A/N: Sorry about the wait, but college just hit me with the first round of exams, so I've been studying a bunch lately. Not to mention all the homework... But it's the weekend, so I had some time! Hope you guys enjoy it. If you see anything wrong with the chapter, don't hesitate to tell me!

As always, I don't own anything, though I wouldn't mind having a Vriska...


"I have a bad feeling about this." I informed no one in particular, gazing around the small room Vriska, Nepeta, and I were standing in waiting for Equius to call us down to his "workshop".

"You worry too much." Vriska poked me in the ribs, a wide smile on her face. I looked over to glare at her. She only laughed, pushing her glasses up her nose, as they started to fall down. To cover her eye injury, Vriska had the left lens replaced with a dark shade that couldn't be seen through.

"Ok, you guys can come down!" A deep voice yelled from the open door to my left.

"Why exactly did he need to go down first?" I asked Nepeta while I descended the stairs.

"Oh, he likes to make sparring robots, but he keeps breaking them, so there were probably robot parts everywhere." Nepeta explained nonchalantly over her shoulder.

I turned to look at Vriska who was right behind me. "And you trust a man that constantly break things to make you a new arm?" I asked her, still not quite so sure about this idea.

"Hey, he had to make the robots, right?" She asked with a shrug.

"That's right!" Nepeta said with a grin, opening the door to the basement. Giving up, I followed the shorter girl into the room, immediately noticing the various machines, parts, and electronics strewn all over the counters and walls. Equius was standing by a table resembling an operating table checking various things he had laid out. Once he heard the door open he looked up, giving Nepeta a small smile before walking towards us.

"I'm assuming that you're Kanaya." He walked up to me, extending his hand forward. I took his hand to shake it, noticing that his palms were slightly clammy. Once he released my hand he turned to Vriska and extended his hand out, and she took it hesitantly. "And you're Vriska. Nice to meet you both."

"Likewise." Vriska threw him her trademark sarcastic smirk, placing her hand on her hip. "So, Nepeta says you think that you can make me a new arm."

"I'd like the opportunity to try." He told her, walking to the table and motioning for us to follow. Vriska and Nepeta quickly followed him, and I followed her after a second. "Would you mind sitting on the table?"

"Sure." She hopped up onto the table, and Equius moved to her left side, examining the wounded arm.

"Hmm."

"What does 'hmm' mean?" She asked, and I couldn't tell if she was annoyed or scared.

"Nothing, just looking. Now, this is going to sound creepy, but could you take your shirt off?" He wisely stepped back right before he asked the question so she couldn't smack him, but I surprised everyone in the room, even myself, by speaking up before her.

"Why?" My question came out very sharp, and he turned to look at me, a slightly scared look in his dark blue eyes. Unexpectedly Nepeta broke out laughing, causing us all to look at her questioningly.

"Sorry, this situation's just kind of funny when you look at it. I mean, Kan, you're at least four inches shorter than Equius, and he's obviously stronger than you, but you managed to scare him with one word." She tried to explain with a straight face, but only managed to get out her explanation before breaking out into another giggle fit.

"Right, anyway." Equius turned away from his hysterical friend, obviously used to her behavior, and addressed Vriska and me. "Your sleeves cover up what's left of your arm, and I need to measure it to make sure any prosthetic will be the proper proportions. I swear that's all." The last part was directed at me.

"Fair enough." Vriska pulled the tight black shirt she was wearing over her head and tossed it at me. "Hold on to that for me, 'kay Fussyfangs."

"You're insufferable." I pulled the shirt off my face, where her wonderful aim had landed it, and turned it right side in again.

"Could you please extend your arms straight out like this?" Equius demonstrated, raising his arms up so that they formed a straight line.

Vriska did as instructed, and he started measuring the length of her arm, the diameter of various portions, the length of individual sections, and multiple things on her hands. While he was doing that I started looking around the workshop. There were various robots in varying stages of development. I walked up to one that looked finished, examining the handiwork. I had to admit, it looked as if a professional made it. The robot looked like a human man, it even had a face, though its eyes were black. I assumed that they lit up when activated. A voice right behind me stopped me from touching the metal surface.

