TRIGGER WARNING: language, minor violence, sober Gamzee, mention of rape, Troll blood color theory (because Jegus knows this is going to trigger someone), mentions of slavery

~On LOCAH~

~Dirk's POV~

"Are you going to tell me what happened now?" I finally get to ask Jane. As much as Arquius creeps me out, it is a bit heartwarming to see how he, Fefeta, and Erisol are curled up off to the side. They're catching up and laughing every now and then. I look over just in time to see Fefeta crawl into Arquius' lap and curl up like a huge cat. Arquius smiles down at her, looking happier than I've ever seen him. "What's their story?"

She looks up from the cake she had been decorating for the last few hours, according to Roxy. "What?"

I nod to the sprites with a lopsided smirk, "What's the story there?"

"Oh," she perks up a bit, "I don't really understand it, but half of Fefeta is half of Arquius' moirail. It's like a best friend only closer, I guess. It's a troll thing. The other half of Fefeta is half of Erisol's moirail. The other half of Erisol is half of Arquius' brother. They have another brother, too. Oh, what was his name?" She taps her chin contemplatively. After a moment of not knowing the name, she turns to the now pile of sprites and asks, "Erisol, Arquius, what's your brother's name again?"

Arquius looks confused before Erisol says, "Karkat. And Arquius was created from a part of Equius from a point before Signless adopted him."

I stare at him in complete confusion. Before I can ask him to clarify, I get the strongest sense of NO I've ever felt. I don't know what's off, but something doesn't feel right. I look around doing a quick head count. Jane's standing beside me. Roxy and Jake are over by the grill arguing about the best way to grill a burger. The sprites are in their cuddle pile off to the side.

"Hal," I breath.

"What?" Jane inquires.

"Where's Hal?" I'm starting to panic a bit when I can't find him. Unlike the rest of us, he can't fly. Jane's house is on a hot air balloon. If he wanders off and falls, he'll fall. I don't even want to think about what might happen if he hits the ground at this height. He could break or get damaged. "Hal?" I call.

There's no response. I go into the house and check every room, calling his name as I go. No response. Running outside, I call his name again. Soon enough, everyone else joins in. Even the sprites are looking for him.

"Found him," Roxy calls from the roof on the other side of the house, near the chimney. "The clown's got him," she continues as Arquius, Jake, and I reach her. Sure enough, the clown is sitting by the chimney with Hal sound asleep in his lap.

~Arquius' POV~

Gamzee?

Gamzee's HERE?!

I feel fear close its cold grip around my heart as the memories flash across my mind. I can't move. I want to help, but I can't move! His eyes are glowing purple, just like that night. I manage to look to my left and see Dirk. He looks so scared, but not for himself. He's afraid for Hal, for his android child. I want to help him.

I look back to Gamzee as he stands. He throws Hal across the roof at us and Dirk rushes to catch him. I'm still frozen in place as Gamzee jumps off the roof.

How can he be here? This isn't even our timeline. HOW IS HE HERE?!

I can't escape him.

I'm torn from my thoughts when Dirk shoves me hard. "What the hell?! Why didn't you go after him?" he snaps.

I'm shaking at this point and can feel tears start to flow down my cheeks. "I-I," I try to apologize.

"You could've caught him!" he shouts again. This time his shove is hard enough that I fall over and hit the rough shingles, scraping the arm I land on bad enough to bleed. I try to get up but am halted by a katana pressed to my throat. "He had Hal. Why didn't you go after him? You're a sprite for fuck's sake! You had a solid chance to CATCH HIM!"

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. Dirk's angry with me, but I just don't know how to tell him that I was too scared to move.

I'm once again pulled from my thoughts, this time by two gentle sets of arms wrapped protectively around me.

"You have no Idea what Gamzee put him through," Erisol snaps. He lets go of me and moves to put himself between me and Dirk. "You can't expect him to go after that psycho!"

"And why the hell not?!"

Fefeta holds me protectively closer as she hisses, "Are you reely suggesting that he should've chased the bastard that raped him just because you say so?"

Dirk's eyes go wide as he lets her words sink in. Now he's at a loss for words. I turn and hide my face in Fefeta's shoulder as she runs her fingers through my hair. I can't look at him. I didn't want him to know that. I didn't want him to know about my past. I didn't want him to think I was weak.

"I-I'm sorry," I mumble.

