Freedom Can Be Confusing

[2nd-dii2ciiple.livejournal.com]

Characters: 2nd_dii2ciiple & whoever would like to talk to him!
Setting: Room 2-08 and surrounding areas
Format: Any!
Summary: He's... not quite sure what to make of this
Warnings: slightly broken troll ahoy



The first thing he noticed when he woke was that he was not where he was supposed to be. There was no sign of his control block, or the biowires that should have connected him to his ship. The constant ticking of the computer in the back of his mind was gone as well - he wasn't connected to anything at all.

Panic tried to encroach as his conditioning insisted that he needed to get back to where he belonged right the fuck now, but he fought it off. He hadn't brought himself here, so it wasn't his fault he was disobeying. And flailing around in blind panic wasn't going to get him back to his station any faster.

Besides, if he was very lucky, this might be his opportunity to finally break free of his punishment of slavery. He'd almost lost hope that this moment would ever come.

The distress of finding himself dressed in plain white without even the tiniest indication of his symbol was enough to distract him long enough to read the letters and scout the tiny room. Thankfully a cursory search was more than enough to reveal the clean change of clothes waiting for him in an otherwise empty trunk, and he changed quickly.

Not a single hole for the biowire connectors. No sign of his hated helmet. He felt more like the Ψiioniic than the Helmsman, for the first time in nearly a sweep. Although he couldn't remove the collar, and he assumed the blue colour meant he was now owned by a blue-blood of that shade. It was actually a fairly ingenious method of identification. The problem was that he had no idea who it was, or where to find his new master.

Or, for that matter, why the Condesce would have suddenly decided to sell her most powerful Helmsman.

Time to find out what was going on.

Outside the room he found himself in a corridor full of doors just like the one he'd come out of. He turned to look back at his door, and saw a list of names, presumably the occupants. His was the last.

Right above it was a name he'd thought he would never see again. The Signless.

Just the sight of it was enough to send his panic rushing back in on him, intensified by the forbidden name. He reeled against the wall, staring in shock and disbelief. It couldn't be him. The Signless was dead.

And a part of Ψiioniic had died with him.

Comments

[thekidsare0kay]

"Well, I guethh I'm glad I've got you to tell me about it," Sollux said with a wry smile. He was extremely relieved to know it was unlikely that Feferi, or even Eridan, knew about this and he didn't.

He sobered. "Tho are you okay? You theemed really thcared at firtht."

[2nd-dii2ciiple.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I wath just..." He gestured helplessly at the sign next to the door. "His name ith there. I don't understand. And I was already fighting a panic attack, I'm not where I'm suppothed to be and my conditioning is freaking me out about it, so when I thaw that..."

[thekidsare0kay]

"Oh." Sollux looked and immediately saw the source of his issue. "Yeah, I can thee why that would freak you out. But that meanth he'th here, then. Thomewhere."

[2nd-dii2ciiple.livejournal.com]

"Maybe. I can't believe it could be true. I thaw him die. I heard him screaming in my head for a week before they actually killed him - I knew it was coming, and there was nothing I could do to thtop it." Ψiioniic bowed his head, still overcome by his failure and inability to protect his friend. He'd done everything he could think of, but just like all his other visions, he hadn't been able to change anything.

[thekidsare0kay]

"Yeah, but remember what I thaid about timelineth," Sollux said wryly, giving his arm a squeeze. Stay with him, Ψiioniic. "You should be long dead, too, but inthtead you're talking to me. The Thignlethh here could be from your patht, before he died. Or he could be from another univerthe where you have purple blood. Trutht me, weird shit ith going on here."

[2nd-dii2ciiple.livejournal.com]

"Purple blood?" The thought was more than bizarre enough to break his brain and distract him from thoughts of the death of the Signless. "Thith place is really weird. I... feel so lost."

[thekidsare0kay]

"I know the feeling," Sollux said honestly. He tugged on him a little, trying to encourage him to walk with him towards the stairs. "One of the firtht people I met wath a blue-blooded Karkat who thaid I wath normally a purple blood he knew."

[2nd-dii2ciiple.livejournal.com]

A blue-blooded Signless equivalent, and Ψiioniic as a purple-blood?

Ψiioniic just stared at him a moment in blank incomprehension, unable to picture it. Finally he shook his head. "Too weird," he pronounced.

[thekidsare0kay]

Sollux laughed. "I know, right? That'th what I thaid." They reached the top of the stairs, and Sollux began to draw Ψiioniic down the stairs with him.