Chapter Text
The second the door flies open you regret coming out here. Vriska is overbearing from the start, pulling Kanaya into a big obnoxious embrace and talking animatedly about how boring her day has been until now with the best moirail in existence to light up her life. In fact, Vriska almost sandwiches you between the door and its frame, and she ignores you as she pulls Kanaya into the apartment. You’ve been to Gamzee’s old apartment, and while Vriska’s isn’t full of trash the way his was, you think that might just be because the definition of trash is debatable here. No used paper towels or old wrappers here, or even dirty dishes, but there are corners where the knick knacks are literally piled up like some kind of sad dragon’s hoard.
In the middle of the hoard is a fairly clean, bright red couch that has no room for you once Vriska sprawls across it next to Kanaya. She knew you were coming, but she’s made no effort to get dressed, wearing the world’s rattiest fake band shirt that doesn’t quite meet the top of her sweats. She puts her feet up on Kanaya’s lap, though she’s mindful enough to keep her soles off the fabric of her skirt.
“So, Kanaya tells me you’re in dire need of my services,” Vriska says with a lick of her canines as she finally acknowledges you. “And let me tell you how lucky you are that you’re Kanaya’s matesprit! Because honestly, my help wouldn’t come without cost otherwise. But Kanaya,” she says, wiggling her toes, “is payment enough.”
You try not to let it burn you when Kanaya gives Vriska a warm smile at that.
“So what could you possibly need li’l ol’ me for?” she drawls, clasping her hands behind her head in an affectation so cartoonish it’s hard to not yank her arms down. “What happened to that saying about never trusting a Serket?”
“We need your help,” you begin with a sigh. “It’s—”
“No shit! My help? Are you serious? Wow, that’s definitely not what Kanaya told me when she said you guys needed my help!” she interrupts, wide-eyed as she quirks her eyebrows at you. “That’s fucking amazing!”
“—It’s Feferi,” you say as you grit your teeth. “She was kidnapped, and we know she’s in New Alternia 5. We went to Gamzee, but Dave won’t let him help us, and we figured you might know a secret way in and out of the district.”
“And why would I know that?” From the second you mentioned NA5 she’s gone tense, pulling her legs back to curl them under her, and her arms drop to fold over her chest. “I’m not a hyena.”
This sigh is deeper than the last. “Because you’re smart and clever, and I trust Kanaya’s moirail.” You could bite your tongue to bleeding over that last lie. “You must have survived that hellhole for a reason.”
“Well, congratulations on your stupid decision,” she says, shrinking even further into herself as she scowls up at you. “I’m not gonna be your chump, though. You can forget it.”
“Vriska.” Kanaya pulls the other troll into an embrace so tender you have to look away. “I know how you feel about your home district.” She runs her fingers through Vriska’s straightened hair, gentle as she lays her cheek to the other’s forehead.
“Like hell,” Vriska snorts, but you can see her visibly relaxing.
“We need your help to get Feferi back,” Kanaya says softly, shifting her face down until she’s almost speaking the words into Vriska’s mouth, and she rocks her from side to side almost imperceptibly. “She’s been kidnapped by the Grand Highblood, and she’s in trouble...”
You can’t look at this. You excuse yourself to the bathroom with a quick step. As you sit on the toilet lid and massage your temples you tell yourself Kanaya is doing whatever it takes to get Vriska’s cooperation; that Kanaya is in a legitimate relationship with Vriska that has nothing to do with what you have with her. Stupid human, stupid ignorant jealous human that can’t fathom basic alien relationships.
It’s a good fifteen minutes by your phone that you spend in that cramped bathroom before there’s a soft knock on the door. That can only be Kanaya, and you murmur a short Yeah.
“She’s agreed to help us,” she says as she opens the door, her hand staying on the knob to swing it back and forth with distraction. “She just needs some time to get in contact with a few trolls, is how she put it.”
“How long?” You stand, but suddenly you feel very awkward about touching your girlfriend. Matesprit. You feel like an old toy.
“About a week.” Kanaya lets go of the door to take both your hands in hers. “Then she’s going to take us into the district.”
“How?” you want to know, but Kanaya just shakes her head.
“She wouldn’t say.”
“Why does she need a week, though? Anything could happen to Feferi in a week!” you protest as Kanaya leads you out of the bathroom.
“Those are the terms I could get her to agree to,” she says. “We’re lucky she didn’t ask for longer.”