"No. Don't apologize," Dirk orders. "You don't get to be sorry for something you had no control over. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I glance over to him, confused, and find him on his knees beside me. "You're my sprite. I should've known. I had no right to get mad at you like I did. I had no right to attack you. I'm sorry." I once again don't know what to say, so I just move to cling to him. He doesn't push me away or tell me to get off. He just holds me and says, "How about, the next time that psycho clown shows up, you stay behind me. Okay?" I look up at him, confused. "I'll protect you from him, okay?"

~On the Meteor~

~Signless' POV~

I'm starting to get more and more nervous the closer we get to the dream bubble. Equius was right, I'm not a fighter. I hate violence. I only learned to defend myself because Dolorosa insisted when I was little. Karkat's off somewhere messaging one of the Humans. Equius went to his respiteblock. Sollux had taken Psiioniic on the rest of the tour. I have no idea where Dolorosa and Disciple are.

"That is a really bad habit, you know," a feminine voice calls from beside me. Rose giggles at the surprised look on my face as she pulls a chair over. "Nail biting is a sign of anxiety, but it is also classified as self-destructive behavior. Is there anything you would like to talk about?" I hadn't even realized I was biting my nails until she pointed it out.

"I-I'm okay," I say, a little hesitant to discuss my issues with anyone, let alone a girl I only met a few days ago. In an attempt to change the subject, I say, "I've been told I have you to thank for my sutures being purple. I don't mean to be rude, but why? Of all the colors, why purple?"

"Purple is my favorite color," she informs, sitting up a little taller. "Also, on my planet, colors have meanings. And before you, like Kanaya, inform me that color had meaning on Alternia as well, let me clarify. Color was not always used to signify a social or political hierarchy. On Earth, color had a different meaning and often times more than one meaning. Purple is a color of power, wisdom, and dignity, just to name a few. Red is the color of blood and fire and is often associated with strength, passion, and determination."

"Not all blood is red," I inform.

She smiles as she summons a sewing needle to her hand. She pricks her finger and holds it up to show me the small bead of red blood that has oozed from the small wound. "All Humans bleed red. The shade, though, can be different. If blood is oxygenated, it will be bright red, like yours is all the time. If it's not oxygenated, it will be dark red, like Aradia's." She wipes the blood from her finger off on the skirt of her dress. "I actually have a theory as to why Trolls have different blood colors and it has nothing to do with a hierarchy. Kanaya and I have even found some evidence that my hypothesis may be valid." She takes a deep breath before pulling up a chart on the computer I've been sitting in front of. "This is a periodic table, a chart of elements." She presses a few keys and some of the elements brighten while the others fade a bit. "These are the elements that can be found in blood. In Humans, the elements are mainly iron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen. In Trolls, the iron is combinable and interchangeable with other metals or minerals that oxidize to be different colors. For example, any of the blue hues. Their blood contains varying levels of silver. The green hues have varying levels of copper."

"That's a very interesting concept," I say. "What about yellow?"

"Yellow was a bit tricky to figure out until Sollux finally let us test his blood. You see, yellow blood is unusual in that it has two metals. The first is iron, like the red hues. The second, though, is gold, which, alongside a fairly supernatural explanation, would account for their psionic abilities due to gold's highly conductive property." I look at her in confusion. "Psionics is a combination of telekinesis and electrical manipulation. It's quite impressive, actually."

"Impressive and dangerous," Psii states as he makes his way over to us. He quickly kisses me before pulling a chair over for himself. "It's also the reason yellow bloods make up almost ninety percent of the enslaved population. That would be almost one hundred percent of us. We're basically living batteries."

"Being used as a living battery does not make you a living battery," Rose states. "You have a gift that most on my planet would give their first born to have, metaphorically speaking." She looks a bit like a child being forced to apologize for something as she clarifies, "I have been informed a few times that my use of Human metaphors can be quite confusing and concerning to the majority of this meteor's population. To my knowledge, nobody has traded their first born for anything in a few centuries. The term actually stems from-"

"Nobody wants a fucking history lesson, Lalonde," Karkat snaps from the platform in the middle of the room. "We're entering the dream bubble. If you don't want your physical body to get hurt, I suggest you go to sleep now. If you don't show up on the meteor, we'll find you. We usually show up on the meteor when we're actually passing through these things though. Unless you have a bad memory from on the meteor, you shouldn't worry too much."

"I should go find Equius," I say slowly, worry seeping into my tone as I rise from my chair. His day terrors take place on this meteor, from what he's told me.

"He's fine," Karkat states.

