Chapter 12: Wearing A Lot of Purple

Aradia couldn't help but feel happy as she came home, but it was a sick kind of happiness. She was happy that she potentially had a shot at being with Sollux again, but she couldn't help but be mad at herself for that same happiness, because it was at Feferi's expense. But Sollux hadn't seemed too torn up about it, and if it was from his end, Feferi was a very understanding person. Aradia supposed it was most likely a mutual break-off, but she hadn't heard from Feferi outside of school in quite some time. She resolved to message her once she got home.
But that cheerful attitude was short lived, once Aradia got back home. She came in through the front door, hoping she could sneak into her room unnoticed enough, but that plan was a bust the minute the door opened. Daniel was sitting inside, waiting for her.
"Eh- hi… Dad…" Aradia said as she came inside.
"And just where have you been, young lady?"
"With Sollux."
"Doing what, exactly?"
"Please, Dad. Ladies never kiss and tell," Aradia said, a thin smirk growing across her face. She was being reckless and she knew it, but it was fun to see how worked up she could get her dad.
"If any boy lays a hand on you, I'll cut their fingers off one by one," Daniel hissed. "I ain't appreciative of your behavior lately. Suspension, fist fights, sneaking around with some boy."
Aradia's smile vanished, replaced by a livid frown. Her face flamed up, both with embarrassment and with anger. "Sollux isn't just some boy, he's one of my best friends. I've known him for… forever, and you know that, and you still don't trust him?! God, Dad, sometimes you just- just make me want to scream!"
"Listen, I know what boys are like, 'cause I was the same way. All after one thing."
"Just because you were an ass in high school doesn't mean everyone is. Sollux cares about me. And I find it the slightest bit ironic you're mad at me for picking a fight when you're the one who was in a literal gang in college. Isn't that how you met Spencer, and Clyde and Harold?!"
Daniel's anger dissipated for a moment. "Yeah… you're right, hon. We did some fucked up stuff, and I don' want to see you heading down that same path. Guess I always thought you was more like your mother than your old man. You don't want to be like me. Took me too long to get my act together."
"Well, maybe I am like you, Dad… maybe I was tired of being quiet and calm and suppressing all my emotions, and maybe I'm tired of being compared to Mom. I look like her, I act like her… I'm not her."
"You're right, you ain't your mom…"
"Mom is gone. And she's never coming back…" Aradia muttered, a swell of sadness in her heart. "And if you must know, Sollux didn't touch me. He had a therapy appointment, and wanted me to come with him. Kinda helped, actually…" She stalked off to her room, but she knew the discussion about her behavior wasn't over. Something big was coming. She could feel it.