You sigh. “Alright. Does that mean we can go?”
That’s when Kanaya lets go of you, twisting her fingers together as she glances at the floor. “Actually, I wanted to stay a little longer with Vriska. Alone,” she adds. And it’s like a slap.
“Oh,” is all you can manage after one very long, faltering moment. “For moirail business.”
“That’s one way to refer to it,” Kanaya says with this coy little smile. Her eyes are far away, where they can’t see you swallowing the lump that suddenly appears in your throat, or the way you blink rapidly before looking toward the door. “Is that alright, Rose?”
“No, of course it is, don’t be silly,” you say, already stretching up to grab your coat from where it’s draped over Kanaya’s. When you can’t get it down from the peg Vriska put up for trolls her own height of six foot eight, Kanaya reaches over your head to pull it gently down for you. “When do you think you’ll be home?”
“I don’t really know,” she says as she hands down your scarf and earmuffs. “I think we have some things to talk through, so it might be a while.”
“Okay,” you tell the door, wrapping your scarf around before buttoning up your coat. “I’ll see you at home, then.”
She embraces you from behind, hands clasping over your collarbone, and you hook your hands over her wrists for a moment before you eke out a goodbye and scurry out the door.
Most people would counsel against calling your ex in the state you’re in, but you’re pretty sure you so thoroughly embarrassed yourself toward the end of your relationship with Aradia that there’s no chance of either of you making a stupid mistake. You don’t think you can stand to be alone right now.
The phone call is short. You don’t explain much, but you choke on your words when you ask her if she could please just keep you company, and she interrupts you to tell you she’s on her way.
“I feel so stupid,” you murmur into your tea, curled up in the corner of your couch. Aradia sits in the opposite corner, legs stretched out in the space between you.
“Stupid isn’t the word I would use,” she says, arching her brows when you look at her over the rim of your cup. “Maybe wise. Wary. Worried for your matesprit.”
“I’m not worried about Vriska hurting Kanaya, Kanaya can certainly take care of herself,” you snort as you put your tea aside. “I just... I know it’s a different quadrant. I see my brother navigating quadrants pretty much effortlessly and i just wonder what it is that I don’t get.”
“Rose—if you don’t mind me saying this—I’m pretty sure your brother plays the game because he likes the prize,” Aradia says, lifting her hands to make a circle with one and poke a finger through with her other.
“Aradia!”
“Well, it’s true!” she says with a shrug, though thankfully she stops making that gesture. “Dave doesn’t care if Gamzee and Karkat want conjugal pale visits or however you want to put it, because he knows Gamzee will still come back to him, and because he’s got Tavros to play with besides.”
“That seems like kind of an emotionless way to describe one of the most overly emotional people I know,” you say, tapping exasperated fingers on your knee. “I suppose Tavros tells you these things.”
“Pretty much,” she replies with a grin.
“So what’s wrong with me, then?” you groan. “I’m supposed to be the open-minded one. Dave wouldn’t even touch trolls when I was going out with you.”
“That’s your first problem,” she says, jabbing a finger your way. “Get over yourself.”
“I thought you were here to make me feel better,” you grumble, going for your tea again.
“You asked, I answered. If you don’t like the answer, you don’t have to ask the question,” Aradia says with another shrug. “Have you thought that maybe you and Dave came into having to share quadrants on different terms?”
“What do you mean?” You take a sip.
“Dave started going out with Tavros because Gamzee thought he needed a red quadrantmate, despite being human, so to him quadrants are probably just ways to get laid more than he would otherwise. Or okay, not ‘just’ that,” she adds, holding up a hand before you can get defensive on your twin’s behalf. “But for him it’s definitely a win-win situation, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And then you have to deal with Vriska, which is a losing situation no matter which way you look at it,” she laughs. “The end.”
You toss a throw pillow at her for being so unhelpful, but she just laughs some more, and you can’t help but smile. At least you’re not alone in how you feel about your girlfriend’s new moirail. You put your tea down to shift on the couch and lean up on Aradia; she turns on the TV, but it’s just New York 1, the volume low, and for a while you just sit quietly like that. She’s always been a soothing presence.
“So what was it you wanted from Vriska anyway? I can’t imagine you’d just third-wheel it for the fun of it,” Aradia wants to know as she mutes the TV. Pat Kiernan’s face is all you need, anyway.
