy holding in his happiness that he fell out of the tree he was sitting in.

Cateni saw him and rushed to his side. "Are you okay?" She asked.

The seadweller nodded. "I saw you and your friend fight a while ago. Sorry about that."

Cateni stared at the ground, stray tears falling through the grass. "You saw that?" She asked.

The seadweller nodded and hugged the troll. "I understand your pain." He said. "My own kind rejected me, which is sort of like a friend."

Cateni nodded into the embrace. She stood up and smiled. "I'm Cateni Pormyn." She said, holding out her hand. "What's your name?"

The seadweller smiled his sharp-toothed smile. "Onidon." He replied. "Onidon Tirden."

Ooooh! It seems Cateni's fallen into Onidon's trap! Bad Mazano! You're supposed to stay by her side forever! Shame on you! Next chapter will actually have a POV! *audience oooohhs and aaaahhs*