Dream Bubbles – Unknown Time Scale
Equius inside his hive, at his computer. He stared through his cracked and battered shades for a moment, fighting off a wave of DeJa'Vu. He'd been going through the motions all day but just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. He'd been hovering around for hours, waiting for a message. Finally he just couldn't bear the wait any longer. He booted up the chat client and initiated contact himself.
centaursTesticle began Trolling arsenicCatnip
CT: D - Hello. Are you there?
He of course, like all Trolls, typed with his own personal quirk.
He waited for a moment, wondering if she would respond. She probably wouldn't. Who'd want anything to do with a freak like…
AC: :33 Hi Equius! Purrfect timing. I just got back from hunting practice.
Equius smiled, he should have know better. She didn't think like that, she'd never do that to him. But he was always cautious none the less. You never knew what bridges you'd burn.
CT: D -- How did it go?
AC: :33 Great. You should have s33n me! My arm didn't even slow me down, it's all healed up!
Equius winched at that. They'd met in person for the first time just a few weeks ago and he'd been excited to meet her. He'd misjudged his own strength and, well, the fact that her arm needed healing spoke for itself.
CT: D -- I am once again sorry for the injury I unintentionally caused you. I'm glad to hear it all worked out.
AC: :33 Equius, there's no n33d to beat yourself up about it, honest. It was an accident. And besides, I've gotten into worse scraps. You know that.
Another smile flickered across his face. He was indeed aware of the danger she regularly threw herself into. They had met after all, on a web-forum about treating injuries. Him because of the problems his excessive strength was causing and her because of her ferocious appetite for danger.
AC: :33 So what's mew with you? How are the robots coming along?
The robots were his pet project. With as strong as he was there was no opponent that was any sort of challenge for him. The robots were his answer to that dilemma. Finally, he would have opponents who could push him to his very limits. He felt giddy just thinking of the prospect; a battle where losing was an actual possibility.
CT: D -- The robots are coming along well. They should make for good sparring. All that's left is fine-tuning the programming.
AC: :33 Cool! Could you send me one when they're done?
Equius paused. His mouth pursed. Allowing Nepeta fight one would be a bit much, even for someone as skilled as her. He decided to try and push that off until he could find a way to tone them down.
CT: D -- I've hit a roadblock recently with the code and am unsure how long this last step will take before any of them are ready, I will have to get back to you on that.
AC: :33 OK. Well I just wanted to check up on you. I have to go meow. Pounce is raising a fuss because I left my catch out. Got to go. Bye!
arsenicCatnip ceased Trolling centaursTesticle
CT: D -- Goodbye.
Damn! He'd been too slow!
He leaned back in his chair, stretching. Glad to have a friend like Nepeta. He didn't know what he'd do if he ever lost her.
The Trollian program beeped at him again. It looked like someone else was trying to initiate contact, he checked who it was.
audiosToreador began Trolling centaursTesticle
AT: hEY EQUIUS
Equius groaned in annoyance. It was Tavros. He hated that guy. He tried not to communicate with his social inferiors, Nepeta being the sole exception, and on top of that he personally found the Bronze-Blood's can-do attitude to be grating.
CT: D -- I told you to stop contacting me. We are not friends. I am your social and genetic superior. Go away.
AT: i MEAN, WE'RE FRIENDS BY ASSOCIATION. wE BOTH KNOW VRISKA. sPEAKING OF WHICH I DO HAVE A PRESSING ISSUE I COULD REALLY USE YOUR HELP WITH.
He was already clicking through the options and menus to block Tavros, when the next message stopped him in his tracks.
AT: iT'S JUST A QUICK QUESTION. wHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU FOUND OUT YOU WERE DEAD? lIKE WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Equius sat there, confused. That wasn't what Tavros was supposed to have said. Last time they had this conversation, he'd sent a message about having been thrown off of a cliff.
…
Wait. What? Equius did a mental review of the thoughts that had just ran through his think-pan and came up with the same glaring problem. The idea that he'd, for certain, experienced this exact conversation before.
CT: D -- Explain yourself immediately. What is this witchcraft?
AT: uMMM, YOU'RE DEAD? aND THIS IS LIKE A DREAM MEMORY SPACE?
CT: D -- That's stupid. Explain what is actually happening.
AT: i WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT BEING AN HEIR OF VOID THAT YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN QUICKER ON THE UPTAKE THAN ME.
Heir of Void. That term was hauntingly familiar.
