A Signless('s) Knight

He'd been in the kitchen. contemplating asking Little Him where they kept the alcohol -- just because he was in that kind of mood. He was worried about Vu being sick, worried that maybe he'd jumped the mate gun too hard on him (he seemed so into him before, and lately he was so detached), worried that he'd blown this thing before it even started --

-- when the howl rang out and all he could think was Nubs.

He tore through the palace like a man possessed, getting closer and closer to -- too Vu's room?! No, no, no -- !!

And when he got there and saw Nubs - the younger version -- the unbroken, unblemished by Dave "Alpha" Strider version -- and an image of him and his own Nubs flashed through his mind and god how he had fucked this kid up in so many ways.

And then he saw what he was screaming about and he felt like screaming too.

"Vu... Kankri...!"

You stroke a finger along the husktop in front of you and sigh.

Dave and Terezi have been missing for days. You hear your partner over your shoulder snickering at the tech you hired to look over Dave's things and swat at his ass. Just because they were brothers didn't mean he could distract him from his work.

You hear a ping from the computer and the shorter Captor hisses in victory. You don't make a sound as you open the network interface and connect to the new option.

m u l t i v e r s e n e t

It's so ominous. Your brow furrows, angry with Dave for putting you in this situation. Angry at Terezi for letting this happen. Angry at the world and the horrorterrors and this shitty hand you've been dealt.

Mostly though, you're angry at yourself. You could have stopped him. But who are you kidding, you were never good enough for that.

Steamchum is open in front of you. You set your username and your typing color. cancerousTempest. Slate gray. You didn't hemo type. There was no point.

A roll of chums appeared in front of you. You didn't know any of them. But they were all familiar. You could see it. Little hints. Echoes. radicalWipeout. Sounded like Mituna. crockerbredTyrian. You were surprised Jane hadn't gone with a bread pun. fraudulentMagyk, halfboundOracle, kissingChainsaws... all familiar. 

cancerKnight.

You frowned, then used the remote hacking software Sollux had installed to pull his chumroll. You flicked through it with only mild interest until settling on a random blueblood.

crabbyMechanic.

You select the name and hit pester.

"Connecting..."

-- cancerousTempest [CT] began messaging crabbyMechanic [CM] at 04:33 --

[04:33] CT: HELLO, STRANGER.

[04:33] CM: UH.

[04:33] CM: HELL0?

[04:34] CT: I FINALLY CONNECTED.

[04:34] CT: WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

[04:35] CM: KARKAT VANTAS. TH0UGH M0ST PE0PLE JUST CALL ME BLUKAT, T0 AV0ID C0NFUSI0N.

[04:35] CT: I SEE.

[04:35] CT: I DIDN'T EXPECT TO MEET YOU SO SOON.

[04:35] CM: MEET ME S0 S00N? BUT Y0U WERE EXPECTING T0 MEET ME?

[04:36] CT: I NEED TO KEEP THIS SHORT FOR REASON'S I CAN'T DISCLOSE RIGHT NOW.

[04:36] CT: I WILL BE CONTACTING YOU AGAIN IN THE FUTURE, KARKAT.

[04:37] CT: I NEED YOUR HELP.

[04:37] CM: BLUKAT.

[04:37] CM: AND I'LL D0 WHAT I CAN T0 PR0VIDE.

[04:38] CT: IT'S APPRICIATED.

[04:38] CT: I HAVE TO GO.

[04:38] CT: I. SHOULD INTRODUCE MYSELF FIRST, I GUESS.

[04:38] CM: THAT W0ULD BE APPRECIATED, YES.

[04:39] CT: MY NAME IS KNIGHT OF BLOOD KARKAT VANTAS. I USED TO LIVE ON A WORLD CALLED SKAIA.

[04:39] CT: GOODBYE, BLUKAT.

[04:39] CM: I

[04:39] CM: WAIT!

-- cancerousTempest [CT] ceased messaging crabbyMechanic [CM] at 04:40 --

There.

It was done.

You lean back in your chair and sigh.

"1'll s33 you l4t3r D4v3, 1'm go1ng to v1s1t 4 fr13nd," Terezi purred, nuzzling her nose into the back of his neck lovingly as she passed him in the kitchen the next day.

"What? What friend? Tz how do you have friends already, you were only on my blog for a few days."

"DON'T und3r3st1m4t3 4 dr4gon's 4b1l1ty to s33k out 4nd f1nd 4 m4t3," Terezi huffed.

"A MATE?!"

"Don't w41t up!" And with a wink and a playful slap to the back of her moirail's head, Terezi bombed down the corridor to the transportalizer she'd seen earlier that day -- The Flashfire Kingdom was so familiar and yet so foreign to her now -- and entered the coordinates she'd received from Rose the prior day. She had said she'd send a message first, but. Well. Fuck messages. Dragons don't need no messages.

She stepped through the doors to the transportalizer and shivered as the ozone crackled around her. It was such a welcome, familiar sensation -- and yet so different as she felt herself pulled apart and put together light years away from where she had first entered the machine.

Shaking herself, she looked around, red eyes blown wide. She was in a small, humble hive. This must be where her prey -- uh. Princess? Uh. Victim! No. Where her Lalonde must live.