There was something about her. They way her lips pursed when she was trying to hide her anger; the way her hair flounced when she was jumping up and down from excitement. She was just perfect. The young troll sighed. He knew that even though he was flushed for her, there was no way she would be flushed for him.
"What's wrong, Karkat?" she asked. He looked up, startled, and stared into her beautiful eyes that had just started gaining the fuchsia pigment.
"What?" he asked. She giggled and rolled her eyes. He blinked and tried to hide his flushed face. He had never been so close to her before.
"What's wrong? I heard you sigh. Are you upset or just tired?" she asked.
"I guess I'm just a little tired. It's hard to lead a bunch of trolls sometimes, you know?" He ran a hand through his hair and looked to the side.
"Yes, I know. I am the future Heiress after all," she responded. He looked back up at her. While she was smiling, he could see the sadness in her eyes. She giggled and put a hand on his forehead. "Are you okay? Your face is a little flushed."
He jerked back. She frowned. He shook his head. "Don't worry about me, Feferi. I'll be fine. Thank you for your concern. I think I'll just go take a nap. Wake me up if something happens or you need me." He walked away and she watched him go. As soon as he was out of her sight, he started cursing at himself and smacking his forehead. "You fucking idiot! I can't believe you jerked out of her touch! You fucking moron! You Grubsniffing, nooksucking fuckass!"
He calmed down and walked back to his small room and layed down in his recuperacoon. "Maybe some sleep will calm my nerves." He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
The Signless stood on a rock protruding above a group of trolls. As he preached, the Disciple, Psiioniic, and Dolorosa stood proudly behind him. They were so close to a revolution; so close to convincing everybody that the blood caste and hemospectrum didn't matter.
Hordes of highblooded trolls dressed in armor raced into the crowd. All of the trolls listening began to scatter in fear of being culled. A few brave trolls stayed behind and tried to defend the Signless, but they were knocked down as if they were twigs.
The Psiioniic put a hand on the Signless' shoulder. "I think it's time we made our leave." The Signless turned and nodded and the group turned to make their escape. All of a sudden, they were surrounded. Highbloods sneered and taunted the lowblood trolls and took turns pushing them around.
"Well, well, well, what have we here? Have we finally caught this unlawful group?" The Signless looked up, recognizing the voice. She looked down at him with a sadistic smile. "If it isn't the Signless and his little posse. You wouldn't believe the stories I've heard about you."
"Please, Imperial Condescension, spare the lives of my friends. Take my life for the safety of theirs," the Signless said.
"Oh, don't worry. I know exactly what I'll do to you four." She turned to one of the seadwellers. "Dualscar, please escort the Signless to the destination we discussed earlier. The rest of you, please take these three away. You know where." With that, she turned to leave. The Signless struggled against the seadweller's grip.
"Please, let me go. Haven't you ever heard of equality?" he asked. the seadweller looked down with a sad expression.
"Yes, but if I disobey her one more time I'll be culled. Sorry, but I have to do this." With that, the Signless was dragged away.
"Signless!" the Disciple screamed at the top of her lungs. "Please don't take him! I love him! Please, bring him back!" She broke down in tears. The Psiioniic and Dolorosa put a hand on each of her shoulders.
"Be strong, my son," the Dolorosa said. "They can't break you. You're stronger than them."
The Signless was then tied up and gagged. He looked up with a sad look in his eyes and gave a small smile. "Please, do whatever you want with me. I don't care. Jut promise you won't hurt my Dear Disciple, my mother the Dolorosa, or my pal Psiioniic."
"Oh, don't worry about them," the highblood said. The Signless put his head down and stayed silent. "Now, let's get you all taken care of. We've got a special treat for you. Since you love standing on the tops of cliffs and preaching, we're going to put you on another."
The Signless looked up, curious, and followed the highblood to the top of a cliff. There, he was shackled with a pair of handcuffs that resembled the human number 69. "I don't understand." Without an answer, the highblood pushed him off the edge of the cliff. He didn't have time to scream before the chains caught him.
His arms popped and cracked and his wrists stung. He looked up at the crowd of trolls around him. Most were followers of the Condesce, but there were a few of his followers as well. He gave them a smile and began his final sermon. All the while, without his knowing, the Disciple, Psiioniic, and Dolorosa watched from the edge of the crowd with sad and proud looks on their faced. Although he was staring death in the eye, he continued to voice his opinions on equality.
Finally, a blueblood with a bow and arrow appeared. He pointed the arrow at the Signless and shot it. The arrow hit him right in the chest and he gasped from the pain. While he was unnerved, the Condesce coolly walked up to him. She grabbed his chin and lifted it up so he was looking her in the eye.
