Chapter Text
Reader ===> find out who you are.
The space between you and Y/n's building is growing larger by the hour. You walk with the bag over your shoulder and try to keep a low profile. Unfortunately, there are some human teens going to their own dick cheese apartments through the same sidewalk and passing by them looks risky. You move into the grass, getting your new shoes soaked in mud so that they can have the whole way clear.
A girl with matte black hair, glasses; another with a French bob; and a guy with the same black hair but different everything; go onwards. It's a relief they don't notice you. Though you look less out of place today than most days due to Y/n's shopping. You look like an owned troll.
Which was disgusting, but not her fault nor intention. In fact, you'd go on record to say she hated the enslavementation and would provoke change if able. You liked her ...more than you liked most trolls even. But society envoked you to push her away. That was still the right thing to do, you think. Sometimes. "The Journey Part 2 Electric Boogaloo" was becoming a 3 hour long walk, and in it, you talked about her in your head.
You appreciated all that she had done for you and hadn't discarded the bandages on your wrists yet. The scars were painful to look at but kept reminding you of hope and that Eridan was in California. You acted as though walking there wouldn't be impossible. Then finding him. None of the food or water had left your bag because it was best to conserve that for extreme heat or extreme cold. All things considered, it's pretty relaxing on that clear night.
You reach the end of the sidewalk and note you could edge along the road to the next part. You ready yourself, then cars appear, and ready again, but one nearly side-swipes the front half of your clothes. You sigh and instead of doing that, fall down the ditch to your left. It's full of trash and overgrown weeds of course. It's so mushy at the bottom too that even you, an avid runaway, feel disgusted. As long as walking in it gets you to the start of the next sidewalk though which it does.
You crawl back up, this time realizing there's a bit more than grade F housing to be had. There's a 24/7 gas station fully lit up that you shy away from and multi-cultural restaurants. You gulp and continue straight.
"Hey, mutant!" You hear. Despite there being almost no true mutants like your buddy Kk, people call you that. You close your eyes, awaiting the punch.
"What are you doing?" Came the next scream of the same person. When you look around you see a ratty woman pumping her car 20 yards away. How could- why did- why did the ugly humans make fun of you two. It was plain insulting.
You stretch one hand with the bag and quickly explain you are buying groceries for your "master." The situation freaked you the fuck out. Your ears went down without you trying and your chest got clammy.
However, the lady seems pleased with your answer and submissiveness. She was less likely to report you after hearing you had a "master."
Whatever...
You wipe at your face wanting to cry while your feet lug on to the Sunshine state. Only (d - 13 miles) to go.
Y/n was not your master by any means and you knew she would hate being called that if she were here, but it gave you an idea if you ever got in trouble.
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Your arrival on the planet woke you up, but didn't surprise you. You were more curious about how you got the same dream two nights in a row. The ballroom floors of your tower were purple, and you floated out, looking for Eridan.
It sounded like a gentle washing machine was howling in the back, making ambient and nearly indescribable noises. No one seemed to be there but then again that's what you thought last time.
"Eridan?" You yell, watching your voice echo through the porcelein bricks. "Sollux's friends?"
"Dow-wn here ya filthy land dw-weller!"
You look to see the high blood sitting on the violet surface and sink towards him.
"Hello human girl." He scowls. He struggles to define whether you're good or bad. "I memorized some ruins Im thinkin w-would help ya' tell me w-where I am." He points to some etched-in-the-floor letters and your eyes glow.
"Hey, I know that place! But Sol-"
"How-w is he?"
You shiver as the highblood leans in with anticipation. "He left."
"W-what-"
"Yeah..."
"Did he leav-ve a note?"
Your head shakes before you can answer. "He didn't run away. I let him go-"
"YOU LET HIM GO?"
"HE DIDN'T WANT TO STAY WITH ME," You scream back with tears in your eyes. You realize you're only yelling to look equally substantial.
"W-WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!"
"NOTHING! WE ENJOYED A FEW DAYS TOGETHER BUT THEN HE CHOSE TO LEAVE. I DIDN'T HAVE HIM WORK FOR ME BECAUSE I THINK THAT'S NOT RIGHT."
"THAT IDIOT'S GONNA DIE IN THIS W-WORLD. I FINALLY FIN OUT AN OLD FRIEND IS ALIV-VE AN' THE PERSON HE'S W-WITH DOESN'T W-WANT TO PROTECT HIM!?"
"I DIDN'T WANT TO KEEP HIM AGAINST HIS WILL LIKE A SLAVE OWNER-"
"OH YEP BETTER TO LET HIM W-WALK TO THE W-WEST COAST ALONE!!!"
"HE WOULD HATE ME AND I WOULD HATE MYSELF MORE IF I-"
"I HATE YOU. THAT W-WAS A TERRIBLE DECISION."
"I-"
"I hate you..." Eridan calms down and brings his knees to his chest.
Everything on Derse goes silent as if the planet decides he needs the last word.
You sigh.
Then the highblood's sniffling fills the room. You stare at him, trying not to be obvious. His violet tears well up and spill out. It falls so stiffly it's like he hasn't cried in years. At least not like this.
"Eridan..." you mumble.
"Go away. I'm hopin I w-wake up."
"I'm sorry."
But the apology falls on deaf ears.
"Ya hav-ve just enough of a point to argue w-with me but not enough to change my mind," he exasperates. "You're just... you're a stupid human girl w-who doesn't know w-what it's like."
"What what's like?"
He stops himself from answering and sits up. "W-where w-would he be if he left yer house problemlessly."
You think of a town 3 hours west in walking distance and answer.