“Oh, we need her help for something,” you say as you sit up. “Kanaya got her to agree while I hid in the bathroom because I couldn’t deal with the snuggle factor of 11 that was happening. We just have to wait for an entire week while she probably sits on her ass and enjoys that she’s making me wait a week for her help.”
“Why would you ask Vriska Serket of all people for help?” You’ve never met a more judgmental gray face, you’re pretty sure. “There is not one possible thing she could help with that I couldn’t do better. Why didn’t you come to me?”
You fiddle with the blanket that’s not quite pulled over your legs, sighing as you answer. “Because she’s from NA5. We need someone from that district to help us.”
“You did not just tell me you plan to try a rescue mission for Feferi with only Kanaya and Vriska,” Aradia says with narrowed eyes. “Rose, that’s stupid.”
“I thought stupid wasn’t the word you would use for me.” A top notch dodge on your part.
“For this? Yeah, no, this is stupid.” She shakes her head and groans. “What was she going to do for you, find you a secret entrance or something?”
“Well, yes.”
“There are no ‘secret entrances’ in districts! She’s tricking you.”
“Maybe it’s different in NA5, and I can’t see why she’d try to deceive Kanaya if she actually cares about her so much. Please, Aradia, I have to try anything.” You finally look up at her properly, sucking your lower lip between your teeth. “Feferi got kidnapped on my watch. They could be doing anything to her.”
“Fine.” Aradia stands abruptly, hands planted firmly on her hips. “But I’m going, too.”
“Aradia, you don’t have to do—” you start to say, but she holds up a stiff hand. “NA5 is dangerous for warmbloods like you!”
“You think you’re any safer because you’re human? Those hyenas will tear you apart, and Kanaya won’t be able to protect you, as much as I know she’ll sincerely try.” She bares her teeth. “I’m going to make sure Vriska doesn’t screw you over. I’ll just need that week she’s bullshitting you for, too, to go off my meds.”
That makes you jump. “Go off—? Doesn’t the buildup take weeks to leave your system?”
“I know how to speed up the process,” she says, grim in her expression as she shifts from foot to foot. “Don’t worry about that.”
“Won’t the withdrawal hurt you? Won’t someone find out—”
“Rose!” she suddenly barks, and you subside into a mollified little pile of person on the couch. She sighs heavily, pulling a hand through her hair. “I just... I fell apart when they took Tavros. I didn’t do anything, and everybody got hurt because I was too stunned to move. So now,” she continues, clapping her hands together with resolution, “I’m going to make sure everybody goddamn survives. Nobody’s going to get hurt because of me again.” And she swallows hard, because Aradia Megido doesn’t cry.
“Okay.” You hold up your arms, and she takes a good solid moment before falling into them gratefully.
By the time Kanaya comes home—her move back was quiet, almost disregarded—Aradia is long gone, and curiously she has nothing to say about Vriska. In fact—and you keep to yourself how relieved it makes you—it’s as if Vriska doesn’t exist, and Kanaya’s only coming home from work. If anything she’s more amorous—you almost burn dinner when you nearly succumb to the idea of letting Kanaya bend you over the counter. Maybe you can deal with sharing her with Vriska after all.
Of course, you don’t feel that way when a week later, Vriska shows up at your door a full three hours earlier than agreed upon. She looks kind of sweaty and ill, but she still sweeps past you into your own apartment and sits on your couch to chat up your girlfriend. She ignores your questions about what she plans to do to get you into the district, and you’re starting to doubt she has any plan at all as you watch her wobble around the living room with pupils like pinpricks. You’re all too glad when Aradia arrives, though she doesn’t look any fresher than Vriska, honestly.
Unauthorized humans aren’t allowed on the shuttle between the PATH station and the district, but luckily the driver is a troll who doesn’t much question the quick flash of your Bureau badge in the dark, and he doesn’t care about the blood color of any given troll who wants to go to NA5, so long as they don’t cause a ruckus on his bus.
The problem is, Vriska is leading you right up to the front gate, which is exactly where you wanted to avoid. You can see a very bored looking troll leaning on his hand in the security booth, and you stop short to hiss, “Vriska! I thought you said you knew a different way in!”
“Oh, I never said that,” Vriska drawls, much too loud. “I said I could get you in. Maybe you’ve got some hearing deficiency you wanna get checked out, huh?” And she marches right up to the guard.