"I wouldn't." I spun around to see Nepeta with her arms crossed behind her back. "Seriously, I touched one once, and it chased me all around the room. Equius had to hit it multiple times to get it to stop. I felt really bad, 'cause I was the reason he had to break one of these things."

"Oh… Thanks, I guess." I took a step away from the robot, not in the mood to be attacked.

"No problem. Honestly, they kind of freak me out with their glowing eyes and everything. But for some reason Equius likes hanging out here all the time sparring with them."

"If you don't mind me asking, how'd you two become friends? I mean, you're nothing alike." I asked her, honestly curious how their odd friendship started.

"We really aren't, but I think that's why it works so well. I help him get out of the house, and he helps me 'tone it down' as he puts it. We just balance really well, it's hard to explain." She paused and scrunched up her face in thought. "Do you believe in soul mates?"

"I'll ignore how random that question, but yes. I do think that everyone has a person out there for them."

"It's not random actually." She smiled and poked me in the stomach.

"I really wish people would stop poking me. And why, may I ask, is it not random?" I swatted her hand away, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Well, I think that Equius and I are soul mates, kind of at least. We have no romantic interest in one another, but we just are kind of meant to be in each other's lives."

"So, like, a platonic soul mate?" I tried to wrap my head around what she was saying.

"Exactly!" She exclaimed, pleased that I got it.

"Are you two old women done gossiping over there?" Vriska called across the room. I looked over to see her standing on the ground once again, leaning back on the table. The position she was in provided no cover for her half bare upper body, and I couldn't help the blush that covered my cheeks. I quickly tossed the shirt back towards her. "God, you're such a prude." She muttered as she pulled the clothing over her head.

"Shut up!"

"Nice comeback. Seriously, I'm so wounded by your words." I could almost feel the sarcasm lacing her tone.

"So, what's the verdict?" I asked, changing the subject, because, let's face it, she was right.

"I'm going to begin construction of the arm today. I'm very excited by this project." Equius said with a real smile plastered on his face. "I should have it done in a week at the most."

"Equius, don't overwork yourself. I know how you get, but you need sleep just as mush as anyone else." Nepeta walked over to him and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about me Nepeta. I'll be fine." He shrugged her hand off, pulled his shoulder length brown hair into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, and went to grab some paper to plan out the mechanical appendage.

"Well, I guess we'll show ourselves out." Vriska commented, walking over to me.

"Uh huh, sounds good." He called with a wave, obviously not paying any attention. I quickly cut off Vriska as she was about to call something else out, and knowing her it would have been offensive or vulgar, and drug her to the stairs.

"Thank you very much Equius!" I called while climbing the stairs. We emerged in the living room, and I looked down the stairs questioningly when I realized Nepeta wasn't with us. After a couple minutes Vriska took the keys from me and went to the car, not wanting to stand in the living room any longer. A second after Vriska left Nepeta appeared, her brows slightly furrowed. "What's up?"

"I'm gonna stay here while he works. I was serious when I said that he'd overwork himself. He stayed up for four days straight once building something for a competition. One of the robots somehow got turned on and broke his nose and a bone in his arm. I just don't want him to hurt himself again." She explained.

"I understand. I know what it's like to worry unconditionally about someone you care about." I assured her.

"Vriska, right?" She asked with a sad smile.

"She's a handful. I shouldn't care, but I do, and I can't help it. The girl drives me crazy, but she's my best friend. I really can't explain it any other way." I fumbled for words trying to convey my message.

"Maybe she's your 'platonic soul mate' as you put it earlier." Nepeta said with a grin.

"Maybe…" I offered her a smile, but something told me that that couldn't be farther from the truth. I couldn't explain it, and I didn't quite know it yet, but I knew deep down that there was absolutely nothing platonic between Vriska and me.


An hour later Vriska and I were lounging around my apartment, watching crappy reality TV, and eating the leftover pizza from last night.

"This show is terrible." I deadpanned, watching as a drunken guy fell over while trying to dance and hit on a girl simultaneously.

"That's what makes it entertaining. You're not supposed to actually enjoy the show, you're supposed to laugh at it and thank your lucky stars that that's not you." I looked over at Vriska, who was currently sprawled across my couch, her feet in the air, her head on the cushions, and her hair hanging off the edge.

