A/N I'm really sorry for how long this took.

"What's going on here?"

The voice caused them to jerk apart, Nepeta accidentally jabbing him with her elbow. He immediately jumped to defensive posture. The bushes seemed to be still, but there could be something behind them...

"Oh, maaaaaaaan, are you two suckers," crowed the voice behind them. Both of them spun around, Nepeta nearly falling over.

"Come on, you two! Don't act like you didn't think I was coming to see what all the hubbub was about. Who else's here?"

Karkat stared at her, seeming to be frozen. Nepeta sighed as Vriska approached him, studying him from all angles, and then looking away with a disdainful flip of her hair.

"Come on, you two. What's the scoop? Are you guys matesprits yet?"

When there was no reply, she leaned against the tree, rolling her eyes. "Aw, you guys. Indulge me a bit. Tell me the story. What's up with Equius? Gamzee? Terezi?"

"Oh my god. Can't we get any privacy here?" He was tense and Nepeta could feel that he was prepared to overreact.

"Awww, Karkles. Come on, spill the beans a little. How does Terezi feel about this newfound matespritship?"

Karkat's reaction was predictably explosive. He planted himself in front of Vriska's smirking frame and began ranting to her.

"Well excuse me for comforting a friend who's having romantic issues. I should ask you what the hell you're doing here, since you clearly have nothing to do but pry. That's all you ever do, isn't it? Pry, pry, pry! You just want to know everything about everyone so you can get them to do what you want! Then you ask me about Terezi, when obviously we've had problems with each other, even when you were alive! Do you know what? You know when the last time I saw you was?" Vriska leaned backwards as Karkat stepped aggressively towards her, his short height made up for by his fiery rage.

"The last time I saw you, you were dead!" he yelled. Vriska crossed her arms suspiciously.

"That's right! The last time I saw your spindly spider body, it was covered in your shitty blue blood and there was a hole through it from Terezi stabbing you in the back. And you come up and start quizzing me about quadrants!"

"Terezi?" she spat disdainfully. "I was killed by the blind girl?"

"Yeah, and it was pretty awful, too! She stabbed you and you went all limp and bloody and everything was covered in blue. And then Gamzee came along and did his stupid honking thing." His voice was rising into hysterics, and he seemed to be shaking.

"Everyone's always dying," she spat. "That's part of the game."

Karkat grabbed her and shoved her roughly into a bush. "Do you realize what an asshole you're being? This is the first time I've seen you since I was sitting next to your dead body and trying to keep Gamzee from killing everybody on that stupid meteor!"

She stood slowly, brushing off her shirt. "Look, calm down, okay?" she said. Karkat started to confront her, opening his mouth to argue, but Nepeta grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back. She held him there until his shoulders went limp and he ducked his head.

"Karkat... I never thought of that kind of stuff, okay? I don't know how the alpha timeline went. I- uh... I'm sorry. All right?" She held out a conciliatory hand. He looked away, scowling. Nepeta rolled her eyes.

"Karkat, shake hands with her."

Glaring at her, he held out his hand and let Vriska grab it. Then he went and sat by himself under a tree.

Giving each other sarcastic looks, Vriska and Nepeta joined him, one on either side of him. He didn't look around as they seated themselves, instead drawing his legs in and huffing with chagrin.

The chirping of the various fowl in the trees and gentle lapping of Kanaya's ocean carried Nepeta's thoughts high off the ground and into the pinkish clouds. A couple of nut creatures scurried up a tree, and she watched them absently. Settling deeply into her thoughts, she began to contemplate her friends relationships as a way to pass the time while a disgruntled Karkat repeated their conversation to Vriska. The lull of their voices washed over her. She closed her eyes, slumping against a tree, and let her thoughts merge with each other and fade out. Drifting gently off, letting the dull murmur of the bubble soothe her, she barely noticed the loud voices slowly approaching her. Then the vague noise turned into recognizable words. She sat up and opened her eyes, looking around for the source.

"Do you even consider that you aren't the best or the strongest one out there? And there are people out there that are hurt by you and your egotism?"

"I'm not egotistical, and yes, of course I've considered it."

"Well, why don't you take that consideration out of your ass and learn to respect everyone as your equal?"

As the bickering grew closer, Nepeta was able to distinguish the familiar voices of Aradia and Equius, in the middle of one of their famous debates.

"Aradia, when will you learn that the hemospectrum is the only-"

"The hemospectrum is so stupid! Why don't you realize th-"

"The caste system is incredibly im-"

"No! It's really not! It's really old-fashioned, and it's not even a good idea in principle!"

"You're just angry, and saying things you don't believe."

"And you're stupid!"

"Aradia, you are being irrational-"

"Rrrrrrauh!"

"Calm yourse-"

"No!"

As Nepeta watched, the bushes rustled and shook and finally spit out the short, soft frame of Aradia. She stomped angrily towards Nepeta, not seeming to see her. Equius' slightly more spindly frame followed shortly after. His cheeks were flushed hot as they usually were when he argued with her, a slight grimace on his face as he tripped over a trailing branch in an effort to catch up with her. Aradia swept past Nepeta, Vriska, and Karkat, not even glancing towards them as she talked loudly at the trees.