It came very quickly. Aradia couldn't help but hear everything in her small house, listening as Daniel rose from the chair and came into the bedroom right next to Aradia's. There was a creak from the springs as he sat on the bed, and then a woman's voice came. Hana's.
"Is she okay?" she asked, voice thick with concern. It was almost touching how invested Hana was in Aradia's well-being. Almost.
"She's fine. Went to therapy with Captors' kid. I don't know what to do with her. I'm… afraid, Hana, for my daughter's well-being."
"Therapy?"
"Not for her, but, she said it helped. I don't want to send her to some head-shrink, though, and expect that to solve all our problems."
"No, I do not trust therapists. Scratch could be lurking anywhere in this city. He has been looking for me."
"Hana… I need to ask. You've never been clear with what this Scratch fellow did to you that was so awful. I understand you not being ready to talk about it, but I feel I have a right to know."
Hana gave a deep sigh. "Doctor Scratch was my only parental figure. I was abandoned on his doorstep at a very young age. As an infant. And he took me in; raised me as his daughter. And when I was young, he was kind, and I was grateful. I owed him everything. But as I got older; 10, 11 years old, he began to treat me differently. He never let me forget that I owed him everything. I became his housekeeper, scrubbing the floor and doing the laundry and cooking every meal, and when I messed up he would lock me in my room for days at a time; wouldn't give me dinner some nights. When I was 13 he started homeschooling me to keep me away from the other kids; to keep me quiet. He liked having a close watch over me, and things only continued to get worse… he called me so many horrible things, threatened to throw me back out on the street, reminded me he was the only reason I was even alive. He was never physically abusive, but he had this way of talking, that just made me hate myself. He always turned it around on me, twisted my emotions. Terrible man, really. When I turned 16, he insisted that I get my first job, and that it be as the secretary to his psychiatric office. I was under his thumb, every waking moment of my life for two years. I wanted to die, and I tried to a couple times. Every time, though, I pulled through, and there was his face, putting on a sick, worried act. He would say he was sorry, he didn't know what he'd do if he lost me, his precious little handmaid. Despicable lies. Not for my sake, but for the doctors and nurses. The man was scarily manipulative. He had this way that made anyone else around him feel guilty for things they shouldn't feel guilty for, and never once admitted he was at fault. It was almost as if he just knew… everything. I was always afraid for his patients. A man like that should not be a psychological practitioner, therapist or no. But I decided to leave on my 18th birthday. And that's what I did- scraped together every penny I had, gathered my things and left in the middle of the night. I lived out of a motel for a little while, looking for a place to live in the meantime. I found an apartment and a new job and I worked hard to pay rent. Found a guy, had Damara… then that bastard left… and things got hard again. I had to downsize to an even smaller place. I started looking for a job that would pay more, and who should step back into my life after 10 years of leaving me alone? None other than Scratch himself, of course. He called one night out of the blue, leaving no time for me to speak, let alone ask how he'd tracked me down, and he offered me a position in his new offices, overseas in America. I had to go back to working for him. I knew that it was my best chance to get away; have a better future for Damara. So I came here under the pretense that I was still working for him, and abruptly ran again, finding a place for me and my daughter. But I know Scratch is never far behind me. I know he's been in this area. I don't think it wise to send Aradia back to therapy. I don't even want to think of what might happen if Scratch finds her. That pale, hollow face… those impossibly bright green eyes… I can still feel him watching sometimes…"
Hana's cheeks were tear-stained, her eyes watering as she recounted her childhood to Daniel. Aradia stepped away from the wall she'd been pressing her ear against, and for the first time, felt a knot of sympathy in her heart for her stepmom. She was starting to understand why her own life had been turned on its head so abruptly. Hana never had a happy life before Daniel. So of course they married quickly. Of course things were different.
Aradia heard her father stand up off the bed as Hana composed herself.
"Christ," he murmured. "I need a drink after that."
"There's wine in the fridge," Hana answered, "but I didn't buy any liquor at the store today, sorry."
"Wine? Eh. Fuck it. Let's just go to the bar."
"Your bar. That's packed right now."
"I'm pretty sure they can get the owner and his wife a drink."
And the two were off to The Midnight Brew. Aradia flopped onto her bed and closed her eyes, thinking one thing and one thing only. Shit.

apocalypseArisen [AA] began pestering cuttlefishCuller [CC]

AA: hey feferi
CC: Oh! Hey Aradia!
AA: sollux told me about
AA: your guyses breakup
AA: so i just wanted to see how you were doing
CC: Oh, right. That.
CC: Well, I'm not really that worked up about it, to be honest.
CC: It was a mutual break.
CC: I have had, uh, a lot of drama and just… been busy. And he has been quite emotional about his own problems lately, and at the end of the day we just didn't click together in that way.
AA: really…
CC: Yeah, sometimes I found it hard to tell if we were even dating.
CC: I think he just needed someone to talk to.
AA: yeah, i can understand that
CC: I heard you and Equius broke up too.
CC: How're you feeling?
AA: actually, really good
AA: equius and i never really got along that well
CC: Well, I'm sorry to hear that.
CC: Listen, Aradia, I'd love to talk more, but I really have to go.
CC: See you at school!

cuttlefishCuller [CC] has ceased pestering apocalypseArisen [AA]

With that aside, Aradia was ready to go back to school. Or, so she thought. The minute she came into the main room, she knew something was up. She could tell from the look on her father's face, and Hana's too, that there was something they were about to say.
"What is it," she asked outright, before either of them had said so much as 'good morning'.
"What?" Hana asked, a bit surprised.
"There's some life-changing thing you want to tell me this morning."
"Oh, we just got you a new outfit for school!" Hana answered through a big fake smile. "Come on, it's over here." She dragged Aradia to the small closet hiding in the main room and whisked the door open, grabbing a hanger and showing Aradia. On the hanger was a white collared shirt that was paired with a black tie, a black pleated skirt, and a deep purple blazer. On the left breast of the blazer was intricate embroidery in blues and blacks and a small amount of gold, a capital "D" in a school crest. Aradia furrowed her brow.
"This isn't a new outfit, it's a uniform…" she said, resignation weighing her down. She felt it coming.
"We thought it'd be a good idea to send you to a new school," Daniel said. "At least for the rest of this year. We can see how it goes."
"Derse Academy for Troubled Teens, right?"