"Well, you're probably used to seeing people acting like this, working in a bar and all." I laughed.

"Uh, yeah." She quickly agreed, switching her glance to the TV once more, which I immediately found strange. "What about you? You said you start work next week, but I realized that I have no idea what you do."

"I work in a bookstore." I answered, the change in subject not going unnoticed, but I decided the drop it for now.

"Of course you do. Tell me about it."

"Well, it's a good job I guess. I do enjoy it, and my boss is really cool."

"What's he like? Is he hot?" She asked with a grin, sitting up and leaning towards me.

"I guess that she's pretty." I answered with a smirk.

"Well, there goes the only reason I'd work in a bookstore." Vriska visibly deflated. "Any hot guys work there at all?"

"I don't know. I don't really look, the whole problem with mixing personal and business and everything." I said, just now realizing that I really never noticed the guys that worked at the store.

"Come on! It's not a career, so that rule doesn't count. Tell me about the guys!" She demanded.

"Well, there's John. He works in the movie section. He's kind of geeky, but not terrible looking. Dave works in the music section, but he keeps to himself, so I don't know much about him. The others I work with are girls."

"Great, so a geek and an introvert." She mumbled.

"You are a very hard woman to please, you know that?" I grumbled, crossing my arms.

"Yes, yes I am. It's not a bad thing to have standards." She laughed at my disgruntled expression. "It's also not a bad thing to work somewhere with cute guys."

"Shut up and watch your reality trash."


Five days later we got the call from Nepeta. Equius had finished the arm, with breaks every now and then required by the bubbly girl, and wanted to know when we could come over. Vriska demanded that it was right then, and I couldn't fight the strong willed girl, so I told them that we'd be there as soon as we could.

A half an hour later we were walking out of my apartment, Vriska with a large grin plastered on her face. She was walking behind me, and I heard her say something, so I turned my face to look at her, but before I could say anything a door smacked into me. No, I did not run into the door, I swear, it ran into me.

"You ok Kan?" Vriska asked, pulling me back from the door.

"I think so. I didn't hit my face or anything." I rubbed my shoulder.

"Who the hell opened that door? There are windows all around the door. Are they blind or something?" She snapped.

"Actually, yes, they are." My head snapped forward to see the girl who had just spoken.

Oh hell… I thought to myself as I was faced with the sight of a medium height girl with shoulder length black hair wearing a red t-shirt and black jeans.

"Wait, what?" Vriska asked, not quite sure what was going on.

"I said I am blind. Why, are you deaf?" She smirked while staring right at Vriska.

"No." She answered automatically. Furrowing her brows, she took a step silently to the left, only for Terezi to follow her movement.

"Don't bother. I swear, it's like she can see without seeing." I grabbed Vriska's shoulder before she could move again.

"That's kind of freaky."

"Says the girl who had her arm literally blown off." Terezi crossed her arms over her chest.

"How did you know about that!?" Vriska exclaimed, and I had to hold her back from stepping at Terezi.

"Vriska, this is Terezi Pyrope, Nepeta's roommate." I explained, pulling her back to my side.

"Wait. Nepeta left a blind girl all alone for five days?" Vriska looked at me, then at Terezi.

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." Terezi grimaced slightly.

"It's true. I was over at their place one night and Terezi cooked dinner, set the table, and got us all drinks without any help. Like I said, seeing without seeing." I explained.

"That's actually really amazing." Vriska looked at the other girl with a new respect.

"I know I am." Terezi grinned.

"Look, as fun as this conversation is, we have to go meet Nepeta. We told her we'd be there as soon as we could." I told the blind girl, trying to walk around her. Before I could pass her she put her cane out, level with my chest, effectively stopping me.

"Wait. I actually came out here to ask you something."

"What's up?" I asked, taking a step back from the cane.

"Could I borrow some laundry detergent? We're out, and I can't really go to the store to buy some more." She seemed a little embarrassed asking, and I felt a little bad for trying to basically run from her earlier.

"Of course. Give me a second, I'll go get it." I turned and walked back to the apartment, noticing that Vriska didn't follow me. I quickly grabbed the detergent and hurried back to Terezi and Vriska, who were talking about something that was making Terezi laugh. "Here you go." I held out the bottle of detergent and Terezi grabbed it as if she could see it.