“Aw, hey, Vris,” he says. “Who’s your—?” He falters, suddenly sitting up stiffly. In contrast to Vriska’s eyes his pupils blow out wide until there’s barely even any yellow to be seen, and there’s a tremor to his hands as he places them on his tiny desk. His face is shiny with sweat.
“Thanks, Nimius,” Vriska says, ambling past as if she’s not shaking just as badly. “You were always the sweetest. Come on, guys, let’s get this shit done.”
“I knew there were no secret entrances,” Aradia snorts as she brings up the rear. “Typical Vriska.”
“Hey, I got us in, didn’t I? Lay off.” She clutches at her sleeves, teeth chattering, and you know it has nothing to do with the temperature. “Come on, slow pokes, I wanna put some distance between us and ol’ Nimmy before I let him go.”
The district is about as bad as you expected. The buildings are barely worthy of the title, and there’s garbage everywhere; the smell is nearly indescribable, somewhere between an unwashed armpit and rotting meat. You walk in the center of your three troll escorts, who do their best—even Vriska—to hide you from prying eyes. Not that it works very well, because you definitely meet eyes with at least a few trolls, but they’re all apathetic sacks of bones that just snort and scratch themselves. Not much of a threat there.
“Where do you think they would have Feferi?” you whisper, squeezing Kanaya’s hand. You have to jog every now and then to keep up with the trolls; even Aradia, the shortest of them as a lowblood, is at least six inches taller than you.
“I know just the shit shack,” Vriska mutters, whipping her head a few times as if to shake off a fly. She huffs once, and you can see her shoulders sag, which makes you think she must have released the gate guard from what is undoubtedly her mind control. She needed a week to try and detox as much as Aradia did.
The shack she leads you to is marginally better than the others, but what makes it hard to look at is what’s plugging the cracks and holes in the structure, bulbous and porous much like wasp nests you’ve seen upstate. You don’t know how it’s achieved, and for once you really don’t want to know. But Vriska points, and says that Feferi’s probably in there, so maybe you should go knock.
“I’m not knocking on that,” you say, pulling closer to Kanaya. “What if you’re wrong?”
“Fine, be a coward. Figures not all humans are brave and fun,” she snarls as she walks backwards toward the door. She doesn’t even turn around, swinging her fist over her shoulder to pound on the door. “Feferi, are you in there! Get your fishy ass out here!”
“Who’s there?” The voice that responds is Feferi’s, full of fear and warning, and you can hear her scrabbling toward the door. Your heart swells.
“Is that her?” Vriska asks, and you nod. “Great. I’m gonna go do a thing. I’ll meet you losers back here in five.” Before anyone can protest, she’s gone, hands shoved in her pockets as she stalks off.
But you don’t care, because the door is opening, and there’s Feferi. Whole and alive, without a mark on her. She’s still wearing her nightclothes from the night she was stolen, definitely looking worse for wear, and her braid is halfway unraveled, but she’s here. She looks down at your beaming face with an uncertain flap of her fins, and just says, “Rose?”
“It’s me, Feferi,” you say softly as you step forward. “We came to take you home, everything’s okay now.”
“How did you get in?” she asks, making no move toward you. “Humans aren’t allowed in here without papers and clearance, they told me. Did you get papers?”
“Not exactly,” you say. “But it doesn’t matter! You can come home now, and I’ll fix you whatever you want, and I’ll fix your braid, and everything will be fine.”
But she just scowls at you, says, “I’m not going anywhere with you.” She turns her back on you, goes back inside and starts to shut the door.
You dart in after her, leaving a protesting Kanaya and Aradia outside. The smell of rotting meat becomes inexplicably intense. “What do you mean, you’re not leaving? Is it because of Kanaya?” Definitely they didn’t leave each other on good terms, but you wouldn’t think that would be enough to keep Feferi from coming home. From missing you.
“No, I said I’m not going anywhere with you. Listen to what I said.” She still won’t face you, flopping on a dirty loveseat with only one cushion. An older TV is paused on a frame of Finding Nemo, the static at the bottom giving it away as a VHS. “Go away, Rose.”
“You’re not telling me you want to stay in this pigsty, are you?” you ask, coming around to stand next to the cushion-less side of the couch. Where is that smell coming from?
“I don’t know what that means,” she says, very pointedly angling her body away from you. “I’m staying here.”
“It means I don’t want you to get sick and die out here! When’s the last time you ate?” You put your hand on her shoulder, which she shrugs off immediately.