"An' that's like... ov-ver 3 more hours away by train. How did you sleep w-with youself?"
"I thought I did the right thing. Now I don't know what to think."
"Ya might have but I dunno. Don' beat yourself up, even though you are stupid for letting him do that."
You think about how Sollux is doing, falling flat on the ground. You can feel yourself awakening but don't necessarily want to go. Then you think of topics you could bring up like 'what is this place.' On second thought, you really want to go - it was awful to change the subject of a friend's life. Dammit now time wasn't moving so fast.
"Y/n. Correct?" Eridan says.
"Mhm."
"Can you just... help him."
You roll your eyes, thinking about Sol's feelings and not the guy who's first impression was stabby. Sol didn't want your help no matter how much you had to offer because it gave into the idea that troll's were a subservient class.
"That won't be ea-" suddenly, you're staring at your ceiling fan and the fish boy is gone. You were gonna call Dave about it til you look outside and see that it is midnight. Now your heart hurt for Sollux. You think about trying to go to sleep again to communicate with him spiritually because maybe if you dream hard enough then - well... if Eridan hadn't ever seen him since...
Ok that was a stupid idea. You take your robe from the door and walk to the kitchen. You honestly don't know what you're doing or why you're ...making eggs.
You stop making eggs.
Y/n ===> think about the past.
Hours ago.
You had made eggs as a side dish for dinner since Sollux liked them and wasn't too sure about "posole." Of course you encouraged him to try.
"If you're going to leave, don't skip dinner. It worries me that you don't even know when you'll get food like this again."
Sollux took a bite and smiled, but you knew he wasn't all that into it.
"Just eat it whether you like it or not."
"ii like it Y/n-"
"Good." He cowered back.
"2o... are you mad at me? iim sorry ii made you mad..."
You shook your head. "I'm not mad, Sollux. I'm worried and-"
"and?"
"A little confused." Guilt snapped at your throat.
"what ii2 iit?"
"Why don't you want to stay tonight? I can easily get my uncle's car in the morning and take you to see your friend."
"iit2 a priinciipal. ii cant... be wiith a human for more than thii2 long. ii liike you, ii really do but... gog. ii feel liike iif ii 2tay iill be less of a troll. iill have giiven up my purpose and become a slave no matter how liittle ii work for you. Y/n, you're amaziing. two an extent, Dave ii2 two."
You stopped him, his answer was clear enough though you knew you shouldn't have been judging it the whole time. "Sorry for asking."
For once, Sollux got to tell you it was fine. He made a joke about it also that got you laughing.
"Tell me some way to know if you're okay."
"liike by phone?"
"Hold up, you genius!" You run and grab a piece of paper, scribbling your number.
"a woman'2 number!?" He sarcastically touched his own heart and pocketed the paper.
"This doesn't solve that I can't contact you - wait what if you took my phone and I called you through Dave's phone and vice versa?"
"Calm down. No, you need that."
You agreed and, at least, felt a little more prepared to see the younger boy go.
Y/n ===> stop thinking about the past.
You focused again and ...GODDAMN IT WHY WERE YOU STILL MAKING EGGS. You tore out of the kitchen and went to sit by the telephone, hoping and praying he would call for roughly 40 minutes. No call came. You were starting to get drousy again and see black.
Sollux ===> find yourself in danger.
No chance in hell. Unless you stayed in this shady small town any longer. It was hard to find forest where you were the most comfortable going west. You walked to the fourth hour just as you did the others; bored and bored in fancier terms. Humans were more elusive at night but also more dangerous and so you went to the other side of road everytime you thought you saw someone.
It looked like in a few yards beyond your current location, the town was cut off. You recalled human maps that you could look at as a grub and assumed you were about to experience first hand a desert. Luckily your bag of "extreme temperature perishables" were still available.
Knowing two things about the desert, it was hot and lacked telephones, you made one turn from the CA beeline.
It was across the street to a phone booth you had been eyeing nervously.
You dialed Y/n's number and slid against the walls of the plexiglass cage.
ringing noises
She picked up and mumbled "hello" drousy as hell.
"Y/n?"
"Sollux!? Oh god thankjegus- hi. I had another dream with Eridan- where are you- are you ok- Sol, Sol taaalk to me-"
You giggled like a school girl. "iit'2 been a good night 2o far. what wa2 iit about thii2 tiime? iim almost gonna be iin the desert. iim fine."
"He's really mad at me for letting you go by yourself and got me thinking. Now I'm sleeping by my phone for moments like this. I was gonna pick you up and say "fuck you, you have no choice" because of how he yelled and made me feel wrong. Plus, I know where he is."
You didn't ignore the "i know where he is" but you didn't respond to it. "huh. er. don't."
"No, you're at a fucking desert? I should at least drive you through that."
"how bad can a 2tupiid de2ert be?"
"Let me pick you up right now if you're being serious. God I- it slipped my mind there were deserts. You'll get frostbite at night and sunburns in the day. There's venomous- poison- oh what's the difference? snakes-"
"Ampora made you feel that guilty for giving me freedom huh?"
"Please let me get you past the desert. Please let me get-"
You lowered the phone and sighed loudly. "fiine, sweet a22. whens my ride?"
Paper swished and lights turned on as she probably wrote out some math. You kinda wanted to do the same.
"35 minutes. I'll be where I think you are if you could read some building names to help."
"Can't. Gotta get out of the phone booth. Bye." You avoid being reminded of your English illiteracy and hang up. That was rude of you and you make a promise to apologize to her.
Her aura brings you comfort even through the phone, the only reason you could talk like yourself. Otherwise, you were really scared and cold again. Emotions were difficult entities despite the mind powers.