"Thanks Kanaya. I'll see you guys later." Before Terezi went into her apartment she took a step towards Vriska and inhaled deeply through her nose. Before the confused blonde could say anything Terezi stepped back into her apartment and closed the door.

"What the hell? Did she just sniff me?" Vriska asked me, freaking out a bit.

I started walking towards the stairs, eager to get away. "Actually, yes. She swears that people all have a unique scent, and that she can tell the difference. I told you she was a little weird, remember?"

"Yeah, but sniffing me? That's just creepy." She shuddered slightly.

"I know. She did it to me the first time we met, and I jumped a bit. She's kind of unnerving." I told the blonde while getting into the car.

"So, what's her story?" Vriska asked once she was buckled in.

I started the car and pulled out of the parking lot before answering. "She was born with 20/20 vision actually. But she had some sort of disease that slowly turned her blind."

"Her eyes look normal. I mean, I looked at my left one and it was all cloudy, I thought that's what happened when people went blind." Vriska observed, and I thought of Terezi's eyes. They were both a striking green-blue color that most people would probably think were contacts if they didn't know her. It was a beautiful color, halfway between Vriska's cobalt irises and my jade green ones.

"Not always. From what I know about eyes, and realize that that is almost nothing, cataracts, or deep scratches, can both make eyes cloudy. But with her, it's just like her eyes stopped working. Doctors were baffled, they couldn't figure it the cause, if it was psychological or physical."

"That's awful."

"I know. But she doesn't seem to mind it. She went completely blind when she was 10, and has supposedly coped fine ever since. Like I said, she can basically see using touch, sound, and strangely, scent.

"Also, she's also kind of brilliant. I had a history class with her, and she kept breaking the curve, which no one was happy about. She's majoring in criminal justice. She plans on going to law school afterwards." I told Vriska, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"That's cool. Also, her cane is kind of awesome."

"Huh?"

"The head of the cane is carved into a dragon's head. It's cool." She grinned, obviously pleased by that.

"Is that what it's supposed to be? I always kind of wondered." I laughed, realizing that I really had never really looked at the strange shape of the cane.

"You really aren't into fantasy, are you? Other than your crappy vampire love stories that is." She smirked at me.

"They're not crappy!" I huffed.

"Whatever." She laughed at me. She stayed quiet for the next few minutes, and at a red light I glanced over to see her with a pensive look on her face.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked, genially curious.

"Nothing. I just kind of realized how lucky I was to keep at least one eye, that's all." She said with a half-smile, shaking her head slightly.

"Lucky alright." I put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed before turning my attention back to driving.

"Come on down!" Nepeta's voice called out from the open door to the basement.

"You ready for this?" I asked Vriska, who looked a little nervous at the top of the stairs.

"Am I ready to get my arm back? Of course!" She shook herself and descended the stairs quickly. I followed her at a slightly slower pace, still unsettled by the workshop. Once in the room, Vriska made her way over to the table and quickly sat herself up on the surface.

"Someone's eager." Equius chuckled quietly at his patient's actions.

"Whatever. So, how's this gonna work?" Vriska asked him.

Equius grabbed the metal appendage from the table next to him and held it up. He then proceeded to point at various places and explaining different things in technical jargon.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I have no idea what you're saying." Vriska threw him a sheepish smile.

"Oh, sorry. Sometimes I forget that other people don't understand all the technical terms. I'll try and make this simple. In the elbow there's a hinge to simulate the hinge joint of an actual arm. You still have your shoulder and some of your arm after it, so I didn't have to worry about the ball-and-socket joint of an actual shoulder, which is really complicated. The hand has all the motion of a natural hand, along with the fingers.

"The portion where it will attach has sensors that can read the nerve signals that your body naturally produces, but that means that the sensors need to be in your arm, not just attached. I couldn't think of any other way to get the arm to move naturally. That means that you wont be able to remove the arm. Is that ok?"

"Is that why there are freaky looking needles on the end of the arm?" Vriska asked, eyeing the metal spikes.

"Yes, that's what will pick up on the signals."

"If I may, how do you know this will work?" I asked the tall boy.

