HER IMPERIAL SECRET
by savanaugh
A/N: Please enjoy chapter two! Feel free to review, and NOT shitpost review, please. *rolls eyes*
DISCLAIMER: Homestuck and all related characters and entities are property of Andrew Hussie.
CHAPTER TWO: DREAM BUBBLES
That evening, after Aradia's mother and Feferi's surrogate mother had dressed the nasty spider bite, Feferi went right to her tatami mat 'bed.' In her old home- well, it was more of a castle, really- she had had this gorgeous huge fluffy mattress with a comforter with cute cuttlefish designs. She now slept on the floor with a pillow and blanket, and didn't mind one bit. Sometimes it was even more comfortable than her old living situation, because she knew that she was in a place where others genuinely cared about her, and she had craved that.
She sighed and slipped out of her lime green sweater and long blue skirt, changing into some old red silken pajamas, and slid under the blanket. Within seconds, she was fast asleep.
A small girl with long, curly brown hair clutches a stuffed dolphin to her chest, walking down a large vacant hallway. A door is cracked open a bit at the end, and light is shining through the crack, and the girl tentatively peeks through it to the inside.
"No, Orphaner, you don't understand, you bumbling buffoon- I need the people to not only believe in the caste system, but adhere to it! It is the only way to keep us noble blooded ones on the top where we belong, you got it? ….I don't want any excuses. Kill the lowblooded parents so the children grow up broken and subservient. That way, they also don't know what life was like before- no one would be around to tell them. ….Of course, I will personally handle the low bloods of my own court. Goodnight, Dualscar."
Click.
An older woman of incomprehensible beauty ran a hand through her hair, which was similar to the spying young girl's. She sighed and clicked her tongue. "If you want something done well, you gotta do it yourself, apparently. Handmaid, go fetch your children to me."
"Yes, Highness."
The Handmaid? Feferi perked up. She loved Ms. Handmaid- she was so nice to Feferi, and Momma was so mean to her! But if Feferi spoke out-
"FEFERI! What the GLUB are you doing out of bed at this hour?"
'Oh no,' thought Feferi, quivering in fear. Momma was ANGRY!
"Come here, you little brat. I know you're there."
Defeatedly, little Feferi walked into the room, holding the stuffed animal to her chest tightly. She kept her eyes down as she shuffled towards the tall woman with her hands on her hips.
"Well? Any explanation as to why you think it's okay to spy on your mother?"
"I-" she spoke with a squeak, and cleared her throat. "I couldn't sleep… could you tell me a story?" she asked hopefully, looking up with big eyes.
"Yeah, shore. One time there was a little bratty princess who liked to bother her very busy mother at the ass crack of dawn. And then the little brat realized she was being shellfish and WENT THE GLUB BACK TO SLEEP. The end."
Tears welled up in Feferi's eyes. She probably should have expected that. She sniffed quietly and turned around to run back into her room.
The Handmaid watched with a frown.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
"MOMMA!" cried Feferi, gasping as she sat straight up on her tatami mat. She breathed heavily for a minute, disoriented. Then she sighed.
"Fef?" came a familiar quiet voice. She looked up. A mess of curly black hair and dark eyes with circles under them greeted her in the doorway. It was Aradia.
"Hey." she said, cheeks turning pink. "Did I wake you? I'm so sorry."
"No, no, it's okay. I couldn't sleep anyway." Aradia walked into the room and sat cross legged at the end of the mat. Feferi couldn't help but notice how thin she was, and her heart dropped a little. This was all her family's fault, that these nice people were starving.
"Do you want to talk about your dream?" asked Aradia.
"How did you know I had a dream?"
"You talked in your sleep." was the simple reply.
"Oh… whale- well, I mean, it was just a memory. Of the past, when I lived… there."
"Ah." Aradia nodded her head in understanding. "That's okay. You are here now, with us, and soon enough you'll be back there, but hopefully under different circumstances."
Feferi looked up. "You think so?"
Aradia smiled. "I know so."
"Thank you, Aradia." They hugged.
Feferi bit her lip and looked at her friend. "Do you think that it's safe for me to be going to school? I mean, there are so many opportunities for me to get caught having the blood color I have." This was something she had been meaning to ask Handmaid ever since the proposal to go to school whilst in hiding was placed in front of her. She was doubting her ability to keep it secret for much longer, especially with Vriska Serket on the loose.
Aradia appeared thoughtful for a moment. "That is a good question. But I'm sure if Mama hadn't thought it was a good idea, she wouldn't have decided on it with the other leaders of the Rebellion at all."
Again Feferi almost asked who exactly the other leaders were, but remembered she wasn't allowed to know.
"Knowledge is sought. If they seek you, and you have knowledge, they will do whatever it takes to get their hands on it." Handmaid had explained. Feferi nodded. "I understand."
"Alright… hey, do you know why Eridan Ampora is in our Hemospectrum Studies class? He is the snobbiest, most hemophobic person at the whole gosh darned school!" said Feferi.
Aradia snorted. "Hell if I know. Maybe he needs extra credits so he remains captain of the harpoon team? I heard he was failing swim class, which is ironic."
Feferi laughed loudly, then covered her hand with her mouth. "Oops! I hope I didn't wake anyone up!" she whispered. Aradia grinned.\
"Nah, mama and Damara sleep like mountains. It's hilarious."
"I wish I slept like a mountain," said Feferi wistfully. Her sleep was always perturbed with nightmares.
"It's best that one of us doesn't. You know, in case of an emergency."
That killed the amused mood in the air. The threat of culling always looming overhead was something everyone in the Megido house did their very best to ignore, but every now and then it managed to weasel its way into the forefront of their minds. Aradia realized this a second too late and shook her head.
"Now go back to sleep, okay? Have good dreams."
Feferi sighed. "I'll try. Goodnight."
"Night."