#(imagine going to hard psionics route where you can “force your will” onto another)

[beck-nightengale]

Oh, those moonlit walks would be full of them just insulting each other.

"Pathetic."

"Asshole."

Actually those walks would look more like this:

Alternate ending to the Rhalâta questline:

[interrogatormentors]

Event Nine: Promise

[CW: death, drowning]

The weeks following the start of the emotional conditioning bore down on Sollux with the force of a dead whale. He could feel the walls pressing down on him, suffocating and claustrophobic, and half the days he found himself waking from helming daymares. 

The others fared no better. 

Ophlia didn’t seem to sleep. Zesaim sat on her bunk for hours at a time, wall-eyed, while Rosmer cried in other troll’s voices into the day. Sollux hadn’t known the olive could mimic voices, and wished that had remained a secret. Mercuo often woke gasping, holding onto his gills before tucking himself next to a stonefaced Trisia.

Ualona managed to hold himself together somehow, and often came to Sollux for help. After their now nightly emotional conditioning they huddled together for warmth, heads leaned in over their tablets. This morning however, Ualona came back to the bunks quiet. He tapped on his tablet for near to an hour before several identical text notifications dinged from all their tablets.

[actualizedClairvoytant [AC] has opened up the memo keepyourmout-| |-ss-| |-ut] twinArmaggedons [TA] has entered the chat! glorifiedCorpsification [GC] has entered the chat! chronicAcademician [CA] has entered the chat! castigatedTrepidation [CT] has entered the chat! cavortingGratuity [CG] has entered the chat! accentuatedAntimony [AA] has entered the chat! TA: the fuck UA ii can barely uncurl my fiinger2 2tiill wtf ii2 up?? AA: jus7 spi7 i7 ou7 bud i wan7 7o ca7ch some zs while i can AA: 7heyre 7hrowing new shi7 a7 us soon i can feel i7 AC: cant AC: the mics remember?

Sollux glanced up and off to the side, where the speaker produced its steady whine as usual. It would be stupid to think the connection didn’t go both ways.

TA: okay 2hoot TA: what have you got?? AC: i was digging in t-| |-e interrogatormentor arc-| |-ives and i found all our files. CG: and How does THat even Help us? CG: i don’T need To know wHaT They Think of me. CA: treasOOn.

A whimper came from Rosmer’s bunk, and Sollux looked down to see Ophlia staring the olive down with bloodshot eyes and bared teeth.

AC: okay treason aside youll wanna -| |-ear t-| |-is. AC: especially you rosmer.

[actualizedClairvoyant [AC] has sent the file flunkies.txt]

Sollux scanned the document, brows furrowed. Even in the confidential archives someone had censored the documents, black lines smeared across various points of data. Someone else, Ualona no doubt, had highlighted specific sections of each.

Mercuo Trevan: Interrogated and broke a rebellion recruiting ring in Imperial Navy recruits. Purposefully joined, goals for the BC Reichenbach. 

Zesaim Exeria: Random draw. Induce failure in time for unit on psionic alterations to the brain due to psionic projection ability.

Sollux Captor: Former helmsman, isolated rebels in brig to promote surrender; reportedly accessed the Imperial Network and ran a long-standing data mining protocol for several sweeps prior to capture and indoctrination. Brought to attention by Head Admin Eridan Ampora and ██████ ██████ [████████].

Trisia Avarae: Identified several problem spots in local drone patrol routes and took down a single unit. Promote immediately upon graduation.

Ophlia Davrot: Drowned a head subjuggulator in sacrificial blood pools following an identical attempt on her life due to poor humor. Tested on basic interrogatormentor techniques and passed with an 89%.

Rosmer Leywet: Random draw. Induce failure at convenience of instructor. Recommended for immediate cremation; has no particular talent nor purpose. Proposed: preserve vocal chords for study? Request denied.

Ualona Reshan: Hacked into the imperial network and managed to stay online for five minutes. Sent a notification to the drones through this system for two removals of traitors in apartment directly above residence in hivestem.

The chat stayed idle for a few minutes, before Sollux broke the silence with the gentle clacking of his claws against the tablet screen.

TA: 2o what doe2 thii2 mean?? TA: are the2e  TA: accurate?? AC: t-| |-ey are for me GC: *YeS.* CG: seconded. AA: you mean 7hirded!

Mercuo grabbed his pillow, reaching out and smacking at Trisia’s ankles. She managed a shaky laugh. “Fourthed!” she said, before chugging from her water bottle. Rosmer only pulled his knees closer to his chest.

CT: they told me i won a lot~tery, CT: why would they tell me oth~er~wise, AC: t-| |-ey want people to fail TA: oh 2hiit TA: that’2 where they’re gettiing the te2t 2ubject2 for all theiir traiiniing viideo2. TA: how el2e would they have 2o many liive feed2 whiithout a hiigh piing rate??

