Hopesnare

in which akidou and vernin play super smash bros pt. 2

Hikaya bolted through the complex of rooms, trying to find the pesky purpleblood. It was quite a while until she found him leaning against a wall, staring up blankly at the ceiling. "Vernin, you piece of shit!" She hissed, storming over to him. He glanced at the much shorter Hikaya - there was still purple blood and even some teal on his face. Hikaya cringed, taking his wrist. "I want to talk to you." She demanded fiercely. Vernin said nothing, but he visibly scowled, and tried to pull away from the greenblood. She was persistent. She didn't stop until she successfully got him on his feet, and was able to drag him to her room. They said nothing to each other until Hikaya sat Vernin down on the ground with her. She took a deep breath, shutting her eyes for a moment before looking Vernin right in the eyes. "What was that all about?"

He opened his mouth, then closed it. He stared at the floor, debating. He opened his mouth again, his voice barely above a whisper. "I... said some things..." Vernin bit down on his lip, cutting himself off briefly. The fact that Hikaya was friends with Tyooba jabbed at him.

Hikaya gave Vernin an encouraging look. "I said very bad things about... dead trolls and he got upset. Very. I may have said some things I regret." His voice barely met a mutter, and he slurred nervously on every word. He looked down, ashamed, and tugged on his sweater sleeve.

"About... dead..." Hikaya blinked, and the memories from just a few weeks ago returned. Tyooba and Sibhae, of course. She inhaled through her nose, trying to get the bad memories out of her head. Finally, she opened her eyes, and looked at Vernin again. "You shouldn't have done that. You should know better." She mumbled, balling her fist in her lap. "This war is hard enough as it is without severed ties between us."

For a moment, she thought of seven missing trolls. The ones that should have been with them right now.

She shook her head, glancing at Vernin again.

"You shouldn't speak ill of the dead. Especially not Sibhae and Tyooba." She could barely bring herself to speak the names of her dead friends. "Especially not in front of Akidou. You know how broken he was. You know how much he loved both of them."

Vernin looked at the floor, his expression lined with guilt and even a low-lying hatred. She let out a long exhale. "Say something."

"I did what I had to, Hikaya." He answered, his voice filled with ice and even a bit of disgust.

"I did it to protect everyone. He needs to get over himself."

"Vernin-!" She hissed, getting to her feet.

"Sibhae killed Sirius." His voice faltered. "He doesn't deserve anything even after he's died. I should have put my hatchet through his skull, that would've--"

He abruptly stopped. Hikaya's eyes were wide and full of hurt. She repeated what she said earlier, her voice bubbling with disappointment.

"This war is hard enough as it already is."

And she got up and left Vernin alone.

--

Teadus seemed utterly exhausted and not willing to deal with Akidou's squirming and hitting. He was hunched next to the tealblood, busily repairing the twisted metal. "I couldn't even imagine he'd be capable of such a thing." Teadus muttered. Gently, Teadus tried to ease the bent wires but ended up pulling down on Akidou's arm, to which, of course, he responded with his squirming. Teadus let out an exasperated sigh. "Stop squirming like that," he muttered. Akidou went stiff, and began to mumble things under his breath. Teadus didn't catch all of it, but it was clear to him the annoyed and injured tealblood was talking about Vernin. "Should've punched him in the throat. That would've shut him up." Teadus clicked his tongue, saying nothing. "You knew Tyooba, right? Were you friends with him?" Akidou glanced at the other curiously. "Yeah, I was. I think he had, I think he liked me." Teadus replied, fumbling over his words. Akidou blinked. "Are you angry at Vernin?"

"No," Teadus replied casually, pausing for a moment to meet Akidou's gaze.

"Why wouldn't you be?"

"Can you stop interrogating me and just hold still?" The indigoblood was getting quite annoyed at this point.

Akidou huffed.

"I miss Tyooba. He was loud but he was always standing up for everyone." He shifted again. Teadus let out a long, exasperated moan.

"Can we drop the subject of Tyooba, please?" Teadus demanded, not looking up from his work.

Akidou responded with a tight-lipped frown and a nod. "Sure." He mumbled.

"Thank you."

The tealblood exhaled, looking up at the ceiling, full of unquenchable boredom. The two boys didn't converse until Teadus finished. It felt like an entire week for Akidou.

"It's done. Take care, avoid doing anything reckless with that arm." Teadus yawned, hurrying Akidou out.

The indigoblood sat in his chair again, pondering the few words Akidou had spoken. Tyooba. He said it once himself, memories flooding back to him. He hadn't dwelled on the yellowblooded troll's memory, and he had almost forgotten about his dead friends entirely.

Maybe now he missed Tyooba, if only a little.