“This morning. Why do you care?” She watches the paused screen like it’s the most interesting thing in the world.
“I don’t know what’s happened to you in the time I haven’t been able to come get you, and I’m sorry I wasn’t able to come sooner. But you have to believe I care about you a lot, Feferi! I miss you, very much,” you say, twisting your hands together now that she won’t let you touch her.
“You knew,” she says quietly, which is no answer at all to what you just said, so at first you don’t even know what she said.
“Knew what?”
“You knew what they did to Dualscar!” Suddenly it feels like there’s no room left in the shack, Feferi towering over you and filling up the whole room. “He told me! He showed me! He told me you knew what they did, you were part of the plan!”
“I don’t know what happened to Dualscar!” you wail, backing up against the wall until you hit one of the organic outcroppings. “Who told you, Feferi? Who’s ‘he’?”
“Yes, you know! You do know!” Feferi snarls, and you’ve never been more aware of her sharp teeth. “Look at it!” She reaches down into a shopping bag next to the arm of the couch, and pulls something out.
Now you know the source of the smell, because it’s being thrust in your face, and it’s all you can do not to vomit. Dualscar’s head has been away from the body for a long time, the violet eyes staring straight ahead. Maggots wriggle inside the eyelids and from the stump of his neck.
“They killed him, and you lied to me!” she shrieks, so loud you think your eardrums might rupture. One of her clammy hands wraps around your forearm when you try to look away, your eyes rolling, your throat burning with bile. “You lied to me! You knew! You knew—!”
You try to pull away, and Feferi yanks you back so hard your face collides with Dualscar’s, at the same time that pain cracks like lightning in your arm, throwing out jagged roots that spread to your wrist and up past your elbow. You scream—and the door bursts open, Feferi flying back to slam against the wall. Dualscar’s head drops with an ugly thunk and rolls under the couch. Aradia appears in the doorway, her breath heavy and her hands raised. “Rose, let’s go!”
Under different circumstances you might refuse, might say something about still needing to talk it out with Feferi, but in this moment you just run straight for the door. You feel invisible forces supporting you, cradling your screaming arm, and those same forces push the door shut behind you as you stumble into Kanaya’s embrace.
“I don’t know what happened,” you babble as Kanaya inspects your arm. “I think they brainwashed her, she kept saying I knew about Dualscar being—”
“We have to get out of here,” Aradia says, scanning your surroundings. “That was pretty noisy, and someone who actually cares is probably going to come out and investigate.”
“Her arm is broken,” Kanaya says, one hand steady on your good shoulder. “We can’t get back out without Vriska, where is she?”
“This is what happens when you trust a Serket,” Aradia mutters. “I can probably blast us through the gate, but I’m going to scout ahead a minute. Stay here with Rose.” She points at the shack. “Feferi should be knocked out after how hard I hit her, so she shouldn’t bother you.” And she dashes off.
“I’m so sorry, Rose,” Kanaya whispers.
“You were right,” you sniffle. “I treated her like a pet. This is all my fault.”
She doesn’t say anything, because you’re right, but she still hushes you and holds you closer, your back pressed to her stomach.
“Aradia’s taking longer than a minute,” you say after a good three, frowning. “Do you think something happened?”
Kanaya doesn’t have a chance to respond. Aradia comes sprinting from around the corner of another shack nearby, eyes wide with panic. Sweat drips from her forehead, and her whole body convulses. Kanaya narrows her eyes as Aradia nears. “What—?”
“Run, you have to run!” Aradia shouts. “Someone called the Bureau, there’s agents coming this way!”
“The only way out is through the front gate!” Kanaya says, scooping you up like a bride over threshold without asking. Now’s not the time to ask for permission, though. “How do we—.”
“Rose can’t be seen!” Aradia finally reaches you and pushes violently at Kanaya’s back, urging her on. “Fuck the guard, just get her out of here!”
“It went this way!” you hear in the distance, accompanied by the tromping sound of disciplined feet hitting the dirt. “Bring it around!”
Kanaya gathers you up closer, which jostles your broken arm—but you bite your lip until it feels like you’re going to bite through—and she takes off in a faster run than you thought her capable of. The ground is a blur, and over her shoulder you can see Bureau police swarming after Aradia, followed by a military vehicle carrying a cargo you recognize. Your guts twist.
“Go back! Go back!” you scream, but Kanaya is focused on nothing but bringing you to safety. “Kanaya! Go back!”
