HI! I'M SORRY THIS CHAPTER TOOK SO LONG! I WON'T BABBLE THIS TIME, I'LL JUST LET YOU GET TO THE CHAPTER. I DO NOT OWN HOMESTUCK, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL HUSS DOES.


Marcine POV


I blinked myself awake to bright sunlight. I went to sit up but found a strange weight on my side. Assuming it was Kaira; I went to nonchalantly push her off but stopped when I saw the blue tail curled on my leg. Nepeta? I wondered. I gently stood up to survey the room. Everyone else was still asleep and everyone was curled up with someone.

Nepeta and Equius were snuggled together with Nepeta curled like a cat into Equius's side and Equius was sprawled out on the floor, one arm draped protectively over Nep's shoulders. On the other side of where I was laying, Gamzee and Tavros were curled together in much the same fashion. Over on the couch, John was snuggled up to Karkat who somehow looked frustrated even in sleep. Sollux was asleep with Feferi on one side and Aradia on the other, an arm draped over both. The phrase "all the bitches" quickly ran through my head and I had to stifle a bout of laughter. Kanaya and Rose were sleeping sitting up on the couch next to each other. Vriska and Eridan were both sleeping in the corner but Vriska looked to be pushing him away with her foot. Terezi was curled up to Dave, her glasses still on but definitely askew. Jade was asleep by Kaira's feet, curled up almost like a dog. Kaira was sleeping in her usual way, sprawled out on the floor, drooling into her arm. I looked at her, shaking my head before stooping down to wake her up.

"C'mon Kaira, get up." I said, pulling her up by the arms. She looked up at me and blinked. Wait, blinked? I thought. Kaira wasn't wearing her bandages. She looked up at me through blue-white eyes. She stood and wiped her eyes, yawning.

"Mornin' Marcine." She said, stretching. I put my hands on my hips and smiled at her.

"I'm glad to see you trust these people so muck Kai." I said. She looked at me, puzzled. I covered my eyes and uncovered them, looking at her with an eyebrow raised. It took her a moment in her tired state to process what I was telling her. Her eyes widened. She started looking around frantically.

"Good god, where did they go? Those were my last ones!" she whispered as she searched. I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"How on earth did you manage losing something that was literally fastened to your face Kaira?" I asked. I looked at everyone and noticed they were starting to stir.

"Shit!" Kaira looked up at me, tears of panic starting to form at the edges of her eyes. I looked down at her hands to see shredded bandages. I slammed my palm to my face. And grabbed her horn and pulled her to her room.

"Ow!" she yelled as I pushed her into the room.

"Stay in here until I get back with more bandages for you. Just climb into your recupercoon and go to sleep." I whispered. She nodded and climbed in. I closed the door and walked back into the living room. Everyone was getting up so I plastered a smile on my face.

"Good morning everybody!" I chirped. Please don't ask about Kaira, please don't ask about Kaira. I thought. I didn't want to lie to these people, but I would if I had to.

"Morning Marthine," Sollux said. "Where'th KA?" it took me a minute to figure out he meant Kaira. Shit I thought.

"Oh, her, she has a headache so she's still sleeping. That being said, does anyone want to run to the store with me?" I asked, the fake smile still slapped on my face. The group raised their eyebrows at me.

"Wwhat for?" asked Eridan. I turned to him and shrugged, my smile stretching my cheeks almost to their breaking point.

"I dunno, whatever you guys want. I've got like 50 dollars and a boonbuck. Who wants to run down to CVS with me?" I heard Feferi sigh from her spot on the couch.

"Glub this, I'm going back to sleep." She grunted before turning her back to me. Someone's grumpy in the mornings. I thought. I turned back to the rest of the group.

"Well, any takers?" after a brief moment of silence, Tavros hesitantly raised his hand.

"Uh, can I come?" I smiled at him.

"Of course you can. The more the merrier!" I said. He smiled back at me. Gamzee sauntered over and draped a heavy arm around my shoulders.