AT: oK. lET's TRY THIS. tRY TO REMEMBER YOUR DEATH. aSPHYXIATION BY GAMZEE?
Equius rolled his eyes; this was all absurd drivel. If the Bronze-Blood though he was going to waste his time he had another thing coming. Equius was about to send a scathing response when something clicked; and he remembered.
Equius gasped as his memories came flooding back. SGRUB, hiding on the meteor, trolling the Humans, Gamzee killing him. He stood up in shock.
"What! What's happening?"
Everything dissolved away into a mist of blobby colors that then resolved itself into a sandy desert. He heard shuffling behind him and whirled around, fists ready. Where he'd had his back to stood Tavros, who was not alone. With him was Sollux and… Aradia, Equius's one-time love obsession. The three lowest Blood castes.
Aradia stood tall. Resplendent as always, and apparently God-Tier. With some difficulty Equius shook off that train of thought and confronted the situation. He'd come back to those feeling later.
"What is this?"
Aradia threw her hands in the air. "You're dead!"
"What? How?"
Sollux spoke next. "Gamzee killed you and Nepeta. Vriska killed Tavros. Eridan killed Fef. Kanaya killed Eridan. And then I sort of just died." He noticed Equius was unfocused so he snapped his fingers. "Hey are you listening?"
Equius had stopped listening after Sollux had said Nepeta's name. She was dead.
He started suddenly. "Nepeta. We have to find her."
Tavros responded. "Ok, slow down. We're trying to find everyone but it's a mess. This place is big and it took us weeks of stumbling around to find you." A thoughtful expression dawned on Tavros's face. "Maybe we could chain our powers somehow? Breath and Void? Maybe."
He looked at the others for guidance only to notice Aradia giving Sollux a sidelong glance and Sollux pointedly ignoring it.
"What?" Tavros asked.
Aradia spoke up. "Well, as you both might not know, when he was alive Sollux was plagued with visions and voices. Both from his Troll Powers and the Aspect of Doom."
"Don't tell them! It's not their business!" Interjected Sollux, but Aradia ignored him.
"For most of his life he could hear the screams of the soon-to-be dead."
"Shut up!"
"It would appear that now being dead, the ability has flipped, and can hear the whispers of the recently deceased. Which means, with how time bends in the furthest ring, he can lead us to other ghosts."
"Stop telling them things!" Sollux shouted. He continued to ramble, not even really addressing the others. "It's not even accurate. At best; I can tell if we're getting closer to SOME dead person. Not who it is."
"It's how we found you." Aradia said evenly. Looking at Tavros. "That wasn't an accident."
Tavros looked Sollux straight in the eyes. "You didn't think, at any point; that that would be pertinent information to share?!" He double-facepalmed. "We've been walking around in circles for days, only found Equius by pure accident, and you're telling me, this entire time, YOU HAD GHOST RADAR?!"
Equius looked incredulous at the news but wasted no time. Taking everything in stride he grabbed Sollux by the shirt and lifted him off the ground. "Take me to Nepeta NOW!" He growled.
Sollux tried unsuccessfully to bat away the iron grip with his hands. "Come-on, get off me man. I don't give a shit about this damn quest you're all so invested in. I don't care if we walk around in circles forever and ever. I like being alone and not being surrounded by assholes. And guess what? There's nothing any of you can do to make me help you."
Aradia looked disappointed. Equius brought Sollux's eyes mere inches from his own. "You'll bring me to Nepeta. Or else."
Sollux let out a low chuckle. "Seriously? You're threatening me here? OK… that's it."
Equius's found his hold on him broken with a sudden burst of telekinesis. Then, before he could react, Sollux followed up with another blast that sent him flying through the air and crashing to the ground in a large cloud of dust. Sollux flew over to where he'd landed, intent on making it into a proper beatdown, only for Equius leap out of the cloud suddenly, cannonballing into him with the force of a freight-train.
The two of them went sailing back over Tavros and Aradia, hitting the ground hard. Equius was the first to recover and started punching the lower-blooded Troll in the face. After a few good blows he held off, giving Sollux a chance to submit. Only to be blasted straight up into the sky by Sollux's trademark eye-lasers.
Sollux staggered to his feet, holding a hand to his bleeding head while Tavros and Aradia ran over. He felt dazed but was doing good all things considered. It appeared being a ghost held its advantages in the durability department.
Equius came falling back to the ground with a meaty smack. Only to get up with little-to-no damage himself. Looks like it went both ways. Pity.
