~Signless' POV~

"Signless," a young voice calls to me from deeper in the forest. "Help him."

"Did you hear that?" I ask Disciple. When my only response is the wind blowing through my hair, I turn to where she was only a second ago. Instead of finding my moirail, I find a stack of firewood on the ground. Rolling my eyes, I start walking in the direction that camp should be. "This isn't funny, Disciple," I call into the darkness.

A rustle in the bushes to my right catches my attention a moment before a girl pops out of the foliage. She grabs my wrist and starts running before I have the chance to argue. I feel anxiety seep into my mind at just how much red she's wearing. Thoughts that she's dragging me off to be killed crowd out any form of rational thinking before she speaks.

"He's hurt," she cries. "A high blood attacked. You have to help him!"

Digging my heels into the ground, I use my larger stature against her. We stop so suddenly that she almost falls before her wings flutter and she regains her balance. Wings? Only tauruses have wings, but the shape of her horns is more in line with those of a rust blood. When she turns around, her face looks so familiar. I know this girl, but I can't remember where we met.

"Signless!" she snaps, red tears forming in her eyes. "We have to GO!"

I don't know if it's the urgency in her voice or the confusion and curiosity negating every alarm bell going off in the back of my mind, but I match her pace as we run towards a clearing. Another wave of familiarity washes over me when we finally break through the tree line into the open space. I've been here before. When was I here last? It wasn't that long ago, but I can't remember. A spark of frustration precedes a crushing wall of dread.

In the middle of the clearing is the source of the dread. A boy lying in a pool of indigo blood. A broken bow wrapped loosely around his neck. An arrow in his knee. I feel my blood boil with anger for whoever decided they had the right to do this.

"His name is-"

"Equius," I interrupt, rushing to the barely conscious child's side.

Vacant eyes stare at the clear sky. Flashes of memories pass through my mind. Holding Equius while we watched a meteor shower streak through the sky. Watching him climb trees like a pro. Listening to his beautiful laugh or his aimless rambling about something from his time. None of those memories can stop my heart from breaking at the way he flinches away from me as I drape my cloak over him. It's difficult to ignore his whimper as I unwrap the cord from around his throat or the pained groan as I pull the arrow from his knee. I don't notice that I'm crying until I reach to wipe away his tears and droplets of red join indigo on his cheek.

"Signless," a voice calls. It almost sounds like it came from my own mind, but the sound is echoing through the surrounding forest. "Honey, wake up," it calls again. The voice is distorted just enough that I can't recognize it.

~On the Meteor~

"Signless," Psii calls again, gently shaking me this time.

Blinking away the flashback-like dream, I glance up into the annoyed eyes of my matesprit. Uh-oh. Before I can question what I've done, the heavy knocking on our door reaches my ears. The barely coherent shouting on the other side sounds like Dyrrin and the way Psii growls at the door confirms my suspicion.

I can't help but groan in annoyance as I move to answer the knocking. "What do you want?" I inquire as I open the door.

"I believe these belong to you," the furious indigo snaps, shoving Sollux and Equius towards me. Sollux has the same defiant expression Psii gets when he knows he's in trouble. Equius, on the other hand, is wearing the wide-eyed look of fear a small child would have if they were caught breaking the rules.

Not taking my eyes off the angry man in front of me, I pull my boys closer. "Don't touch my kids," I say as calmly, yet forcefully, as I can.

"Then you should keep them on a shorter leash."

Rolling my eyes, I ask, "What could they possibly have done to annoy you this much?"

"They were snooping around in my room."

"They're children. What do you have that you're so ashamed of that children going in your room could anger you this much?"

I smirk at the frustration in his eyes. "Nothing. I'm angry that they went in my room without permission. You should teach them boundaries!"

"Boundaries?" I laugh. "Like when you pinned me to the wall and threatened me the other day? Or one of the two times you tied me up and beat me within an inch of my life?" He takes a step closer, his posture displaying his intent to intimidate. A growl from behind me makes him falter. "Given present company, I suggest you take a step back for your own safety."

"Just keep your brats out of my room!" he snaps before finally leaving.

Shaking my head, I send the boys to sit with Psii as I make sure he's gone before shutting the door. When I return to them, Equius moves to lean on me while Sollux stays closer to Psii. Now they both look guilty of something. "What were you two doing in his room?" Sollux locks eyes with Equius and shakes his head. Turning my attention to the son beside me, I ask, "Equius? You wouldn't lie to me, right?" Out of the corner of my eye I can see Sollux's expression shift from intimidating to pleading as Equius goes very still beside me. "And we don't keep secrets from each other."

"It was Karkat's idea," he quickly says before hiding from his brother behind me.

"SNITCH!" the young gemini snaps before turning to a bee themed communication device on his wrist. "Abort mission. Equius snitched."

"Damnit, Equius!" Karkat snaps from the other end of the call.

"Calm down, Karkitty," Nepeta chimes. "The equipment's in place. There's no need to fur-eak out."

Forcing my confused expression to become one of neutrality, I say, "Explain."

"Dyrrin went so far past the line he can't even see it anymore," Sollux practically growls.

Why does getting information from one of the twins always have to be so difficult? "And how does that result in you two going in his room without permission?" I prompt. When the young gold smirks and looks away like he has a secret that he refuses to share, I turn to the indigo still hiding behind me. "Equius? Care to fill in the blanks?"

"Are we in trouble?"

"Honestly, I haven't decided. You're not usually a rule breaker. I'm kind of disappointed." I hate how crushed he looks at that one word before looking past me and glaring at his brother. "Can one of you help me understand what happened?"

"We're trying to make Dyrrin think he's going crazy," Sollux finally explains, a satisfied smirk on his face.

A little more sheepish than his brother, Equius elaborates, "We were planting small speakers and cameras in the vent and around his room. The cameras are so that we know when he's there. The speakers are so that we can play loud sounds and annoying songs at random times. Rose and Kanaya said that this is one of the most effective ways to drive someone insane."

It takes an embarrassingly long time for me to understand what my children are explaining. I don't even know how long I stared at the two of them with a disbelieving expression.

"I think we broke him," Sollux whispers to his brother, who waves his hand in front of my face.

Taking a deep breath, I look to Psii. He's trying so hard not to laugh, it's almost cute. "Nothing about this is funny." And now my matesprit has fallen off the bed laughing. Part of me is worried about him because he fell off the bed. Part of me knew that would happen and feels he brought it on himself. As per usual, the geminis are like bluetooth in terms of their mood. It takes a short five seconds for Sollux to start laughing as much as his ancestor.

A small knock pulls my attention to Kankri and a hysterical Mituna in the doorway. "Do I even want to know?"