She brings you into a shadowy corner at last, and she swings you around just enough that she won’t break your nose, too, when her back hits the tin wall, rattling it. She exhales with a tremble, her fingers squeezing you tight even as you struggle to escape. “We have to go back!” you gasp as one particularly stupid move makes a jolt of pain shoot up into your shoulder.
“We have to keep you safe, the consequences for you will be very different if you’re caught in the district,” Kanaya mutters. “Sit still, Rose, please.”
“Conseque—I’m human! They won’t,” and you falter, because you know better, you know they’d kill you. You’re barely worth more than your average troll to them, and you finally go limp. You hear bodies hitting metal walls, and you know Aradia is fighting back. Maybe things will be okay. Aradia is strong.
“What are you two doing relaxing back here?” a sharp, familiar voice says, and Vriska steps out of the darkness with a scowl. She looks like she’s recovered some, at least, the tremors much less apparent. “Let’s get out of this hell hole.”
“Where were you?” Kanaya asks, standing straight and adjusting her hold on you again. “How did you get away from the Bureau police?”
“Way more important is getting you out of here,” Vriska says. “Come on, I know where they won’t be.”
“What’s important is why the Bureau is here,” you say, eyeing Vriska suspiciously. “Did you call them?”
“All part of my master plan,” she says, as easily as if admitting she stole the last slice of pie. “We’ll get out of here way easier, now.” She looks the pair of you up and down. “Of course, my master plan assumed you bozos wouldn’t fuck things up and would actually have Feferi with you. Not you, Kanaya,” she adds, flashing her a beatific smile that Kanaya doesn’t return. “Come on.”
Low pulse countdown! a far-off voice bellows, and the bottom of your stomach drops out, everything going cold. All officers ready!
You wish, later, you had just let Kanaya take you away. You wish you didn’t wrestle yourself back to the ground and peer around the corner of the shack. You wish, honestly, you could take the whole day back. But you do jump down, and you do clamp your good hand around the edge of the tin siding, eyes wide with horror. Bureau officers lay on the ground nearly everywhere you can see, some more clearly dead than the others, but Aradia is surrounded now by a ring of agents holding laser rifles to her, trapped.
Low pulse ready! the voice reports. Low pulse activating!
You can feel the pulse in your bones, and against the inner workings of your ears, shooting out from the bulky machine in the Hummer. Aradia convulses again, but this time more violently, and only once, before collapsing in a heap. One Bureau officer steps up, his feet blocking her head—
—and fires straight down, dark red blood splattering him even as it pools around the treads of his boots.
Kanaya’s hand claps over your mouth as you cry out, muffling you as she pulls you back into the darkness. “We have to go,” she keeps saying, picking you up again. There’s no fight left in you, only screams, and as Kanaya picks up speed you see Vriska limping up ahead. The low pulse is designed to hit only a particular part of the brain found in warmbloods, but with her own brand of psychic ability Vriska is not immune, and it’s like she’s lost motor function in at least half her body.
“You killed her!” you screech through tears you didn’t even know were there. “And she’s not going to be the only one they kill!”
“I don’t give a fuck!” Vriska snaps over her shoulder, which trips her up enough that she falls to her knees in the dirt. Kanaya yanks her back up by the armpit. “They can all fucking die for all I care! Fuck this district!”
“You don’t mean that,” Kanaya says, though her tone says she doesn’t believe her own words. “The low pulse is messing with your head.”
“No!” she shrieks, staggering to her feet as she tears away from Kanaya’s grasp. “You don’t know what it’s fucking like, being at the mercy of these fucking animals! I didn’t want Aradia to die, but if the rest of those goddamn hyenas go with her, then great, it was worth it!”
You hear more rifles firing as the three of you round a corner, and you know Vriska’s getting her wish. “Who’s alive now, chumps?!” she cackles to the sky. “Everything’s coming up Vriska!”
When you pass through the gate, agent-free as promised, Vriska just puts Nimius to sleep. There’s no way you can call the shuttle without arousing suspicion, so you trudge for a good two hours to the Newark PATH station. Kanaya makes a point of moving to a separate car once Vriska sits down.
Kanaya takes you to the hospital, and your arm gets examined and set as you lie about your injury—you got your arm caught in a subway door and pulled back too hard, aren’t you stupid, aren’t you amazing—but you’re numb for the whole thing, and when they send you home at last, you find you can’t even cry.