The Meteor – 8 Months After Departure

John let out a grunt of exertion as he back-peddled away from Terezi's right-hook, her fist missing his face by a hair's breadth. She followed up with a jab, then a kick; keeping him on the defensive with a whirlwind of near misses that he couldn't fight back against.

There was a slight lull. There! He thought he noticed a sloppy pattern to her punches.

Instead of continuing to scamper backwards, he ducked. Her swinging right fist sailing through the empty space where his head had been. Terezi let out a startled gasp, then a grunt of pain as John came up suddenly, taking advantage of the opening and slamming his left fist into her face.

She stumbled back, rattled, and John used the moment to add some distance between the two of them.

It was training day. The newest thing out of the Rose/Kanaya idea-mill. There was no telling what was waiting for them at the other end of their journey so they'd best keep their skills sharp, so the pitch had gone. Once a week they all paired up, rotating partners, for a one-on-one fight. Really, it had been a good idea. But if John had known what fighting Terezi would be like, he would have definitely called in sick today.

She'd been fighting fisticuffs, no sword, no matter the opponent. He'd heard the others talking about how ferocious she'd been but hadn't thought anything of it. Being the gentlemanly sort he'd even insisted on using his fists as well when he'd heard he was getting set against her today.

Now he wasn't so sure that had been a good idea. Not confident he still had all his teeth.

Terezi squared off, clearly intent on resuming the attack. John raised his dukes as well before asking a question. "So? You never answered. Why are you still avoiding her? She's trying to do better you know."

Terezi spat off to the side in response, the wad of cerulean blood splattering against the floor. "What are you her Lusus?" She lunged at him, snarling like an animal and sending both of them tumbling to the ground.

"God damn it!" Said John, the two of them struggling for control on the floor.

Holding her off with one arm, he used the other to get a solid punch into her gut, then pushed away, trying to get up and away from the crazy Troll.

But before he could put one shaky leg in front of the other, he felt a sharp tug on his pant-leg and was sent sprawling back to the floor. Terezi crawling towards him like a monster out of a nightmare.

John sighed inwardly, regretting it had come to this, then used his power of Breath to summon up a gale of wind, the sudden gust catching Terezi off guard and throwing her away from him.

Terezi went flying through the air, impacting the far wall of the room with a dull thud, her body motionless.

John got up, alarmed. He hoping he hadn't broken anything.

He stumbled over to her, only a pace away when she finally let out a groan of pain. Relief washed over him. Glad that she was only stunned and not knocked unconscious. Or worse.

Clutching his injured side, he followed up on the question again, sure that even if she still refused to answer, he could at least ask her without getting punched.

"Vriska's trying to make amends. She apologized to everyone about that business with Jack, about killing Tavros. I know she's tried talking to you, but you won't even give her the time of day. What's the deal? Is it 'justice'? You have to shun her for what she did?"

Terezi mumbled something he couldn't quite make out, so he got closer. "What?"

She got up with alarming swiftness. "BECAUSE IT'S ALL MY FAULT!" She shouted, slamming her fist into his groin.

John went limp. Down for the count.

Terezi staggered to her feet and began to stumble away from where John lay writhing on the ground. She stopped a few feet away, hands on knees, trying to catch her breath. After a few moments she straightened up and spoke up.

"My problem Egbert, is that it's all my fault. I killed alt-you for something that had been ultimately out of his control. I went after Vriska instead of Gamzee for the murders. I can't do anything right. I keep fucking up. And now she's stuck in that chair that because of ME! I'm the one that doesn't deserve to be forgiven. I'm the one that doesn't deserve amends. Me."

She continued walking away. Stopping only at the door to turn around and say "Training's over."; before shuffling out of the room.

In-between the spasms of pain and clutching his gonads, John worked through what she'd said. He disagreed with her assessment. Her self-imposed exile wasn't helping anyone. Honestly it was getting to be a burden with how finicky she was getting. But he let those thoughts fade to the background, he could deal with that later. For now he was going to have to find some ice.