"Electrical impulses are electrical impulses, whether in the human body or in a machine. I double majored in neurobiology and electrical engineering, with a concentration in robotics. So I do know a thing or two about this." He explained to me, in no way snarky or angry, simply informational.

"Ok. That's all I needed to know." I assured him, now feeling a little better knowing he did actually know what he was doing.

"Now, installing the arm will hurt, there's no way around that." He told Vriska apologetically.

"Just get it over with as quickly as you can, 'kay?" She grimaced at the thought of pain, and I could see her knuckles turn white as she gripped the table. I walked over to her and pried her hand off the table to take it in both of mine.

"Don't break my hand, alright?" I joked with her, giving her hand a small squeeze.

"It will be easier for me if you lie down." Equius went to her other side and placed a hand on her shoulder. She leaned herself back and closed her eyes, gipping my hand firmly. Nepeta walked over to Vriska's prone form and placed her hands on Vriska's shoulders to hold her down. Equius lined the arm up, and with a quick thrust, dug the needle-sensors into Vriska's skin. She let out a wail of pain, gripping my hand way to tight for comfort.

"It's ok, it's gonna be ok." I repeated to her over and over like a mantra, ripping one of my hands free to stroke her hair.

"One last thing, and then it's over." Equius told me. I nodded and continued to try and soothe Vriska, who was keeping her eyes tightly closed. Equius pushed the arm up slightly, and then twisted the very top of the arm, causing Vriska to flinch and whimper in pain.

"What did that do?" I asked, not sure as to why he needed to do that.

"It released a final sensor into her bone. It was a fairly large spike, so it definitely hurt a bit."

"No shit." Vriska groaned. I looked down at her to see that her eyes were watering profusely, and sweat had formed all over her face, soaking the edge of her hair. "So why isn't it moving?"

"It's not turned on. I knew that if it was turned on when I attached it that your reflexes would cause it to jerk up and probably smack me." He told her, keeping a hand on her shoulder to keep her from sitting up. With his other hand her opened up a panel on the back of her hand, pressed a button, and flipped a switch. "Try it now."

Vriska sat up slowly, and with a determined expression on her face, moved the arm up to eye level. Grinning she extended it out in front of her, then to the side. Releasing the death grip on my hand she ran her fingers over the smooth metal surface.

"It's warm!" She exclaimed, looking up at Equius.

"Yes. I figured a frigid metal arm would be uncomfortable, so I added a thermal regulating system that will heat the arm up to body temperature.

"That was a really good idea." I said, eyeing the new arm curiously. Noticing my stare Vriska thrust the arm out in front of me with a grin.

"Go on, touch it. You know you want to." She even wiggled her fingers for emphasis. Laughing at her statement I ran my hand over the surface of the arm. It really was warm, just like a normal arm would be. Turning to Equius, Vriska gave him a huge smile, no trace of attitude. "Thank you so much. I owe you, like, a lot."

"I was just proud to see that I could actually build it. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to call." Vriska nodded and got off the table to shake his hand. Nepeta then started examining the arm and asking Vriska a bunch of questions that I tuned out.

"Really, thank you for this." I said to Equius who also seemed to tune out his friend.

"I'm glad I could help. Nepeta really respects you, so I'm glad I could do something for you, even if it was through another person. She's really lucky to have you. I can see how much you care about her." He went over to grab a towel and wipe his hands off.

"And Nepeta's really lucky to have you."

"I don't know, sometimes I feel like I get more out of the friendship than she does. I mean, she helps me a lot with social stuff, and I'm not sure what I give her." He explained to me, a little downcast.

"She gets a very loyal best friend who's willing to help out two complete strangers just because she asks." I reassured him.

"I guess." He blushed slightly, but seemed a little happier. We walked over to the two girls together, interrupting Nepeta who was basically petting the arm.

"You guys ready?" I asked them.

"Yep!" Nepeta straightened up and nodded, and we started walking up the stairs.

"Thanks again!" Vriska called down the stairs.

"One last thing!" Equius stuck his head out of the door. "That arm's going to be stronger than your other one. Just take it slow, and try not to break anything."

"Got it!" Vriska answered him, still grinning like a child on Christmas morning.