Chapter Text
The rain crashes down the panes of glass. The young cat girl looks down at her newly deceased mother, her curls cascading off the hospital bed. Her older sister, Meulin, stands on the opposite side of the bed. A faint tear running down her cheek, she stares blankly at her face, her dear mother's face. Orange-red curls framing her face, she pulls her olive jacket tighter around her. No thirteen year old should have to go through this, no one. The seventeen year old walks around to the other side of the bed, holding her younger sister's hand. Tears streaming down both of their faces, the doctor walks in.
"I- I'm sorry she had to go this way…" Dr. Maryam states apologetically. "No one should. Her heart stopped about twenty minutes before you got here, there isn't an explained reason why…"
Nepeta sniffs, her hand caressing her deceased mother's. "Why'd she have to die…?"
Dr. Maryam looked down at the weeping girl, sadness struck her eyes. "As I said, none of us know. As far as we do know, her heart just gave out. Ceased to work. At least you two have each other…"
Meulin, reading the doctor's lips, yelled, "Will you know what happened?!"
"I'm not sure, we could run toxicology, but to get better results, we'll have to do an autopsy."
"W-what's that?" the younger questions.
"It's where we cut her open and examine her insides, so we can see just what's going on."
"W-will she look okay for the funeral? I mean, if Meulin and I can pay," Nepeta states.
"We'll do our best, the autopsy would most likely be of just her chest, but if there are no explanations there, we'll have to cut open the skull, which we'll do in the back. Her face will be fully intact, along with most of her hair."
Nepeta forlornly looks at her dead mother's face, a sad look in her eye. "I hope she's okay now…"
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-
It's been a week since the death of my mother, a-and I guess I'm recovering well. Today is the first day of school since then, and I hope to keep her out of my mind all day. I've had my friend Kanaya bring my schoolwork to me, since she lives close. We aren't the best of furriends, but I've say we've grown on each other since. Terezi, Aradia, Equius, Gamzee, and Tavros have all been over. They've given me good emotional support. But now it's time to get back to school, and meet this new student they've all been talking about. I'm not sure what gender he/she is, but I'm sure exited to meet this new person.
I don't think anyone really knows what happened, and I don't intend to tell anyone. That's the last thing I need, a procession following me through the halls, saying sorry, asking if I need help, just saying anything that reminds me of her.
I sit up in my bed, setting the covers to the side, loathing the new day. My normal up-beat attitude had completely diminished when my mother died, and had been slowly coming back since. I stand up and slip my feet in my kitty slippers, then walk into the kitchen and grab a bowl. I set it on the counter and turn to the refrigerator, grabbing the milk and opening it up. I almost start pouring the milk into the bowl before I realize it's a bowl, not a cup. I get a cup out of the cupboard and pour the milk into that, setting it on the counter and putting the milk away. Meulin walks down the stairs, she had turned eighteen two days after mom died, what a crappy birthday present. At least she and I can still live here.
"Hey, you going to need a ride to school?" Meulin asked, her voice has been unusually quiet since the death.
"Yeah, thanks. You sure you'll make it to school on time?"
"Yeah, it's a late day today," she answered back.
I turn back to my bowl, interested in eating. I grasp the bag of Fruity Flakes, a generic store brand, and pour some into my bowl. I grab a spoon and sit on a stool, starting to chomp away.
After my breakfast is done I trudge back upstairs, looking for clothes. I walk into my be-kittened room and over to the clothes basket full of clothes I hadn't bothered to put away. I dig through it, finding my favorite trench coat that belonged in the closet, my nice black shirt, and a pair of jeans. I then grab a pair of underwear, a bra, and a white tank-top to wear under my shirt. I change, brush my hair, put on my cat collar, and head back downstairs. I pick up my backpack and head outside to the car. Meulin is sitting where mom always used to sit, in the driver's seat. Out of habit I get into the back.
"Why don't you sit up here and give me company, please?" Meulin asks.
"Oh," I get out and move to the passenger seat.
