Hello all! Back again after another week. Finally back on track. To make things up to you, I made this chapter longer than usual. Hope you enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Own Homestuck, I do not.

Chapter 7

Aradia looked around, seeing a room with one door, but everything made out of rusty metal. There was nothing in the room except for herself. She tried to move around, then quickly noticed her hands were tied to a pole in the corner of the room. She called out. "Hello? Is anyone there? Where am I?" For some reason, her head hurt when she did anything. "What's going on?"

After a few minutes of continuing to call for someone, a bulky man walked in. From what Aradia could discern through the dim light, the man had 5 o'clock shadow, and wore some sort of suit and fedora. "Hey could ya keep it down? Geez. Look, the boss is gonna be here soon, so just keep your little mouth shut until then."

"W-where am I? Who are you?" Aradia's voice started shaking, and she started to struggle against the rope that bound her hands.

"Oh, I don't think you'll be needing to know where you are. As far as who I am?" The man gestured towards himself. "We've met once before. That night… down in the alley."

Aradia's eyes grew big as she remembered this man. "Boxcars. You were trying to kidnap me. Nonononono this isn't happening. HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!" She struggled more with the rope.

Boxcars walked up to her. "Tsk tsk. We can't have you causing a ruckus now can we? This oughta shut you up." He walked forward and pulled out a handkerchief. Aradia continued to scream and struggle until he put his big hand holding the piece of cloth over her mouth and nose. Slowly, her vision started to black out, and she slumped over unconscious.

Aradia jolted up in bed covered in sweat and shaking violently. She glanced around, finding herself in her own bed, in her own bedroom, in her own house. She looked over at the clock, which told her she was scheduled to wake up in five minutes anyway. Putting her head in her hands and trying to slow her breathing, she tried to reassure herself. It was just a dream. You're just fine Aradia. There's nothing to worry about. Those guys can't get to you as long as Sollux is around with his gang right? Calm down. You're safe. After a few more minutes, she swung her feet over the side of the bed, stretched, and headed out to the kitchen. She sleepily put on the coffee machine and made herself a bowl of cereal, sitting down at the kitchen table.

A few minutes had passed and her aunt Lynn walked into the kitchen. "Goodmorning. Coffee?" Aradia nodded, and Lynn proceeded to take out two coffee mugs and pour coffee into each of them. She walked over with them and set one down in front of her niece. "Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"Heh, that would have actually been better. Ghosts I can handle. I just had a nightmare is all." She put two teaspoons of sugar into her coffee and looked up at her concerned aunt. "It's fine. I'm sure it was just because I ate too much last night or something."

Lynn looked at her niece, cocking her eyebrow, then softening her expression. "Look, I know being here isn't easy. I know you would rather be with your mother and sister, but they have their own problems they have to deal with. They'll be here soon. I just know it. So if you're worried about them, don't be. I'm sure they can handle themselves. They'll come for you." She put a hand on Aradia's shoulder.

Aradia smiled. "Thanks Auntie Lynn." She finished off her breakfast. "Well, I better get dressed and head off to school. Don't wanna be late for the bus." She stood up and walked to her room, getting dressed, then grabbing her school bag. "Bye Auntie Lynn. Don't forget I'll be late coming home today."

"Right. Text me when you're on your way home, alright? Love you." Lynn kissed her niece's head just before she walked out the door.

Aradia got on to the bus when it arrived and got the usual butterflies in her stomach from seeing the boy with messy brown hair and a mischievous smirk. She smiled and went to go sit down in the empty seat next to him. She could smell his soap on him, though it was mixed with another smell, a smell that reminded her of her older sister, though she couldn't quite place in the sea of typical school bus scents. "Hi, Sollux." She tucked her dark brown hair behind her ear.

The older boy smiled. "Hey, Aradia. I hope you had a good sleep yesterday." He sat back in his seat, straightening his shirt collar.

Gosh he looks really cute today. Then again, I think he looks cute all the time, in a weird, rugged sort of way. "Uh... I wish I could say yes." The girl laughed nervously. "I had a terrible nightmare last night. It's fine though. It was just that, a nightmare."

"Oh?" Sollux looked at the girl with a concerned expression. "Are you sure it's fine? Nightmares can be pretty serious. Trust me, I've had my fair share."

"Really, it's fine. It was probably just a late night food thing. That's all." Aradia suggested, though she herself was still not convinced of her own words.

For the rest of the ride, the bus remained loud, though the silence between Sollux and Aradia was almost the most deafening. As soon as the bus stopped, Aradia stood up and rushed to her class, thinking of little else but the nightmare. Actually, for most of the rest of the day, she thought of little else. It was still hard for her to figure out why it haunted her so much. Yeah, I know it was a traumatic thing, getting almost kidnapped, but I didn't get hurt or actually taken away, so everything's fine right? No, somehow, I feel like this is part of something bigger, like my brain is trying to tell me I've overlooked some big detail that connects this seemingly 'nothing' event to more of my life...

After what seemed like only a short doze off into her own thoughts, the final school bell had rung. Wow. That was fast. I hope I didn't miss anything important. Nah, probably not. I'm sure I've learned it already, or I can learn it quickly at home. Aradia slowly made her way to her English class, which saw the last few students leaving its door until next class. She walked in cautiously, peeking her head in first. "Hello? Ms. Maryam?"