"If Tavbro is going, so is this motherfucker." He said, gesturing to himself. My nervous grin remained.

"Anyone else?" I asked. When no one volunteered, I nodded.

"Alright, Gamzee, Tavros, come on, we're gonna have to walk. Don't worry the store's right down the road." They nodded and we set off on our way.


When we got to the store, I handed Tavros 20 dollars and told him to go and buy some candy, whatever he and Gamzee wanted. The boys ran off and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank god" I said, placing my hand to my eyes. "I love those two, but I almost went into cuteness overload for a minute there." At one point during our walk to the store, Tavros had started to get tired, so Gamzee scooped him up and carried him bridal-style about a block and a half. Tavros was blushing so much and he just kept stuttering as Gamzee laughed his honking laugh. It was so adorable. I do admit going into fangirl mode for a bit and snapping a picture to show Kaira later. I walked to the bandages and searched for Kaira's usual brand.

"Goddammit. Everything's so expensive!" I said. Finally I sighed and grabbed the bandages and straightened to my usual 5'9" height. I went over to the candy section to find Gamzee with his arms full of candy and Tavros with just a bag of gummy bears. I put my hands to my hips.

"Gamzee Makara, may I ask what you think you are doing? You put that back and pick ONE." I said. He pouted up at me like a three year old.

"But Mar-sis, candy is made of miracles!" he whined. I dragged my hand across my eyes, trying not to laugh. I know he's younger than me, but not by that much, I mean come on! I sighed.

"Alright, you can have two, but that's it! And you have to share with the others." I said. His face lit up and he grinned at me picking a bag of grape candy and some candy corn.

"Come on guys, let's go pay." I said. They nodded and followed me to the register. I paid for Kaira's bandages and they paid for their candy. As we walked out and started the trek home, I walked head-on into somebody. The other person fell onto the ground with a dull thud, but Gamzee and Tav each grabbed one of my arms to steady me. Once I was standing correctly, I rushed forward to help the other person up.

"I am so sorry! Are you alright?" I asked as I pulled the boy off the ground. He shook his head, his shaggy hair looking even more ruffled.

"Yeah, I'm fi-" he stopped in the middle of his sentence and looked down at me. I met a pair of familiar chocolate-brown eyes. He leaned down and grabbed my face.

"Marcine? Is that you?" I blinked before taking in the tall, boomerang horns, the red-tipped hair, Texan accent and adorable fangs sticking out over his bottom lip.

"Xander? Oh my god, Xander!" I threw my arms around his neck and laughed. He picked me up and spun me around, putting me back on the ground in front of Gamzee and Tavros. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Tavros looking at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Uh, Marcine, who is this? Is he a friend of yours?" out of the corner o my eye, I saw Gamzee tuck away one of his juggling clubs. I laughed at them and wrapped my arms around Xander.

"Gamzee, Tavros, this is Xander Cortex, my matesprit from back home." I said with a smile. Tavros gave a small smile and a wave.

"Uh, hi. My n-name is Tavros Nitram. V-very nice to uh, meet you." He said. Gamzee walked up and draped an arm around Xander's shoulder. They were about the same height, around 6 foot, 6'2". Gamzee leaned around him until he was in front of his face.

"Hey motherfucker. My name's Gamzee Makara. How ya doin' bro?" he asked.

"Uh, good, I guess." Xander said. Gamzee laughed his honking laugh, loping back to Tavros.

"Come on, let's go home, I bet everyone's getting impatient. Oh my god Xander, Kai will be so glad to see you!" I said enthusiastically. I glanced back to see Gamzee and Tavros in conversation.

"One second Xander." I said. I let go of his hand and drifted back to where Gam and Tav were talking.

"Hey Tavros, do you mind if I talk to Gamzee for a second? Why don't you go get to know Xander?" I asked. Tavros nodded with a smile and the shorter troll walked up to Xander and started talking. Gamzee looked down at me.