Zesaim put a hand to her mouth, looking over to Rosmer who buried his face in his hands. He started crying, in a voice Sollux didn’t recognize this time. Ophlia broke her weeks long silence in a voice like rusted nails scraping up against each other.

“You know what we must do.”

Sollux woke in a web of wires, head pounding to the beat of a familiar, klaxon alarm. He jerked in the helming harness, throwing his head back as he tried initiating a defense protocol. Nothing came to him, the only response a blinding pain from his temples that whited out his vision.

“Status report,” said a voice, somewhere off to his left.

“Helmsman A1A100 reporting system disconnect. Attempted sabotage detected. Administrator password required to proceed.” Sollux swallowed, trying to moisten his dry lips. Hang on. What happened to the humidity?

He opened his eyes, registering Rapard standing at attention just before another wave of pain jolted up his spine. Sollux almost yelled before he caught himself, sucking in a breath instead and separating himself from the sensation as he’d been taught.

“Nice work, Captor,” Rapard said, moving forward. “That’s the fastest recovery I’ve seen yet. Welcome to your next stage of emotional conditioning.”

Sollux gritted his teeth, brows furrowing before he forced them smooth. “Yes sir,” he said, forcing the words out even as instinctive terror roiled in his gut. He didn’t want to helm again. He couldn’t helm again, and this facsimile of flying left him mentally scattered. He shoved away the thought that this exercise was in response to Ualona’s discovery the night before. He’d written the code necessary for them to have private chat rooms himself.

Rapard began his usual patrol around the room then, throwing random trivia at Sollux in time with electric pulses that surged through nodes attached to his sealed ports. Sollux held firm, his face a mask of blank indifference as he forced himself to disassociate from the pain. The questions remained easy enough, all tidbits from the lessons on technique. They were so innocuous, in fact, that at first Sollux thought he imagined Rapard’s next line of inquiry as a claw traced on his chin.

“How long have you known the rebel insurgent known as Karkat Vantas, hex code unknown?”

“What?” Sollux blinked, shaking his head as he tried to return to reality. 

He yelled as Rapard pressed a button on the remote in his hand, the electric charge at least double what he’d experienced so far.

“Pay attention, Captor,” Rapard said. He leaned in close, nose an inch from Sollux’s own. “Separating yourself completely will only lead to you missing important data.” He pressed the button again, face impassive as Sollux jerked in the wires. “Now, answer. How long have you known Karkat Vantas, rebel insurgent? Where is he?”

Sollux swallowed hard. The name rattled around his pan, sending guilt and anxiety through him in equal measure. No. How did they know? He’d tried to lock away that information, bury it deep inside of himself and throw away the key during his time as a helmsman. How did they know about Karkat? Did they know about Feferi, or Kanaya? He’d seen Eridan’s named on his file the other night, had he turned traitor?

Rapard pressed the button again, and Sollux screamed as his muscles involuntarily tensed. The smell of burnt flesh hit his nostrils, and his vision faded in and out of focus. “I don’t- Shit!” Another electric charge, and Sollux’s fists clenched on nothing. He tried exercising his learned behaviors from lessons, stepping outside of the pain and attempting to retreat into his own thoughts. Karkat’s face met him there as he’d last seen him, hunched in front of his webcam and begging Sollux to run as the noise of drones echoed around Sollux’s hive.

Rapard tapped him on the nose, deliberate and mocking. “I won’t ask you again, recruit.”

“Since I was five,” Sollux said, flinching as Rapard’s finger twitched on the remote in his hand. “I don’t know where he is now.” He yelled, back arching as another charge surged through him. The klaxon alarm grew louder, reverberating in time with the pounding in his skull. “I don’t! Fuck! Alternia! Eastern quadrant, coordinates 56 by 900, bunker!” The shocks did not dissipate as he cried out, only increasing in power and frequency.

As Sollux hovered on the edge of consciousness Rapard grabbed his jaw, claws digging into the skin enough to draw tiny pinpricks of yellow blood. “Good, nice work,” he said. Sollux caught a glimpse of the seadweller’s teeth as he grinned, red light glinting off the jagged edges. “I want to make you a promise, Captor. Are you listening?”

“Yes.” Sollux gulped for air as the shocks abated for a few moments, taking the respite to separate himself from the pain and emotion in time for the pain to start anew. He did not so much as cry out, sweat beading along his forehead as he forced it away. He finally understood Ualona. What did Rapard promise you?