She starts driving, going directly to my middle school. After I get dropped off she drives away, leaving me to my own defenses after waving. I turn to the school and walk in. As soon as I step in the door, Terezi is on me, giving me a gigantic hug.
"Heh Heh! Gotcha! I'm glad you're here today, huntress," she says in her somewhat snarky, slightly nasally voice.
I didn't reply, just smiled and poked her. She had a confused look on her face, so I laughed, signifying that I wasn't completely depressed. She ceased hugging me and we walked into the cafeteria, where most of our friends were waiting. There was this boy I didn't recognize, he looked like an albino. He was sitting across from Sollux, a little pout on his face. I smile and sit over by Equius, who's on the other end of the table.
"Greetings, Nepeta," he greeted me. "I see you are feeling better."
"Yeah, I'm getting over it," I reply.
We sit there chatting for a bit and the bell rings. He automatically stands and asks if I need help to my classroom. I say no as usual and he briskly heads off. I turn and start heading off, as I walk I accidentally run into the new kid, making him drop all of his stuff.
"Hey, watch it!" he retorts.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I-I'll help you pick it up," I apologetically reply.
"You better," he replies, looking up at me. I drop down and start collecting his stuff, starting with the strewn out papers from the inside flap of his binder. Then I move on to his books. "Why are you even helping me? You're going to be late for class."
"I made you drop them, so it's common courtesy to pick them up," I say, handing him the last heavy book.
"Oh, normally people wouldn't help me. Oh well, I gotta go," he quickly walks in the opposite direction from me and turns a corner, obviously going to a different class.
I walk to my class, making it in the nick of time. I sit down and listen to the lecture of the teacher. Then we watch him do an experiment, and then the period ends. I walk to art and paint a bit, following instructions, though it's hard. I always want to paint a ship. Well, that period ended, which forced me into the dreaded subject of math. I made it through that period and then I have lunch.
I scurry down the stairs and rocket into the lunchroom. I find where we usually sit and plop down. I look up and see Terezi walking in with Vriska and Equius. I look around, not seeing anyone else, that's right, the rest of them have second lunch. Equius ends up here first, carefully setting his binder down with an extremely loud thud. I stand up with him and we walk to the main lunch line, walking up to Terezi and Vriska, deeply in a role play as a pirate and a justice bringer. I just stand there, my mother all that was in my mind. I tried to talk with Equius, but I couldn't get it out of my mind.
I then notice the new kid has cut in line behind us. I turn around and solemnly wave, not within my normal happy state. He uncrosses his arms long enough to wave back and immediately goes back to his original position, the small frown never leaving his face. I force a smile and turn around, now just listening to Equius ramble about hierarchy of medieval times, with the knights, pages, kings, thieves, and rogues. We finally make it into the kitchen and continue to wait in our lines, I being in the sandwich line with Equius. The boy automatically cuts to the other side and into the nacho line. I receive my sandwich, with both types of deli meat, both types of cheeses, and lettuce because Equius insisted. God, I hate vegetables.
I walk out, punch in my id number in the computer to pay for the meal, and continue to where I had set my binder, sitting down in front of it. Me being the first one out as usual, start eating, Equius sits on the opposite side of the table from me. He tries to rile up a conversation, but I just nibble at my sandwich, barely paying attention. Terezi and Vriska eventually join us, with their burgers. The burgers aren't that good, but the tater tots are amazing, or so I've heard. I'm not particularly fond of anything not meat.
I continue nibbling on my sandwich as the new boy sits down. Now I finally get a nice look at him. He's obviously albino, his hair is dyed brown, but the roots are showing through, his eyes are red, and he has this little fed up expression on his face. He sits about three feet to my left, probably not wanting to intrude. He has a black shirt on with a grey hoodie, also he's wearing a darker grey pair of jeans. I couldn't really see his shoes though. I set down my sandwich and scoot over toward him, now oblivious to the others.
"Hi, again," I say weakly, hoping to get a conversation going.