"What didja wanna motherfuckin' talk about sis?" he asked, in his usual laid back tone. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Gamzee, why did you have your club out back there?" I asked. He grinned and shrugged lazily, looking at Xander and Tavros up ahead of us.

"I dunno. Sometimes when you knock a motherfucker down, even if it's a motherfucking accident, they get their feathers all up and ruffled. They tend to get motherfucking rude, even violent. I wanted to be ready to protect you motherfuckers." I smiled at him. I wrapped my arms around his middle.

"Thanks Gam." I said. He chuckled and patted my head.

"You're welcome motherfucker."

"Hey Marcine! What's goin' on back there?" I looked up to see Xander waving back to us with a smile. He cupped his hands around his mouth like a bull horn.

"Do I have some competition or somethin'?" he asked. Before I could respond, Gamzee shouted back.

"Nah bro, I already got myself a matesprit! It's that adorable motherfucker next to you!" Tavros blushed dark brown as we all laughed. I ran over to Xander and hopped onto his back. He laughed and started running. When I looked back, Gamzee had Tavros on his back and was running too. I laughed and pointed ahead of me, towards the house.

"Onward trusty steed!" I yelled. Xander looked up at me and gave a military salute.

"Ma'am yes ma'am!" he started running faster. We beat Gamzee and Tavros to the house. Thank god someone had opened the door while we were gone or we would have run straight into it. I dropped off of his back to see everyone starting at us with a shocked expression. Well, except for Dave. I blushed purple and hid in my bangs, cleaning my glasses on my shirt.

"Everyone, this is my matesprit, Xander Cortex." I said. I then ran off to give Kaira her bandages. When I got to her respiteblock, I found her sitting in a chair eating skittles. I tossed her the bandages.

"Thanks Marci." She said. After she had them on, I grabbed her shoulders.

"You'll never guess who's here." I said. She tilted her head at me.

"Who?" she asked.

"Come and smell!" I said. I grabbed her hand and dragged her out to the living room.

"Kaira's here!" I exclaimed. Xander looked up from his spot on the couch and smirked at us.

"I shoulda known Kai would be here too." Kaira's face lit up in a grin.

"Xany!" she yelled. She jumped over the couch and tackled him to the ground. I laughed and joined in the dog pile, happy that everything was finally perfect.


Tavros POV

I smiled as I watched Marcine laugh with Xander and Kaira. I thought back on the month since her and Kai had shown up and realized that she had never been this happy or carefree. Yes, she had smiled and laughed with us, but she had always seemed a little sad, reserved. Now she seemed truly happy. Jade came and sat next to me, pulling her knees into her chest, her long skirt brushing the floor.

"She seems really happy, doesn't she?" she said, leaning her chin on her knees. I folded my hands in my lap.

"Yeah she, uh, does." Jade laughed and stood up, dragging me up by my hand. She dragged me into our group of friends just as Marcine and Kaira started another story about when they were at home when Kaira's wolf lusus tried to eat Marcine's swan one and ended up getting pecked in the eye. I laughed and sat down with everyone, basking in the warmth of what Gamzee calls "that troll disease called friendship"


? POV

I looked through the back window of the hive at the cheery group inside.

"Finally," I whispered. "The group is almost complete. Now we just need that last boy and then I'm afraid your nice little world is coming to an end" I chuckled to myself.

"Children, it's time to play a game." I chuckled again, moving away from the window.

"Oh yes, and quite a fun game at that. Don't worry, death doesn't hurt. Not at first anyway." I laughed and loped away, deep into the darkness of the forest behind the hive.


SO, WHAT DID YOU THINK? SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. I'VE GOT EXAMS AND STUFF. AFTER MONDAY THOUGH, HOPEFULLY THINGS WILL GO A LITTLE FASTER. THANKS FOR READING. ALSO, IF YOU LIKE THIS STORY, SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS! DO YOU THINK I CAN GET 5 REVIEWS FOR THIS CHAPTER? PRETTY PLEASE? DON'T FORGET TO R&R PLEASE :o)

-YCRTS