"I am Truth. I was cast from the Prince's side along with the others."

"...I don't understand."

"This castle belongs to a Prince... Did you not know?"

"I only knew to come. The sword drew me here."

The creature recoiled as she brandished the sword, hissing and hiding its face in the crook of its elbow. "Put that away! I cannot gaze upon it in my current state!"

"...Tell me what is happening."

"...It is a long tale."

"I have time..."

"Nepeta."

"Huh?"

Equius was watching her with a look of fond frustration over the rim of his cracked sunglasses. Somehow he never managed to own an intact pair.

"Did you hear a word of what I said?" He poked her in the forehead with the butt of his pencil.

"...You were talking about a scrub brush?"

He facepalmed. "No, Nep, no. Scrum. That's like the huddle." Upon seeing her blank look. "The huddle. That thing in football when the teams gather to discuss plays?"

"I know what a huddle is." She batted away his prodding pencil.

"You could have fooled me. Now, what's the difference between union and league?"

"...One fought for the North and the other has Batman? ...If you keep hitting your forehead like that you're going to suffer brain damage."

"Look, Nep, why do you want to learn about rugby at all? You're obviously not interested." Equius frowned, removing his glasses to look at her directly. "What's going on with you? You're horrible at team sports."

"I'm horrible at sports in general. I'm just better than you at keeping the ball in between the lines... And controlling my temper. Remember why we don't play pingpong any more?"

"...The balls are too fragile."

"Most people don't shatter them. They just leave dents."

"...Stop changing the subject." Equius poked her again, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Is it hot in here?"

"No, you just sweat a lot." Nepeta handed him a handkerchief she kept on-hand solely for said purpose. "I just... thought it would be interesting. Eridan invited me over to his place to watch some rugby this weekend..."

"Eridan? No. You shouldn't spend time with him either."

"First Gamzee, then Eridan? What's up with that?"

"They're high bloods, born from money and used to using less the fortunate for their little games..."

"Uh, Equius..." Nepeta raised an eyebrow at her old friend. "You're kinda a blue blood yourself. Your dad..."

"I know." Equius' dad was the head of a robotics company that designed robots to build robots. Needless to say, there was money in that family. "But I'm not like Eridan and I'm certainly not like Gamzee."

"No one is like Gamzee." Nepeta said. "But I already agreed to go to Eridan's place; I can't turn that down..."

"Then I'm going too."

"You weren't invited..." Equius raised an eyebrow to match hers. "Right. See you at seven."

"Not so long ago these lands were ruled by a fair and just Prince. He governed with a steady hand and appointed counselors to advise him. I was one of them, along with Justice, Mercy and Peace. However one day a stranger came... and the Prince began to change. He cast us, his advisors, from grace to replace us with Relativity, Partiality, Intolerance and..."

"...And what?"

"...And the worst of them all. War. The kingdom crumbled, yet he turned a blind eye..."

"Wait. I thought the Prince was slumbering?"

"Not his body; his heart. If we wish to preserve ourselves, we must awaken it..."

"Oh! Foul!"

Nepeta jumped, heartbeat skittering like a frightened rabbit before she managed to get a grip on herself again. Equius and Eridan were on their feet; Kanaya appeared amused, Feferi and Terezi confused, Vriska smug at Terezi's confusion, Tavros slightly concerned, Gamzee... well, Gamzee and Karkat...

Karkat. What was supposed to be a small gathering somehow turned into this get together with more on the way... And, of course, he had to be here. Nepeta turned her attention back to the very sweaty men on screen, wincing as a few teeth were knocked loose. Why had she said this was her favorite sport?

"I'm going to get some water." She murmured to Kanaya, who nodded and squeezed her arm.

Standing with the refrigerator open, relishing the cold air on her face, Nepeta took a deep breath. Since coming to college she had slowly been getting used to big crowds, but in these tight quarters she was beginning to develop claustrophobia...

"What are you looking for?"

She jumped for the second time that night, whipping around to see Eridan looming over her. Granted, everyone loomed over her, but he seemed especially... loomy. Oh, good, she was making up words again, come on, Nepeta, say something!

"W-Water."

Good girl. Not great with that stutter, but otherwise good.

"We normally get that from the tap." Eridan reached over her right shoulder and snagged a glass, moving away to fill it with her requested beverage. "Unless you were looking for ice?"

"Yes! Yeah, ice!" Ha ha! An logical explanation!

"That tends to be in the freezer." Dammit.

"Oh, yeah. Silly me." She took the offered cup from him with a nervous grin, sipping at the water. It tasted like iron- Right, she and Terezi had a filter...

"...You don't really like rugby, do you?" Eridan leaned against the counter, cutting off her route of escape. "Why did you lie?"

"W-What?" She squeaked, nearly dropping the glass. What was it about boys in general that made her so timid? Well, being alone with them, in groups she was... less bad. "I didn't lie! I like rugby..."

"What's the score?" He adjusted his glasses before crossing his arms pensively.

"...Two to one?"

"Right. Not even close."

As was her wont, Nepeta found her mind wandering. There was a silver stud in Eridan's tongue that flashed whenever he talked... That must have hurt. Why would anyone do that? The tongue was a muscle, who thought stabbing something through it was a good idea...

Suddenly Eridan was inches from her face, brown eyes boring into her own. Nepeta froze like a bird before a snake, brain flatlining...

"Hey. Fuckass. Can't you see you're scaring her?"

Karkat stood in the doorway, a black frown on his face. Eridan backed up as a breath of air rushed into Nepeta's lungs that she didn't realize she had been lacking. The other strode forward, somehow managing to seem to fill more of the room than Eridan despite his smaller stature.

"Don't butt in, Vantas..."

"I fucking will butt in when you're being an ass, Ampora. Back. Off." Karkat growled.

To Nepeta's amazement, Eridan did as he was told, though there was a scowl on his face that Nepeta hoped would never be aimed at her. Muttering something under his breath, Eridan absconded back to the living room, leaving Karkat and Nepeta alone in the kitchen.

...Which was another nightmare for a totally different reason.

"...You okay?" He glanced over at her, eyes flicking to where her knuckles were white around the glass. "Ampora is a jackass, but he doesn't mean badly. Normally. I have no fucking idea what that was about..."

"...I'm fine." She gulped down another lungful of air, trying to keep her cheeks from flushing. Her whole body felt like it was on fire standing this close to him... "I- I think there was a misunderstanding... is all..."

"Next time he gets like that, you've got to straighten your spine and stand up to him." Karkat advised, still watching the doorway warily. "He gets off on feeling powerful. I mean, I guess a lot of people do, but he's not good at fucking reigning it in."

"...Yeah. Thanks." She offered him a tentative smile.

"Whatever. No big deal." Karkat grabbed a new can of soda from the counter. "I just hate bullies."

With that he was gone, leaving Nepeta feeling as if she'd been thrown through a hurricane and back. She grinned happily to herself as she headed back into the crowded room, somehow feeling calmer.

Which she wouldn't have if she had caught Gamzee watching her as she entered, eyes glimmering... and the edge of a very familiar notebook peeking out from the edge of his backpack.


Author's Note: Hey, look! I think I see a plot! Maybe! Well, with any luck.

I love you guys who keep reading this. Seriously. Just. I can't even tell you with words.