"I hope you learned your lesson, Dear Signless. Or should I call you Sufferer now?" She leaned forward and whispered in his ear. "To think that at one point I had a flush crush on you. Me, of all people! Ha! I've never heard of such a thing! Goodbye, my Sufferer." With that, she turned and walked away.
The Sufferer watched her go with a look that was a mix of anger and sadness on his face. He put his head down and prepared for what came next.
Karkat woke up with sweat streaming down his face. "What was that? Was it a prophecy or something? The Condesce lady looked a lot like Feferi. Maybe I just need more sleep.
Kankri walked down the street by his hive. "Yo, what up, Kankri?" Latula called. Kankri turned and waved, then went back to walking. Finally, he got to his destination; the beach. There was just something calming about the waves coming in and going out. He took a deep breath and smelled the salty air. Then, he picked up a rock and skipped it across the water. He used to not be very good at it, but he got better over time.
When he was younger, he used to lose his temper a lot. Crabdad would send him out to the beach to yell and throw rocks. His yells became trigger rants once he learned he had a talent for public speaking and he began trying to skip the rocks instead of throwing them to help with his self control.
He never knew it, but one troll always watched him. Meenah. She was the only troll that knew of his aggressive grubhood, but she never told him. Every time he would come to the beach, she would watch him from underwater and count how many times the rock skipped before it finally submersed in the water. To think that a landweller could love the water as much as a seadweller.
After skipping rocks for an hour, Kankri wiped the stray grains of sand off his sweater and made his way back home; slowly going over all of triggers. "Hey, Kankri!" He turned when he heard his name and saw Meenah running after him.
"Meenah? What are you doing? You usually don't talk to me."
"I know, but listen. I have somefin I want to give you."
"Oh? What is it?" Meenah paused and looked at him. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a smooth black rock. "Is that for me?"
"Yeah, I see you skipping rocks all the time. I found this and thought of you. Do what you want with it. I just thought you should have it." She tossed it to him and turned to leave.
"Thank you," Kankri called as she walked away.
"Don't mention it!" she called back. She turned and waved before going back to the beach and back underwater. Kankri smiled and walked back to his hive. When he got there, he went upstairs to his room and put the rock on his windowsill.
"A special place for a special thing." He frowned and shook his head. "It would never work out between us."
Karkat woke up to someone lightly tapping his shoulder. "Huh?" He blinked and opened his eyes and saw Feferi leaning into his recuperacoon.
"Hey sleepy head! I'm sorry to wake you, I just wanted your opinion on somefin."
"It's fine. What is it?" Karkat got out of his recuperacoon and wiped the slime off him.
"Well, there's this troll I really like. I want to ask him to be my Matesprit, but I don't know how to do it..." she said with a frown.
"What's he like?" She perked up at the chance to explain the troll.
"He's amazing! Some people think he's rude, but he's always nice to me. He wears this long black shirt and always hides his face in his clothes when he get embarrassed. It's one of the cutest things I've ever seen! Oh, and his hair is amazing too! It curls up so perfectly and everything just falls into place. He acts tough, but really he's just a big sweetheart." She giggled to herself. "I guess he's just perfect."
Karkat tried to hide his sadness. This was just like his dreams. Each time, he came closer and closer to getting her, but each time he failed. He cleared his throat. "So, if you want to ask Eridan to be your matesprit-"
"Eridan?" she asked. "I wasn't talking about Eri-fish."
"Then who?" Feferi giggled and walked closer to Karkat.
"Silly, Karcrab, I was talking about YOU! I have a flush crush on YOU!" His face turned beet red. "I would understand if you don't feel the same. I just thought I should tell you." She turned to leave, but he grabbed her wrist. She spun and looked at him with a look of pure sadness.
He pulled her into a hug. "Please don't be sad. I have a flush crush on you too." They separated. "Matesprits?"
"Matesprits!" She kissed him and he spun her around before gently returning her to the ground. She jumped up and down with excitement. "I'm so happy! Wow, I feel so lucky to have you as my matesprit!"
"Oh, but you are! You are very special. Don't tell yourself otherwise." She gave him a fake stern look, then smiled. Then, she grabbed his hand and started pulling him out of the room and down the hall. "C'mon!"
"To tell everyone about our matespritship, Silly!" She smiled and Karkat couldn't help but smile too.
"Alright, let's go." The two walked down the hall together and opened the doors to the lab. Everyone looked up to see who it was. When they saw that they were holding hands, they got curious.
"Why are you two holdin hands?" Eridan asked.
"Because we're matesprits now," Karkat responded.