My Child

Free the Slave

!WARNING! This chapter may be triggering due to mentions of abuse and slavery. You have been warned.

~Signless POV~

The second our feet hit the ground, we run. We run to the edge of the forest in the opposite direction of the highbloods. We spot a town in the distance and run towards it. We don't stop running until we are a large distance from the tree line and our lungs burn, pleading for rest and air.

I look over my party, making sure everybody is here and uninjured. Dolorosa has her hands on her knees, hunched over and panting for breath but over all alright. Disciple very dramatically and unceremoniously flops on the ground in a show of exhaustion. She always has been one for theatrics. Equius had fallen behind. He's limping by the time he reaches me.

"Are you alright?" I ask, helping him to the ground. He's trying to keep his knee as still as possible.

"I felt something pop," he says through clenched teeth. Blue blood is streaming down his leg from the wound on his knee and collecting in a small puddle directly beneath his knee.

I gently press around the wound, making sure it was just the laceration that was causing him pain and not a more serious underlying injury. He doesn't attempt to move away from my touch. This is either a good sign or he just trusts me too much. I would never hurt him, but if he's in pain I need to know. One glance and I know that the latter is the case.

"Equius, I need to make sure you're okay." I continue to examine his injury. "If something hurts, tell me. Okay?" I gently press a spot close to the laceration that I hadn't touched before, and he jerks away. I wipe the blood away with my thumb to reveal a small bruise. A few stitches had pulled and snapped while he was running. "It looks like that pop you felt was the stitches," I say.

"Here," he mumbles, handing me the first aid kit he carries. It takes me only a few minutes to clean and bandage his injury. Luckily, the gash has healed enough that it doesn't need stitches again. Like I said, I don't want to hurt him and we don't have any anesthetic on hand to numb the pain.

When I finish bandaging his knee I kiss it lightly, like Dolorosa did every time I got hurt when I was younger. "Better?" I ask, looking up at him. He just nods and looks away from me, trying to hide his blush. I must have embarrassed him. Oops.

"I apologize for interrupting your little moment," Dolorosa says, startling us both and making Equius blush even more. "but we need to keep moving. Think we can make it to that town before sunrise?"

I bite my lip as I try to calculate the distance. "Maybe," I say. Helping Equius to his feet, I ask, "Can you walk?"

He glares at me for a second. "Of course I can-" he starts as he takes a step on his good leg. When he puts weight on his bad leg, though, he almost faceplants before I catch him.

"That would be a no." I kneel down in front of him. "Hop on." He huffs but does as he's told. I stand back up once he's settled. His arms tighten around my shoulders. "You okay?" He shakes his head. "Knee?" He nods. "Sorry. I'll try to be more careful. Okay?"

"Okay," he whispers.

"And, we're off!" Disciple giggles as we start to make our way towards the town.

It only takes us a few hours to reach the town. Equius is sound asleep, his head resting on my shoulder. I hope he's not having a nightmare. He doesn't deserve to be tormented in his sleep.

"Signless?" Dolorosa asks, her hand on my arm. "Are you okay?"

I blinked. "Yeah," I say. "Yeah, I'm alright."

"Are you sure?" Disciple asks, her head tilted in a way that resembles a confused meow-beast. "You zoned out for a second there. Did you even hear what I asked?" I shake my head. "I asked if you know who we're looking for or if we're even close."

"I don't know his name," I say, "but I would recognize him if I saw him."

"Blood color?" Equius asks, words slurred from sleep.

I look over my shoulder and catch a glimpse of him rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Excuse me?" I ask as politely as I can.

"Do you know their blood color?" He climbs off my back, but continues holding onto my arm and not putting weight on his injured knee. "I didn't pay much attention to history, but I know about my team's ancestors and who sided with who. There was only one member of your party that we weren't taught about, mainly because it would cause a Paradox, and that person is myself. If you know their blood color, I can tell you who you're looking for."

"Yellow."

His eyes go wide. "The Helmsman," He breathes as he starts running, his limp still present. Me, Disciple, and Dolorosa look at each other for a moment before we, too, start running. He continues when we catch up to him. "His name is Psiioniic and he's the most powerful of his kind. His abilities are rivaled only by his descendant's. He's also been a slave for most of his life. When most young Trolls were learning how to talk, he was being used as a living battery and still is to this day. I don't know much about his current master other than his sign, Caprittanius, but he's not going to give up Psiioniic easily."

We stop in front of a large hive made of metal and hear a blood-curdling scream from within.

"Or he might not give him up at all."

~Equius POV~

We approach the entrance to Psiioniic's Master's hive. We hear another scream. Signless tries to open the door, but it's locked. I take a lock pick out of my pocket as I nudge Signless out of the way. "Thank you Vriska for locking yourself out of your hive so often," I mumble to myself as I easily pick the lock.

"STOP! PLEASE! NO MORE!" Psiioniic begs between hits. My eyes go wide, and I can feel a panic attack coming on. I follow Signless into the next room, where we find Psiioniic, installed into the hive as its main power supply, being hit repeatedly by his Master. Neither notice us enter. The larger highblood hits him again, hard, in the stomach. Psiioniic coughs up blood this time, earning him a punch to the jaw.

He can't fight back. I want to protect him, but I can't move. I'm shaking and it's hard to breath. This whole situation is reminding me of Gamzee. Psiioniic can't defend himself and neither could I. I'm scared. I want to tell Signless to help Psiioniic, but I can't form words.

"Leave him alone!" Signless shouts as he tackles the high blood to the ground. He punches him hard enough to knock him out for a while before standing and rushing over to Psiioniic.

~Signless POV~

"Are you alright?" I ask Psiioniic.

With wide, fearful eyes, he whispers, "Please... kill me."

I can feel my heart shatter. "How about I get you out of here instead?" I say. "Does that sound good? You can travel with us and help bring about a new era. One of peace and equality."

"He'll never let me go. I power this place," he says, sounding defeated. "It's easier to just kill me. Nobody would miss me anyways."

I press a button on the panel next to this machine and release Psiioniic. He almost falls but I catch him before he does and gently guide him to the ground before pulling him into my lap. "Your life is too precious to throw away. Join us and I promise we'll protect you. Okay?"

"O-okay," he stutters before passing out.

"He'll be okay," Equius says from behind me. His voice is shaking almost as much as his body. Something's wrong. "Psiioniic's heal two times faster than the rest of us. He just needs rest."

"Are you okay?" I ask, reaching up and tucking a lock of hair behind his ear.

He looks away from me. "We need to leave," he says. "I think I saw an inn not too far away. The sun will be coming up soon."

Something is very wrong.

Author's Note:

Thank you SO much for reading my story. I hope you're enjoying my story. I don't really have much to say this time. The art, as per usual, is mine. So, until next time my shining diamonds.