"I don't think you even really follow the caste system like you say you do. If you love the hemospectrum so much, why were you so desperate to be my matesprit? Why did you put a chip in that ridiculous robot you made me if you really think you can only be with bluebloods? You know that there are people who are stronger and more capable than you who have lower blood than you, and you're just lying to yourself like you always have been!"

As she ranted, Equius backed sheepishly into the foliage, the heat on his cheeks spreading to his ears. "You should learn not to question my beliefs," he said faintly. Aradia looked back at him, and then turned to face him, crossing her arms. "Oh my god, Equius."

"Wh-what," he mumbled, sinking further into the leaves as she approached him viciously.

"I forgot. You like it when I get mad, don't you? You totally get off on this, when I undermine you and "overstep my boundaries". You think it's-"

"We need to stop talking about this..." he demanded, pushing past her. Nepeta shrank away, hoping he didn't see her.

"Fine, we can talk later. Just like we always do! You're so ridiculous! Why do you avoid everything so much?" She was deliberately trying to make him mad, Nepeta could just see it. And it was working, wasn't it? His fists were balled and perspiration glistened on his forehead. As Aradia stalked past him, looking indignant, he fixed his eyes on the trees ahead of him and sighed shakily. Nepeta tried to get up and walk away quietly, but she felt Karkat stand next to her, mouth opened, and sank back down. She wasn't going anywhere with him there.

"Excuse me. I'm looking for the only asshole who has the gall to break up with the nicest moirail in the bubble. Have you seen him? He looks exactly like you. Oh, wait. It seems that he is you! What an amazing coincidence." He grabbed Equius' shirt. "Now listen here, shitface. I'm gonna give you something to think about, and if you even dare interrupt me to punch my brains out or something equally violent and douchey, I swear-"

He trailed off as Equius' eyes wandered away from him and towards Nepeta, who was twisting her hair frantically in her fingers. She looked up, giving a little wave. Then she ducked her head. Stupid, you're supposed to act cold and unforgiving!

Then Equius' eyes snapped back to Karkat as he jabbed a finger into his chest. "Listen here. You are a decaying pile of garbage. Nepeta is-"

He grabbed Nepeta's hand and yanked her up. She gasped involuntarily as he jerked the barely healed place where Gamzee has broken her wrist. At the noise, Karkat stopped talking and looked around at her, frowning. She saw Equius' eyes flicker towards her at the sound and shook her head violently as he opened his mouth to say something.

Karkat, dismissing the action, pulled them to face each other. Nepeta stumbled against Equius as Karkat started up his raving again.

"Look at me, you asslicking pile of vacuum fuzz. If you don't shape your shit up and start getting in touch with yourself and your moirail, we're gonna have some serious problems. And by serious, I mean me jumping off a cliff into a sea of sweaty incompetent musclebeasts and being trampled to death by a thousand socially awkward hooves. Watching you try to keep your quadrants together is like seeing an obscenely fat guy trying to pick up a coin off the ground and missing because his limbs are literally filled with slime and grubsauce. Go and tell her you're her palefriend before I upend you into a pit of wrigglers so you can converse with someone in your peer group. I'm not your auspistice, okay? Take care of your own damn problems."

Equius' fists clenched as Nepeta squirmed, trying to free her arm from Karkat's grasp. Vriska, leaning against the bark of one of the trees, rolled her eyes sympathetically at her. "Come on, Karkles. Give 'em a break."

"I will fucking not!" he shouted. Nepeta winced again as he pulled her closer to Equius, until they were almost touching. Then Karkat pulled his hand away from Equius sharply.

"Oh my god. Do you have to sweat on everything?" He wiped his palm on his shirt. His other hand tightened around Nepeta's wrist once more, and she exclaimed sharply and tried to wiggle out of his grip. Equius stiffened, eyes snapping towards him. Karkat scowled defensively. "What? What did I do now?"

"Karkat, please let go," she said, her voice higher in pitch than she had intended.

He glared at her. "Not until your asshat moirail apologizes to you one and for all."

"Stop it! You're hurting m-" She was cut off abruptly as Equius lunged towards him, taking a swipe at his arm. Karkat jerked back, avoiding the punch by a hair. "Woah! Okay, I get it. Calm y-" He ducked, and a fist passed over his head. Swinging wildly as he approached, Equius bared his teeth. "She asked you to stop." His voice shook, and Nepeta looked frantically back and forth between them, frozen to the spot. Vriska's eyes were wide as she watched the three, no longer looking relaxed and casual.

Karkat avoided each of Equius' enraged swings, backing up step by step towards the bushes. "Hey! Stop. Quit it. You're gonna hurt me." Nepeta watched as each sentence he stammered brought him closer to the edge of the glade. Then his heel found a trailing branch and he fell backwards onto his hands, letting out a surprised oof. Equius slowly approached, regarding him with disgust.

Come on. Stop him! Just move your legs. Lift your foot. Bend your knees. Anything! But she found herself unable to move a single muscle, not even capable of blinking.

Equius had Karkat by the collar of his sweater. He drew a furious fist back, and suddenly Nepeta found herself being propelled towards the pair by her finally unstuck legs. She ran towards them desperately, trying to call out to him but feeling her voice betray her just as her legs just had.

But it didn't matter. Just as he attacked as she had seen him do so many times with his robots, Karkat and Vriska both let out a gasp, as though they had been stabbed in the back. Seconds later they dissolved into mist, leaving the clearing quiet and free of clouds.