Bowels of the Meteor - Two Hours Later

Vriska wheeled her way down the corridor, taking in the musky air and the joy of exploration. Her own training session had ended a while ago and she'd decided she'd go exploring. The Meteor was a big place and there were still huge sections she hadn't checked out yet.

Turning a corner, she came to a rather imposing obstacle. Stairs.

Whoever had designed the place had been remarkably considerate in helping make the central portions of the meteor wheelchair-friendly (or cart-friendly, as was more likely the case) but the Meteor was a LARGE place, and it was in no way convenient to travel by wheeled conveyance through large portions of it.

She let out a sigh. Even after months of acclimation; getting used to her new limitations was proving frustrating. But this was the hand she'd been dealt. Nothing that could be done at present, except adapt.

She looked at the staircase again, counting up the number of steps. Sitting around self-loathing wouldn't fix anything, so she decided to try out a new trick. She pushed herself out of the wheelchair while switching to her God-Tier mode, using her wings to hover just a few inches off the ground. Turning around she touched the chair, popping it into her sylladex for storage.

She flew to the top of the stairs, laughing at the whooshing of the air even as her legs dangled awkwardly under her.

At the top she ejected the wheelchair from the sylladex. Steadying it before reverting out of God-Tier and plopping back into the seat.

She wiped the sweat from her brow, surprised by how much that had taxed her. She still needed to take it easy, especially after a training bout. It would probably be better for her to find another way back than flying down the stairs.

She turned to continue on, sure she'd find another way back; only to look up and be startled by the sudden appearance of Gamzee only a couple of yards away. Watching her intently.

He wore the same dirty clothes from when she'd last seen him. Looking all the world like he hadn't changed in the last 8 months. On his face was a mellow look. Not the serial-killer expression she'd seen on him the last time they'd crossed paths. That was probably a good sign. Maybe he was ok now?

She put a hand over her quick-beating heart. Trying to quell her shock from his sudden appearance. She called out to him "Gamzee, what are you doing over there you goof, you scared the crap out of me. Where've you been?"

Gamzee's smile widened just a hair, barely perceptibly. He pulled out a pair of cracked shades and snapped them open. Affixing them to his face before swaggering over like she hadn't said a thing.

He folded his hangs into a pair of finger-pistols and pointed at her with them. "Hey, my motherfucking sister from another Lusus. That was some impressive flying there; congratulations." He began clapping slowly, more sarcastic than actual applause.

A shadow of worry passed over Vriska as she realized just how isolated they were. On top of that, she was rapidly becoming less and less sure that Gamzee's previous outburst of violence had been flukes. She fidgeted. Maybe he was being sincere; in his own weird Gamzee way?

"Well… yea I, I guess it was. But listen, where have you been? The others have been worried about you after that stuff with Nepeta and Equius." She gulped, belatedly realizing that the shades Gamzee was wearing were Equius's. "We're kind of worried you still might not be yourself."

Gamzee continued walking towards her, closing the gap with remarkable swiftness for someone who was only walking. Suddenly they were only three steps away from each other.

He waved off her concern with sweep of his hand. "Aw, no, it's all cool. Hey listen, that was such good flying I think I've got a present for you." His right hand began creeping slowly behind his back, sending all sorts of alarm bells ringing in Vriska's head.

Her hands moved to the wheel-rims, gripping them so tight her knuckles turned white. "Um… I'm good thanks. I think I'd better get going."

She made to wheel around him but his foot shot out. Blocking the wheel and causing her to come to a stop with a sudden jolt.

She looked at him in fear, a wide leering grin was spread across his face. "Aw come on I think you'll like it." He said. With sudden motion he whipped his hand out from behind his back, producing a brown paper tube which he held in front of her face.

Vriska stared at it for a few moments in in uncomprehending confusion. Her eyes having trouble focusing on it it was so close.

"What?" She said, before without any warning, the tube exploded in a flash of light and sound, blinding her.

"Ahhh!" She cried out, throwing up her hands in defense. But it was no use, the damage was done. Cackling and honking with maniacal glee, Gamzee grabbed the armrests of the wheelchair and shoved her backwards down the stairs.