"Ah yes, Aradia, hello." Porrim was hunched over her desk, filing through some papers. "Don't worry, I haven't forgot about our little outing. I'm just finishing up grading some quizzes. Why don't you have a seat until I have finished?" She smiled a smile Aradia could only describe as that warm feeling you get when you arrive at your grandmother's house and you walk inside to the smell of fresh baked cookies and old people smell. Familiarity, maybe that's what Aradia was thinking.

The teen set her things down in a desk, sat in the one next to it, and pulled out some of her homework from today. She looked over the math, and even though it was a new subject, she had little trouble figuring it out, so she finished it in what seemed like no time at all. She put her homework away and looked around the room. It was a typical classroom, in the sense that there were whiteboards and standard issue school desks and cheesy motivational posters like 'The First Three Letters of CAN'T is CAN!' and stuff like that, however, there was something different in the air that made Aradia feel like it was less like a classroom and more like a hangout spot.

After a few minutes, Porrim shuffled her papers together. "Alright, I'm finished." She grabbed her purse, looked up at Aradia, and smiled. "Ready to go?"

"Absolutely!" Aradia jumped up and grabbed her things. The two of them headed out the door and walked out the school, across the street to the local Starbucks. They ordered their drinks, waited for them to be handed to them, then sat down in two rusty metal seats outside.

Porrim leaned back, crossed her leg, and sipped her drink. "So, Aradia, how are you adjusting to Westwood High School? Are you enjoying it?"

"Well, I'm enjoying it as much as anyone would enjoy school I suppose." Aradia took a sip. "The people seem relatively friendly. I haven't encountered many issues with other students or faculty, so I would say I'm doing pretty okay."

"That's good to hear. Have you made any friends? You seemed pretty reserved on the first day in my class, and I didn't know if you had opened up to anyone since then."

The teen pondered this for a minute. "I'm not sure I would call them friends just yet, but I met three boys, Sollux, Equius and Karkat. I met them the Sunday before school started when I was walking around downtown."

Porrim raised her eyebrow at the mention of those names. "Those three huh? They're quite the group. Get into quite some trouble with the law and whatnot. What are you doing hanging around them?"

Should I tell her the truth? I mean, she seems really trustworthy, but I don't know her very well. Aradia sighed, tucking her spiraling locks behind her ear. "That night, when I was downtown, I noticed a man following me. I eventually started running, but one of his buddies caught me in an alleyway. Luckily, those three found me and beat up the guys trying to kidnap me."

"Do you know who the guys were? Did they know you at all?" The teacher sat forward in her chair, clearly interested in the story.

The girl with brown hair nodded. "Sollux told me they were members of the Midnight Crew, some gang that's been wreaking havoc on the city for a few years now." She saw Porrim's expression change to a scowl. "Wow, is there anyone in this city who hasn't heard of them? I've gotten that expression from everyone I've told about this."

The woman gave a short laugh before responding. "Yeah, it's hard to ignore 'em. They moved here about, oh I don't know, four or five years ago. They've been nothing but trouble since. But I don't know how much of their acts are of their own will. They work under a higher power, like I'm assuming most mobs and gangs do."

Now Aradia was interested. "Higher power? Like some sort of mob boss? Do you know who? Has anyone ever seen this guy?"

"Well, no. He doesn't live here." Porrim stopped to take another sip of her beverage. "The Midnight Crew works under several levels of authority, though. They work locally under some lady who everyone knows. Her name's Becca, however she doesn't really call the shots. The head honcho lives in Europe. I can't remember his name, though. But enough about that, let's talk about something else. What about your family? Who do you live with?"

Aradia was dreading this. She hated having to explain her family 'situation'. "Well, I live with my aunt here. She's my mom's younger sister, but only by a few years. They're so similar I sometimes forget she's actually my aunt." She laughed nervously, sipping her drink.

"Oh? And what about your mother? I don't mean to be rude, but why don't you live with her?"

The teen played with her curls, avoiding eye contact. "Uh.. I lived with my mom in Europe for most of my life. I moved to England when I was very small. We moved because my parents had gotten a divorce, and my dad took my older sister with him to Japan, while my mom took me to England. We kept in contact with my sister all those years, though it was hard, since she speaks Japanese as her first language, but we managed. When she turned 18 she left Japan and my father to live with us in England. About four months after that, my mom started dating this guy. He was really nice at first, but soon became really controlling. He was in some bad business and probably in trouble with the law. Eventually, my sister and mother were like his slaves, being abused when they didn't do what he asked. We couldn't escape, because he threatened to kill us if we left and told anyone what was going on." She started tearing up, and Porrim moved her seat over and gave her a hug. "My mom didn't want me to live the life she and my sister were living, so she sent me here, with a promise to escape and come get me before I graduate high school."

Porrim wiped the tears from her student's face. "That's terrible. I am so sorry Aradia, I had no idea. Do you know the name of the guy who your mom was with?"

Aradia sniffed. "Yeah. Well, not exactly. He refused to tell us his real name, for what I assume was fear we would spread it around and the law would find him. He was always referred to as Lord English by his 'associates' or whatever he called them." She looked at her teacher, whose face had gone very pale. "What? What's wrong?"

"That name. Oh God that name. I know that name." Porrim looked at the teen. "Honey, that's the name of the guy who leads the Midnight Crew. He's one of the biggest Mafia Bosses and one of the most wanted men in the world."

That's all for now folks. Let me know what you thought by favoriting, following, and reviewing this story. I would love to hear from you!

~Jane