She has no idea what's going to happen. Not the slightest clue. All she knew is that Gamzee somehow turned insane, according to Equius. Nepeta found it rather ridiculous. Gamzee! Of all trolls! This peaceful, playful and loving troll, mad? She had no idea about the death of Tavros, Kanaya, or Feferi until now. All she was been doing was hanging around with Equius and doing some feelings jam.
Equius carefully instructed her to hide, as he won't allow her to dirty her hands with indigo blood like he was about to do.
"I will now seek the highblood, Nepeta." He said to her. "I command you to hide, as we discussed."
"Sure!" She responded. "But there's a lot of nuts on the loose, so don't stick your neck out there and take any big frisks!"
"I will exact caution, even when safety 100% to be 100% assured." He paused, hesitant. "Even so, I would still like to take the opportunity to say…"
"What?" She asked.
He pulled his face into sad frown, something he doesn't do very often. "Goodbye."
Nepeta also frowned and stared at the ground, unsure of what to say. She simply smiled and replied, "Well okay, goodbye! But you had better believe I will see you again soon, Equius!"
"Yes, you will," were his last words before he took off and she scampered to her room. Inside she marveled at all of the paintings and shipping she had drawn, especially at the ones she and Karkat made together.
She wondered over to a corner of her room, where a large stack of crates laid against the wall. Boy, she had a difficult time placing them all there since she didn't requested the help of Equius. Considering how the deaths of her troll friends were depressing, she decided to try and cheer herself up. She supposed she just remove those crates just for a moment… Although when she did, she accidentally managed to knock over the crates rather then just move them. With a great yelp of surprise, the large heavy crates scattered across her revealing her little secret.
A painting on the way, a shipping she kept secret. A large portrait of her and Karkat, kissing with the words "OTP" written underneath. To be honest, she painted this when all of the trolls first moved to the Veil, when she had her blooming red feelings for Karkat. Unlike the rest of the shipping she made, this one made her incredibly embarrassed for others to see she used the crates to hide them. No one must ever see!
However, that was a long time ago before the whole Karkat-breaking-her-heart ordeal. Now, she didn't mind if anyone would see this. From what she remembered from that old conversation, everybody knew about her crush on Karkat so there's really no point in hiding this painting anymore. However, she still does for some reason.
Why does she still feel embarrassed?
She gently placed a hand on the painting, a sadden look on her face with a small smile. He said he doesn't feel flushed back for her, right? He only hung out with her, painting with her just to make her happier, she suspected. Equius must have forced him to make her happy.
It's a shame, because it really does feel like he's interested in her. He's still having fun with her up to the point where she's capable of making herself happy without help, unless he's oblivious of that. She doesn't question him about it, though. Those nice moments where he painted pictures with her, when they get into little play-fight, when he smiles just occasionally at her, it made her feel of so bubbly and warm inside.
She touched her lips.
When he kissed her that time in the bathroom…
No matter how deep he pierced her heart with a cold blade of rejection, she's still hopelessly flushed for him. She tried to distance herself from Karkat, try not to dwell on the happy feelings she got when he paid attention to her rather then Terezi, she tried to make herself not feel red for him once again in fear that he'll discover it and take everything back. To break her heart once again…
She shook her head and pulled on a mischievous smile. Wow, she's awfully tired of being cooped up in this room with her feelings. She decided a little adventuring wouldn't hurt… He'll never know.
She turned her head to look at the great, I mean grate, on the wall next to the portrait. She walked over to it and easily pried it off -she done this plenty of times without Equius knowing- and entered the vents.
Inside the vents, so warm and a bit dusty, she walked carefully; she doesn't want to make any loud noises that'll alert any other trolls. She swore she heard some honks in the air, and she couldn't help but hug herself as she shivered with nervousness.
Eventually she stumbled upon another grate, and curiosity seized her as she looked through it expecting to see some trolls doing whatever they're doing. She was shocked to find a room, with a lance coated with orange blood that awfully seems like Tavros's blood color. "HONK" was written on the wall facing her way, it written with the same blood color. On the ground were three plushies that she quickly identify as Pucefoot, Berrybreath, and Doctor Honeytongue thanks to Terezi. All three were where torn into pieces, their stuffing decorating the floor like snow. Who could do such a thing?
She quickly moved away from the grate and kept on walking, a cloud of doubt and regret slowly forming in her head. The vents were getting darker, and she found another grate to look in.
In it was another room, much more bloodier than the last room. Once again, it was in the same orangey blood color. There was a bloody path, almost as if someone has died from a serious injury and was dragged across the room. On the wall as another message, "are you next? :O)". Nepeta couldn't help but giggle at it. Next for what, exactly? If she wasn't humored right now, then she'd be awfully suspicious of the smiley face Gamzee usually used.
She moved on, coming upon the last grate there is in these vents. Since that was all there was in these vents, she decided to get out. She entered the room where only two transportalizers were found, one broken in half. There were also some jade colored drops of blood on the ground, and from the looks of it, it was leading from the broken transportalizers to the other one. She tried to transportalize on the unbroken on, but it didn't work for some unknown reason.
She decided to just enter the other grate found on the wall. Inside the vents it was very dark, making her feel a bit scared. It was just a single pathway, no corners or other passages found like in the last vents. In a short amount of time, she found another grate. Hesitant, she looked through it not quite sure what her eyes would behold this time.
She regrets it.