Vriska let out another scream, just barely flinging herself clear of the wheelchair before both made their uncontrolled decent down. She fell tumbling down the stairs. Injuring and bruising herself on the way down before finally coming to a rest at the bottom. She lay there, dazed.

She rolled from her side to her stomach, trying to prop herself up on her arms, unable to see, stars swarming her vision and tears reflexively rolling down her cheeks. She clenched her eyes shut.

Gamzee rushed to the bottom of the stairs with a rapid pap-pap-pap of his feet. He was pleased with himself as he swaggered back up to her, surveying the damage. "Man that was easy; like dropping a plate, ha!"

Kneeling down next to her, he grabbed her by the hair; jerking her head up forcibly.

Noticing the tears and her whimpers of pain, he mocked her. "Awww. Look at Little Mindfang junior, gonna cry?" Then hee changed tone to faux concern. "It's fine, it's ok to be weak."

He released her, letting her face hit the ground. He stood up and continued laughing like it was the best joke in the world. Vriska lay there confused. What had he just said? When had he heard those things? How? Did the others? No, no. That couldn't be it. It had to be... a trick; something!

She heard him start to walk away, his meandering footstep receding into the distance.

The dull aches from her injuries worked their way to her brain; along with the belated thought that she should have definitely taken Gamzee seriously as a threat.

Not sure he was truly gone, she started crawling around in blind circles she finally found the wheelchair. It seeming to have escaped the fall mostly unscathed, but that didn't really help her. Her newfound blindness and physical exhaustion rendering its use improbable at best; and then there was the possibility that Gamzee was still lurking around just waiting for her to make a move.

She capchalogged the wheelchair back into her sylladex and propped herself against the wall. She wiped the tears from her face and took stock. She didn't know if Gamzee was going to come back to finish the job or if he was just so warped that he'd leave her like this and then walk off to do something different. But she was pretty sure he was gone for now, and that gave her an opening.

Fiddling around with her sylladex, she began blindly emptying it until she got what she was looking for, her computer. Luckily for her she pretty much only used it for Trollian messaging. She turned it on and began typing blind, hoping she was hitting enough right keys and could get through to someone.

She hit Enter. At least she though she did.

A few seconds later she heard a response bloop, then another. At least someone knew something had happened. Right? She slipped the laptop off her lap, and sat quietly. Deciding to wait. The best she could do right now is hope someone found her quickly.

The Meteor – Commons Area

Rose sat eating a sandwich. Watching the enlightening display of John and Karkat arguing over some movie. It was fascinating how heated their debate was getting. She wasn't entirely sure they weren't going to come to blows on the matter.

Suddenly she got a message alert. She pulled out the small headset she used and turned on the eye-piece to view the message.

arachnidsGrip began Trolling tentacleTherapist

AG: Need help hamzee arracked mw, am bkind. deep corridoe/ send help.

Reading the message, garbled though it was, she almost choked on her food. John and Karkat noticed and rushed over to see what was wrong. She showed them the message and then they all three sprung into action. They ran off to go search, messaging the others as they went. Making sure to work in pairs lest this was a ploy for Gamzee to separate them for another attack.

The Meteor – Deep Corridor, Base of Stairs

Vriska sat there, growing steadily more aware of a parched feeling in the back of her throat. Her vision was maybe clearing up, but it was still a blur. And even if her sight did return, she didn't know if she had the strength to move; the training, the flight, and the fall had drained her.

She closed her eyes to rest, just for a second, when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching. She tensed, worrying that Gamzee had finally decided to return. But she looked, and even with her vision as wrecked as it was, she could tell it wasn't him.

The mystery figure stopped a few paces away, crossing their arms and staring at her. Shaking their head in clear disapproval.

"Tch." They said. "I don't believe this. How could this ever happen to me in any timeline. It's a disgrace, slander is what it is." The figure spoke in Vriska's own voice.

Vriska groaned in annoyance. It looked like this was the day she finally went crazy. She did her best deadpan look at the figure and spoke in as loud a murmur as as she could. "So… what? You're supposed to be me?"