"What do you want?" he says wryly.
"Just wanted to make sure you were okay. You looked down, and I wanted to invite you to scoot over towards us," I reply.
"HE said I didn't belong with you guys," he retorts, pointing toward Equius.
"I'll get him to let you sit by us. He won't say no to me," I say, failing at keeping my voice at its cheeriest.
"You sure? I don't want that fucking guy beating me," his face a bit hesitant.
"Just scoot over!"
I scoot back over and he follows suit, Equius staring. "What is HE doing here?"
"I'm letting him sit here, and you can't say otherwise," I pipe up. I usually don't defy him too much, but I'm pretty fed up with him, not for any real reason, I just am.
"Fine, he can stay here for toda-"
"He'll be sitting with us for as long as he wants," I say, cutting him off. I don't think he deserves to be this rude to someone he barely knows.
He stays quiet after that. I look over at the new kid. "What's your name? I don't think you mentioned it thus fur."
"Karkat, you?"
"Nepeta," I say.
He smiles for a millisecond before he goes to his food. I turn and look at Terezi and Vriska, they're in deep conversation. Equius is eating, and I still have a nibbled on sandwich. I decide not to eat it and give Karkat my milk. I stand up and dump my tray, walking back to where I was sitting. I sit back down next to Karkat and fake a smile at him. He has a confused look on his face, and he asks why I dumped my sandwich. I said I was too depressed to eat. He asked why, and I was silent.
"Something wrong?" he asked. I couldn't stand it and started bawling my eyes out on his shoulder. I probably startled the crap out of him, but he pat my shoulder. Equius was standing above me before I knew it, and was yelling at Karkat immediately for making my cry. I pause my sobbing long enough to say it wasn't his fault, be he wouldn't listen, and before I knew it I was in the counsellor's office.
The counsellor's office was a blur, all I remember is Equius bringing me up and crying for almost a period, and eventually being picked up by Meulin, who was at lunch at the time, so she just dropped me off at the house and went back to school. I laid there for probably three hours. Eventually I heard a knock at the door, so I got up and answered it. When the door opened I saw it was the new kid, Karkat.
"How do you know where I live?" I inquired.
"I asked the blind one, Terezi. We have sixth period together," he replied, stepping in after I let him.
"I have that class too," I say.
"Yeah, I thought I recognized your name."
I say nothing.
"Umm… If you don't mind me fucking asking, but why the fuck did you start bawling at lunch?"
"Umm…," I mumble, not quite wanting to remind myself of her. I start to feel tears coming up again.
"Wait! Fuck, fuck, fuck. Don't cry!"
I stand there, wiping my eyes. I can hold back the tears now. "M-my mom died a week ago…," I reply quietly.
"Oh… I know how you feel," he states.
"Y-you do?" I inquire.
"Yeah, my dad got killed by a stray bullet about a year ago. Y'know, bad neighborhoods," he calmly replies.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"
"No, you're the one who should be bawling her eyes out. Everyone said you were sick, so I was just startled by the sudden outburst today. I now know why you did that, and you deserve to cry."
I let some tears fall down my face, and I bury my head in his chest. I can tell he's uncomfortable by my action, but I desperately need someone to cry on. I wonder where Equius is, and I ask about it between sobs.
"His dad forced him to come home right after school, otherwise he'd be here instead of me."
I'm glad for his empathy, and I start hugging him, another action he flinches from. He lightly puts his arm around my shoulders, patting one. At this time I remember Meulin has an after school activity, then I realize that Karkat and I are in the middle of my dining room. I stop hugging him and step back, wiping the tears from my eyes. I offer him a stool to sit on in the kitchen, and walk around to the other side of the counter. I can tell he's a little uncomfortable, being in an almost complete stranger's house and all. I ask what he wants to eat.
"What do you have?"
I turn and walk toward the pantry, and look at the food, pulling out the long shelf from the wall. He stares at the awesome gadget, and I realize he probably doesn't have one at home. "My mom made it, she liked coming up with new things for the house, and you'll see stuff like this all over."