The beast of a man got up and balled his fists. Letting out a roar as he charged towards the telekinetic. Sollux floated into the air and his eyes begin to glow. He was ready to end it; right here, right now. But wasn't given the chance.
Aradia swooped in from above, landing just besides Equius and freezing him with her Time powers. At the same time Sollux felt a sharp point press against his neck. Turning his head slightly he saw Tavros standing there, lance leveled for a killing blow. A look of grim determination upon his face.
Sollux stared. "What are you doing?" He asked in disbelief.
Tavros stared right back, adjusting his grip nervously. "I can't let you do that."
Sollux let out a groan. "Oh come on. NOW is the time you decide to grow a spine? Really? Oh yea. This is a great way to convince me to help you on your quest."
Tavros started walking around Sollux. Putting himself between him and Equius. Keeping the lance on-point at all times."
"I'm going to find our friends with or without your help. Even if it takes me a thousand years. If you want to play pity-party and sulk like a grub, so be it. We all had horrible things happen to us. We all died. And as for 'finishing off' Equius. Good luck with that. Just ask yourself this. Do you want to explain to Nepeta how that happened? Will you attack her too? Because if you do this then someday it will be you or her."
Sollux relaxed his powers. Floating back the last few inches to the ground and no longer glowing. He crossed his arms and spat to the side. A tooth coming out. Hopefully that would grow back, being a ghost.
Tavros lowered his lance and turned away. "Now I just have to talk down him." He said to no one in particular.
He walked over to where Aradia was holding Equius in place. Studying the situation, he finally asked. "Can you? I don't know. Only half-unfreeze him?"
"Nope." Replied Aradia. "But he should be able to hear us."
Tavros sighed and hung his head. He'd been hoping for some less one-sided discussion before he decided to let Equius go, but here he was.
"Ok Equius. I'm going to have Aradia release you now. I want you to stop attacking Sollux so we can work this out. Ok?" He paused, of course there was no response. "Ok." He muttered to himself, stepping off to the side and out of the way. "Do it." He said to Aradia.
The field surrounding Equius vanished and he bolted forwards again. But he didn't keep up his momentum. Instead sliding to a stop with a grunt.
He turned to Tavros. "Fine. We shall talk this out like gentlemen." Sollux came over. "Present company excluded of course." The Blue jibed.
Sollux was about to retort when Tavros cut him off tersely. "Come on! Enough of that. Both of you." They both looked at him. Not sure what to make of this new, assertive Tavros.
"Now. Let's all just sit down, and talk."
He sat cross-legged on the ground and the others following suit.
He turned to Equius first. "Equius. I know I can't speak for the others, but I'll help you search for Nepeta if you can at least try to follow some ground-rules. The class divisions of the Hemospectrum need to stop. Alternia is dead, we're dead. It's over. The blood flowing through our veins doesn't matter, should never of mattered, and is a moot point anyways now. You need to treat those of us that come with you with curtesy and respect and you'll get the same. Does that sound fair?"
The bigger Troll mulled it over. "That is agreeable." He finally conceded. Unsure of what he could accomplish by himself. And tired of the conflict.
Then Tavros turned to Sollux, his expression softer. "Sollux why don't you want to help us? I'd have thought you'd want to see Feferi again. I know it's none of my business but the two of you looked like you were getting close."
Sollux's expression tuned from sour to dour. "I got injured in my duel with Eridan and then she tried to avenge me. She died and there wasn't anything I could do for her. I don't think she'll want to see me."
Aradia put a comforting hand on the Mustard-Bloods shoulder. "Sollux. You know that's not how Feferi thinks. She cared about all of us, no matter what."
Sollux buried his face in him hands." I just couldn't do anything for her and she got killed by that gilled piece of shit."
Equius looked away, not sure how to be an observer to this kind of emotional exchange.
Tavros pushed. "You can do this for her now. Help us find her. Help her wake. Help her to be with her friends and build the future she wanted, instead of being trapped in her memories."
Sollux let his hands fall away from his face and looked up. A glimmer of hope daring to spark in his eyes. "Ok, I'll do it."
"Ok then." Said Tavros. He got up and the others followed suit. Turning to Sollux he asked. "Which way?" but the Mustard-Blood was already ahead of him. Eyes closed and focusing. His ears twitched and he turned his head. Opening his eyes and pointing to the left. "There's someone that way." He said.
They all turned to face the direction. Facing the endless expanse of nothingness. This would take time. Time to heal, time to trust, and time to search. They didn't know how long it would take. But they were sure of one thing. They would find their friends and reunite. All of them.