The faux-Vriska let out a sardonic laugh. "Ha! No. I'm me. What you are is a pale pathetic imitation of myself. It's all your fault really, you let yourself get weak. You trusted others, and look where it got you. No working legs, no working eyes, and crawling around leeching off others like a grub. You knew how it worked; others will only fear us or hurt us, and you let them stop fearing you."

Vriska turned herself to face the doppelganger straight on, her body protesting at the movement. "You're wrong." She croaked out.

From the shift in posture she could tell that the faux-Vriska's smug look had been wiped off her face. Good. "What?" The imposter asked in mild disbelief.

"I said you're wrong. I've never been stronger than I am now."

The false-Vriska rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, you must have landed on your think-pan harder than I'd thought. You've lost it."

"No." Responded Vriska. "Before… if I had been brought this low I'd be done for. I'd be as good as dead. Now; I have friends, real friends. They're coming for me."

"You don't know that." Said the other.

"I do." Said Vriska. "I know I've been a real piece of shit. And, sure, I got hurt a lot less when I was. But what did that get me? A bunch of burned bridges? The nightmares? I'm stronger with the others helping me. John, Dave, even Rose. They've helped my see myself for what I am. I know I'm afraid now, and now I can get over it."

The faux-Vriska scoffed at this. "That has got to be the saddest, sappiest shit I've ever heard. I don't even know why I came over here to help you. You're clearly a lost cause. You know what? I'm out of here. I'll just destroy Lord English myself, I don't even know why I though I needed an army."

With that Vriska finally succumbed to her exhaustion lapsing into unconsciousness with a smirk on her face, as the other Vriska stormed off.

When she came to, she was being carried. Her arms slung over the shoulders of John and Karkat. She blinked her eyes a few times, bringing things into focus as she was brought into the common room where everyone else was waiting.

They placed her on the couch. She scanned the room with her now-working eyes. "What. What happened?" She croaked.

"We were sort of hoping you could tell us." Said Dave. "Rose got you message and we all went looking for you. John and Karkat found you passed out in the middle of the hallway and just carried you back here."

With some difficulty she recounted her encounter with Gamzee. When she got to the part with the bomb, firecracker, whatever, going off in her face; Rose interjected, nodding in understanding.

"Hmm, yes, that would have caused flash blindness like you experienced. You're lucky it was temporary. It could have been a lot worse. Continue."

Vriska finished, taking care to leave out the part where she talked to a hallucination of herself.

Terezi was visibly shaking with rage by the end. She clenched her fists and stormed off, making for the door.

"Where the HELL do you think you're going?" Shouted Karkat, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.

"Clown hunting. You coming?" She responded coldly. Not waiting for a response before continuing to storm out the door.

Dave and Karkat shot each other a look before following after her, both intent on preventing her from doing something stupid.

The Meteor – Vents

Gamzee smiled wickedly. Here in the vents sound carried pretty well. But it also helped if you hid a walkie-talkie in the room while everyone was busy with their so-called 'training'. He'd heard everything, and was thrilled that he'd be getting the attention he deserved now. These schmucks wouldn't know what hit them.

He turned to the mannequin he had set up, and the jester-looking God-Tier costume he'd crafted for himself. That rainbow drinking bitch Kanaya wasn't the only one who could sew; and he'd done a bang-up job if he did say so himself. This was the perfect outfit to bring them to ruin with.

He heard whispering and turned towards the source.

The Earth-puppet. His Little Cal. Sat in the corner where he'd propped it on a makeshift throne. He could feel the words on his brain. There were new instructions for him. Good, good. It had been some time since he'd received his last command from the Messiah. He huddled in closer, the psychic link across time and space at it's strongest as he stared into the puppet's eyes.

He stared.

He listened.

He sat there for a while. The information going straight to his soul.

When the connection was finally broken off, his earlier high had ended and he'd become crestfallen. The Messiah had different plans it seemed. He was allowed to weaken, but not break, the traitorous fools he'd once called friends. The Messiah needed them intact. For now.

It looked like it was time for a change in plans.

He started changing into the costume.