"Oh, why not some top ramen?" he asks, pointing toward the barely visible package.
"Sure, but we have better stuff," I reply, gesturing toward the rest of the shelf.
"You said choose something that makes me comfy, and that's really all we eat at my house."
"Oh, mind if I add some meat chunks?"
"No, go ahead."
"Doesn't your mom worry about you not being home?"
"She left about a year after I was born so my older brother, Kankri, and I wouldn't weigh her down, us being kids and all. So she forced full custody onto my father, and we haven't seen her since. I don't even know what she looks like," Karkat explained.
"Oh, who takes care of you then?" I inquire intently.
"Kankri, he's twenty one now. He was nine when she left, but he and I do fine on our own.'
"But doesn't he still worry?" I ask, still having my question unanswered.
"I told him where I was going. He's in college, and he wasn't in any classes."
"Oh. Okay," I reply.
"Aren't you going to cook the ramen?"
"What ramen?" I say, happy as ever for some reason.
"The ramen in your hand," he points to the orange package in my hand.
"OH! That ramen… Yeah, I'm going to right now," I turn and grab a small pot, filling it with water in the sink and put it on the stove. I realize I'm cooking for a boy who willingly came to my house that wasn't Equius.
"Yeah, no duh. What flavor is that ramen?"
"Chicken, I figured if I have chicken might as well make noodles the same flavor," I reply.
"Makes sense. So what are we going to do after we eat?"
"You're going to stay afterwards?"
"That's what I was thinking, but I can go…"
"NO, I mean, no. It's sort of nice to have someone over to keep my mind off things," I reply, no longer feeling all that sad.
"Okay. So, what do you want to do?"
"You efur heard of roleplaying?" I excitedly exclaim.
"Oh, y-yeah..?" Karkat hesitantly says.
"Not like that," I quickly reply, a blush flowering across my red hot cheeks. "I mean, choosing a distinct character and acting like them, for fun."
"Oh, I've never heard of that kind of roleplaying."
"Nefur?" I ask, shock filling my voice.
"No, well, Terezi said you were her role-play partner, I thought she meant something else entirely…"
"No, I'd nefur do that with her. She's really nice, but I don't really like anyone like that fur right now."
"One, what's with all the 'nefur' shit? Two, for right now?"
"Okay, I like using cat puns, if it annoys you I'll stop. I don't really like anyone at the moment but that purrsibly could change," I reply, slightly hesitant on using the cat pun.
"You don't have to stop, I think they're cute," he says, my heart slightly fluttered at the second part. "And, what do you mean by 'change'?"
"I mean, I guess I could start liking someone."
"Oh, okay."
I turn toward the pot, it's starting to boil. I open the package, remove the unopened flavor packet, and put the noodles in carefully. I take the fork I had grabbed out previously while talking, and started stirring, the noodles still in the shape of the package. I walk to the fridge and open it, grabbing the chicken I had baked last night. Opening the bag, I grabbed out two drum sticks, setting them on a plate. I set them on the counter, pulling the chunks of chicken off in small pieces. Once done, I put them in the noodles, pouring the flavor packet in.
Karkat and I talk once the noodles are cooked, which was very quickly. He even cracks a cat joke. A CAT JOKE! I almost squealed, I was so happy and surprised. It takes us a lot longer than it should to eat, and when he finally finishes, he checks his old flip phone, grumbling and saying he has to go home to get ranted at by his older brother. Right before he goes I ask if he has a pester chum. He says yes, and his chum handle is carcinoGeneticist. He rapidly leaves, leaving me standing there at the door, watching him walk slowly down the street.
When he turns the corner, out of sight, I close the door. I walk upstairs and sit on my authentic fur beanbag that I made myself. I even killed the animal too! The soft elk fur comforting my skin, I grab my sketchbook. I start sketching, keeping my mind off my mom. I hear Meulin come in down stairs.