He's about to say something else when I interrupt, "No, he's not. You just said that we shouldn't worry if we don't have bad memories on the meteor. What about Equius? The most traumatic event in his life occurred in a lab down the hall. I've seen him hesitate to just walk past the door. He shouldn't be alone if there's even a chance he could relive the experience that almost killed him." I'm not even trying to hide the small amount of panic replacing the worry in my voice.

"Are you going to let me fucking explain?" he snaps. "Or are you going to keep freaking out? Because if you think I'm going to stand here and listen to you freak the hell out about something we already have covered you have another fucking thing coming. I'm not going to fight with you about this." I motion for him to continue. "I know what happened to him and what could happen if he were to have to relive that again. That's why Terezi's with him. She's our Seer of Mind. That means she can guide him away from his memory and straight into the dream bubble. Believe it or not, I get it. You're worried about him. Well, guess what. So am I! That's why precautions are in place."

"I'd still rather be with him in case something happens."

~Equius' POV~

I glance over to the clock on the wall again as Terezi continues to explain some plan Karkat came up with. Honestly, I don't care. I'm terrified to go to sleep in a dream bubble. Feferi explained to me that there's a risk of me waking up in the dream bubble and reliving what Gamzee did to me. She said that it would be like actually reliving it since we're passing through the bubble, instead of just dreaming it like I've been doing for the last ten and a half months.

"Are you even listening to me?" Terezi snaps, pulling my attention back to her. I must look, or smell, as scared as I feel, because her anger at being ignored melts to sympathy. "I'll do my best to get you to the dream bubble, but you have to meet me halfway." She sits in front of me on my bed. "You've got to listen to me, Equius. If you tune me out, I can't help you." I bite my lip and look down to my hoofbeast plush in my lap.

"I'm scared," I confess, tears in my eyes. There's no point in hiding my emotions from someone who can read my mind. "I'd rather risk actually getting hurt, than go to sleep in a dream bubble."

A knock pulls my attention to the door as Signless steps into my room. I don't even hesitate to jump up and run into his arms. "Hey, Equius, what's wrong?"

"I don't want to do this," I mumble as tears start to flow freely down my cheeks. "I don't want to risk going through that again."

"You only risk that if you don't listen to me," Terezi snaps, causing me to flinch at the sudden shouting.

"How about we not shout," Signless calmly, yet sternly, orders. "Okay?" Terezi sneers but agrees as Signless guides me back to my bed. He tucks a lock of hair behind my ear before saying, "You know that I would love nothing more than for you to never go through that again. But I also don't want you to get hurt. Karkat told me the plan and that Terezi can help."

"That's what I've been trying to tell him," Terezi cuts in, "but he's too wrapped up in fear to listen." She kneels in front of me and takes my hand. "If you get caught up in the memory, I can't pull you out. You'll be on your own. Your mind is nothing but fear right now and you will get stuck if that doesn't change before you go to sleep." Her hands move up for her fingers to lightly press against my temples. "You need to remember that it's not real. Tavros is keeping Gamzee distracted on the other side of the meteor until everyone's in, so no version of him you see during your entry memory is real."

"But-"

"No 'buts'. Just go to sleep," she shouts again, causing me to flinch again.

"What did I say about shouting?" Signless inquires authoritatively. He holds up a hand, halting her argument. "Please don't argue with me. Believe me, you won't win." He turns his attention to me before continuing. "Equius, you have to go to sleep. I know you don't want to, but you have to. If you want, I'll stay right here with you the whole time."

"Promise?" I ask.

He presses his forehead to mine and replies, "I promise. I'll be right here beside you."

"I'm still scared," I mumble, looking away from Signless.

"That's okay."

"No it's not," Terezi comments from where she's sitting on my desk. Signless glares warningly at her, most likely taking full advantage of her telepathic abilities to reprimand her negative attitude. She huffs before going back to tying knots in a length of rope she keeps in her sylladex. Knot tying is one of the ways she calms herself. Most people find it disturbing, especially after they see how fast she can tie a noose.

"I'm starting to think you're part of the reason he's so scared and not just past experience," he says, earning an evil looking smirk from our resident Libra. Shaking his head, Signless turns his attention back to me. "Lay down," he instructs, all annoyance at Terezi's antics gone from his tone. He pulls the blanket up over me as I do as I'm told. I turn over onto my side when he lays down beside me and curl up against him. A sense of calm washes over me as he hums a lullaby and runs his fingers through my hair. I'm so calm in my guardian's arms that I'm finally able to close my eyes.

When I open my eyes, Signless is gone and I'm in the lab where Gamzee raped me almost a year ago.