The air vents first led to a long passageway. At the end of that was another grate. Nepeta looked through it. On the floor of the room before her were several decapitated scalemates. Written on the wall in rust-colored blood was the word honk. Nepeta blinked, beginning to heed Equius warnings.
She continued left, all the while thinking of Gamzee. Caring, sweet, thoughtful, generous, loving Gamzee. He could never be "murderous," as Equius had described him. Could he? Another grate was built into the right of the passage up ahead. Peeking through, Nepeta saw the same color of blood painted on the walls, except this time, the message read are you next? Her blood ran cold.
Moving on, the passage turned left and dead-ended in a grate. She knew Equius wouldn't like her leaving the vents, but she needed to know what was going on. There was a small room with two transportalizer pads, with jade blood in footprints between them. One was broken. The other didn't work anyway. So Nepeta entered another grate at the far end of the room. This passage just went forward, stretching out seemingly forever in the darkness.
Nepeta crawled along the vent. Usually it was calming to be in the air vents. It was her place. Somewhere no one else went. But somehow, now it felt wrong. After a while, she could see a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. She spied another grate, again manufacturing a dead end.
Peering through the metal bars, Nepeta saw Equius and Gamzee, standing face to face on the roof. Oh good, Equius found him, Nepeta thought. Gamzee looked normal enough. Except why was he holding one of Equius bows?
Nepeta's face turned into a mask of horror as Gamzee pulled back the bow and shot Equius through the leg. Blue blood splattered onto the roof as Equius fell onto one knee, as if kneeling before the clown. Nepeta could see the beads of sweat running down her moirails face, but she was frozen in place, unable to so much as blink or breathe. It couldn't be happening. She was absolutely incapable of processing this deadly turn of events.
She watched in terror as Gamzee snapped Equius' bow right in half and bent over him, fangs bared. Honks echoed through the air. Gamzee held fast onto the severed limbs of the bow and looped the string around Equius' neck. He lurched back suddenly, tightening the pull of the strings, as Equius' face slowly turned a sickly shade of blue, and he fell back on the grey concrete.
Gamzee threw the bow down in disgust and wiped his hands on his polka-dot pants. He moved as if possessed. Nepeta snapped into reality, eyes wide, and realized this dream she was having was real. She had to act on it. Her moirail was dead on the floor.
Her moirail was dead on the floor.
Equius was dead on the floor.
EQUIUS… WAS DEAD.