Nepeta opened her eye to find a pair of yellow eyes staring back at her, with the blue hat and olive coat. Herself, or trollself, more like. It took a while to register that the trollself was nothing more than scribbled chalk doodle, holding the hand of Karkat with a red heart between them.
She sighed as she stood up and stretched to look at the clock embedded on the wall. It was… 2 in the morning. It was still dark outside. But trolls were nocturnal, and she felt out of place doing things in the morning than at night. But she couldn't complain. Or she would be detained like Equius. So she picked up the small box of chalk underneath her bed and started to draw more shipping charts, remembering the happy times in Alternia.
She sighed as she heard footsteps outside. The security maybe. But the footsteps were familiar…
She shrugged it off as she picked up a white chalk. Pale feelings. Moraillegence.
She placed the chalk on the wall, and dragged it across diagonally, shifting directions ever so slightly to draw a small diamond.
A sudden bang echoed across the hall and Nepeta jumped back like a feline, her eyes gleaming behind her now ruffled and long hair. Her hair had grown since then.
"Nepeta?" A gruff voice said from behind the wall, and there were sound of jingling keys as she caught the sight of cracked glasses.
"Equius?" Nepeta replied as she tentatively reached the door, looking through the small hole in the door to see the guard knocked out. "What are you doing here?"
"We are getting out." He said shortly as he opened the door and hugged her. Hugged her. She had never since felt a hug from Equius, who was too afraid of his strength. And she hugged back, feeling the strong muscles underneath his skin.
Then he held her small hand as he started to run, bursting through the doors to the outside. But… someone spotted them behind a glass window. Before Equius could stop her, the person was already on the phone, shouting emergency. Equius and Nepeta ran across the corridor, and just in time to see more humans moving behind them. Chasing them.
They were both running. Running through the white corridor looking at the barred windows.
Then there was the barred door in front of them that signified freedom. It took no more than two seconds for Equius to unlock the door, and snap the key, preventing from the security from chasing them. Or so she thought.
But someone grabbed Nepeta from behind, and a thick arm across her neck as she gasped. Equius was struggling with two other security pinning him down to the wall. She closed her eyes with tears streaming down her face. No. She didn't want to be locked up again.
And the hand on her neck was gone as Equius managed to pull free and make the security let go of her. Everything seemed to be in slow motion then. "Run!" He had said as he was once again pinned down as the person was making his way to her.
She would have helped Equius. Never run. She had been the predator, always, until a certain memory flashed through her head. A face with three diagonal scars, seeping purple. The jagged teeth and the piercing yellow eyes. And the burst of pain… The painted face…
Fear filled her as she turned to flee. She was much faster, more nimble than her pursuer. As she ran, she took a glance back. Equius's glasses had fallen, and he looked at her with a smile on his face. He mouthed some words, a sentence, before someone with a white robe came out of the hospital and injected him with something. Sedative, probably, as he slumped forward and he fell to the ground.
She kept running until she was certain that no one was chasing her anymore. In her white robe of the hospital, and shivering in the cold night air as she hugged herself. He could have fought, really, if he was a troll. His ridiculous strength that labeled him a freak… but…
Nepeta hugged herself harder, feeling the already fading warmth of Equius. She still had tears flowing in her eyes as she looked at something small in her hand. The white chalk that she had been holding the entire time.
Moralliegence…. It is fundamentally different from other three quadrants. No love. No hate. Guardianship as they watch their back, supporting, pacifying…
And she smiled as she realized what he had said to her before he fell. She stepped forward into the empty street, determined to find someone. She would look for some humans. She would look for Rose, and hopefully she could find her.
The last word rang in her ears, and she wiped her tears away.
"I will not kneel."