You return to your moirail's door after hours of searching. You haven't seen Nepeta for a couple of hours and it is making you very worried. You still haven't forgiven yourself for failing to protect her. You don't know what you would do if you let her get hurt again.
You knock on her door as fruitlessly as you expected.
You open the door as you did hours ago when you began your search. The room is as empty as you knew it would be.
"Nepeta where have you gone?" You say to yourself.
You hear a sudden clattering noise and a gasp from the wall. You blink in surprise and walk over to the vent on the wall. Only now do you realize that the vent cover was replaced sloppily. You pull off the vent cover and squint your eyes in the dark.
"Nepeta?" You call out softly.
You hear a whimper and think you can see a vague silhouette in the darkness.
"Nepeta what is wrong? Why are you hiding?"
She sniffles but does not answer you.
"Please come out." You say, "You had me so worried. I could not find you."
Slowly, the silhouette uncurls and begins to crawl towards you. She squints when the rays of light begin to fall on her face. Her eyes are raw and green and her face is streaked with dirt and tears. You hold out your arms and let her crawl into them, careful not to wrap your arms around her. She clings to you, her claws digging into your shirt.
You take her over to the soft rug in the middle of her room and sit down. She curls up against you in your lap. You sit there for several minutes as she regains her composure. Normally, you would be sweating quite a lot by now, but you are too concerned about your moirail to get flustered.
"Equius?" She says meekly.
"Yes?" You say, wishing you could pap her like a good moirail.
"Do you need me?"
You look at her in bewilderment, taken aback by the question.
"Of course I need you Nepeta. Where would you ever get the idea that I do not?"
She looks up with you, grabbing the neck of your shirt with her claws.
"You're always there for me Equis. You are there to protect me and help me whenever I need it. What have I ever done to help you?"
Her eyes are as wide as saucers, saucers of thick creamy milk.
Gosh darn it! Why are you thinking about milk at a time like this? Your moirail needs you!
"You have done plenty to help me. Who is always there with a towel when I need one?"
Her lip quivers. That was probably not the best thing you could have said.
"Anyone can do that! Why should I be your meowrail when you are the only one helping me? What use am I? What use am I to anyone?"
She looks away from you in what you can only assume is shame. You take her head in your hands and turn it towards you, probably a little too forcefully, for she winces. You would apologize but you have the feeling now is not the time.
"Nepeta do not say such awful things. You are the best moirail I could ever wish for. If you were not there, I do not know what I would do. Highbloods are dangerous. If you were not there to pacify me, I believe I would have done something terrible a long time ago. Remember what happened when the purple blood's moirail slacked off."
Her eyes water slightly at this. Oh fiddlesticks. What did you say wrong?
She suddenly lurches foreword, grabbing two fistfuls of your shirt and burying her face in your chest.
You can barely hear her through the sobs and material of your shirt, but you are only just able to make out her words.
"Thank you Equius." She says.
You smile slightly and pap her back as gently as you can. You see her cringe a little so you promptly stop. Once her crying slows, you tilt her chin up so that she is looking at you.
"Now tell me what happened. I have not seen you cry since your lucsus passed away."
You cringe internally. Bringing up painful memories is probably the exact opposite of what you should be doing right now. Nepeta, however, does not seem to notice or care. She sighs.
"It's Karkat." She says.
Your expression hardens.
"What did that low-blooded scum do to you?" You ask through clenched teeth. Your moirail looks worried.
"He just… said some things that made me realize that…" She trails off. "You know what, it really wasn't a big deal. We should just forget about—"
"Nepeta." You say firmly. "What did he say?"
She looks down, picking at her nails.
"He said he didn't need me." She says, barely above a whisper.
You grit your teeth together. How dare that mutant-blooded cretin say such things to your moirail?
How dare he make her cry?
You gently push Nepeta off of your lap and stand. She looks at you in confusion.
"Equius, what are you doing?" She asks.
You are already at the door. You open it and speak without turning around.
"I go to seek the lowblood."
Dirk, check on Roxy.
I got a review on my last chapter saying that my Aradia and Sollux were very out of character. I wanted to apologize. :) I'm not very good at writing Aradia and Sollux. I was trying to make Aradia not care about what was going on because she has the tendency to kind of just let things happen, but I guess I didn't do a very good job in conveying that. Sorry! Also Sollux is difficult to write because his actual character is quite a lot different from what a lot of fan versions of him are. I was having a difficult time balancing his cannon character with his headcannon character. So sorry about that too.
I hope this chapter was a little more in character, though I think Nepeta was a little whiny and Equius a little... I actually don't know how to describe Equius. Oh well, I tried.
Anyways, now that I'm done with that whole long winded explanation, thanks for the criticism! I appreciate knowing what I can do better in the future. :)