“You stay with the interrogatormentors, you stay compliant and devote yourself to the empire, and we won’t touch Vantas,” Rapard said. “You step a toe out of line, you get a single demerit, and you’re receiving his head on a platter. You understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

The lights dimmed then, and Sollux sagged as electricity stopped surging through the wires. He fell into his knees as Rapard cut him down, but forced his head high even as every muscle shook with the effort. As he hauled himself up and staggered from the room Sollux couldn’t find himself to feel fear, for himself or Karkat. He couldn’t feel anything at all. Even the pain had faded into the background, a distant reminder as he dragged himself to the mess hall. He sat in silence, staring at his food. Only Zesaim and Rosmer seemed themselves, with Rosmer even offering a shaky Ualona one of his classic beaker-made cookies. “You deserve it after what you found this evening,” the olive said, smiling. “It’s the least I can do to repay you.” The smile did not reach his eyes.

As per usual, physical endurance training took place the next night. Sollux moved towards the pool, hoping to exercise in a less load-bearing way, only for Instructor Pozoia to put a hand out. “Bikes, recruit,” the cerulean said, jerking his head in the way he wanted Sollux to go. “Ualona, take the pool.”

Ualona paused, blinking as he shook his head. “Huh?”

“The pool, Ualona,” Pozoia said, pointing.

“Oh, right, right.” Ualona trudged over to the pool, rubbing his eyes before jumping into the water. Sollux paused, but turned away to climb onto one of the exercise bikes. They’d all been a little out of it since yesterday.

After a half hour a loud splash caught Sollux’s attention, and he turned his head to see Ualona starting to flounder in the pool. Something seemed off-- his movements were erratic, head lolling to the side and dipping into the water a few seconds at a time. Sollux lifted a hand, catching the instructor’s attention and pointing. “Sir? Ualona needs help.”

Instructor Pozoia glanced up from his tablet, looking down his nose at Ualona’s struggle. “He can help himself, or drown,” he said, swiping his finger across his tablet.

Sollux hesitated before lifting his feet from his bike’s pedals, hopping off just as Trisia touched down from the climbing wall. “No, look,” he said. Ualona was starting to dip more and more, audibly choking every time he surfaced.

“He can’t even move his arms!” Trisia grabbed onto the instructor’s arm, only for Pozoia to jerk it away with a purse of his lips.

“Go ahead and help him,” Pozoia said. He met Sollux’s eyes, then Trisia’s, face set. “That’ll be a demerit on both your records.”

Sollux’s breath caught in his throat, and all his concern for Ualona melted away as Rapard’s words echoed in his ears. Automatically his learned responses kicked in, disassociating him from the situation at hand and rooting him to the ground until Ophlia charged past him with the surging fury of a freighter.

“Ualona!” The purple bounded across the gym’s floor in a matter of seconds, light on her feet as she made a beeline for the pool. Instructor Pozoia let out a soft sigh, and grabbed onto Ophlia’s horn as she passed and pinched at the base. Ophlia seized up, hesitating just long enough for Pozoia to drive his shoulder into the much larger troll’s chest and bowling her onto her back. Ophlia roared, eyes reddening before Pozoia stomped his foot onto her throat and cut her off. “No,” she croaked. “No, save him! Bastard! He doesn’t deserve to die!”

Ualona surfaced from a minute-long stint underwater then, screaming with a fury in contrast with his sluggish movements. “Rosmer!”

Rosmer froze in place, turning his head just enough to indicate he’d even noticed. “Yes, Ualona?” His whisper barely made it over the sound of Ualona’s splashing and Ophlia’s choking from the ground.

“Bastard!” Ualona sank again, kicking and driving himself into the wall. He surfaced again, voice burbling around the water in his throat before he could speak again. “Rat! What did you put in that cookie?” He let out a wet sob, choking. “I don’t want to die! Please, don’t let me die-- fffkrk--” Once again he fell beneath the surface of the water, and Sollux wasn’t surprised that he did not rise again. A sense of finality settled over him as he watched the water, and another voice of the doomed went silent.

Rosmer walked to the edge of the pool, watching as Ualona’s body drifted up to the surface. Without warning he spat into the water, turning back to face the others. “Sorry, that was rude,” he said. He smiled, but his eyes remained vacant and glassy. “You all saw his chat messages. He put us all in danger.”

Sollux looked past Rosmer, barely registering the sound of Ophlia continuing to wheeze and the dull thud of Trisia landing a mean right hook to Rosmer’s jaw. Rosmer’s glasses clattered in front of Sollux, but he didn’t move as he continued staring at Ualona’s body. 

For a moment he saw Karkat, curly hair floating in the water. 

Sollux blinked, and the vision faded. He tried to feel something, anything for the rust he’d considered a friend, but nothing came to him except a dull resignation. 

If he didn’t want to end up like Ualona, dead in the water, he had to play his part.