Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay I've been intensely busy with graduating and such, and I'm still not quite there but almost. There isn't any noncon in this chapter like I said there'd be, but there will be in the next chapter.

This update brought to you by today's Homestuck update.

Tavros let out a deep breath as he stood behind the large decorative curtains that blocked him from the attention of the awaiting crowd; All highbloods, he guessed. His head was throbbing from the onslaught of information. Darkleer's sons, Dualscar's plans, his father was alive. He choked on a single sob, before forcing himself into composure. The servants that were fiddling with his ceremonial robes touches his back and shoulders comfortingly, but it didn't help at all. These were the people Tavros grew up with, became close with, they were the closest people to family that he had and now they had to see him like this.

"The ceremony is about to begin," One of the older servants announced grimly. Tavros trembled as he heard the music begin to play. There would be a good twenty minutes before he had to walk, but he would have preferred to just get it over with. He only wished he could be with Gamzee one last time before Dualscar whisked him away to a life of misery and horror.

"God Eridan where are you," the boy whispered under his breath, closing his eyes tightly to prevent tears.

=== Be the lost seadweller.

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" Eridan screamed, slamming another door and startling a nearby servant. Where was Aradia's room? There wasn't much time now. He strode to the window, peering out. He was running out of time. He looked back to the servant he'd frightened and grabbed her by the shoulder in a flurry. "Where is Doc Scratch's daughter's room? Where is Aradia?"

The servant looked taken aback, small and wide-eyed like a doe. It made him angry that she was too frightened to reply. "Where is she!?" he yelled.

The servant shook her head, trying to find her voice. "I-I-In the- she's- I can't tell you, I'm sorry sir."

"Do you know who I am?" Eridan snapped. "I will have you culled if you don't tell me where she is!"

The servant trembled, gesturing down the hall with shaking hands. Eridan looked in the direction she was pointing, spotting a very elegant door with the girl's symbol carved above it. He sighed and dropped her, straightening her bodice with a slight apology. "Thank you." He rushed off quickly.

Perhaps it wasn't the best idea, but it was the only one he had. He flung open her door, earning a scream from the ram-horned girl as she covered her exposed chest. The chambermaid jumped up from her position on the floor, covering her ward. "Master Eridan you simply cannot go bursting into young girl's rooms!" she scolded in a shrill tone, her age and wisdom proving no fear.

Eridan stared for a moment, his mind going blank until Aradia threw her shoe at him, effectively snapping him out of his stupor. He closed his eyes tightly, looking away. "Eridan leave I have to get ready for Gamzee's birthday gala for God's sake!"

Eridan cleared his throat, holding out his hand. "Aradia you don't understand! My father is trying to marry Tavros- or- he IS marrying Tavros! As we speak! We must stop it, but I have no idea how."

Aradia froze, eyes wide. "Oh- Oh no. I had no idea- I, does Gamzee know? Why doesn't he stop it?"

"He's locked in his room. He has no idea, no one's been able to get to him since Uncle GHB grounded him," Eridan said urgently. "Which is why we have to do something."

"Eridan get out so I can finish getting dressed. We'll have to go to Gamzee at once."

"Please let us through! Doctor Scratch is my father and if he hears of your insolence, he will not be happy," Aradia said, an uncharacteristic urgency in her voice.

"Lord Highblood said no one is allowed in or out, save for the approved servants. I'm sorry young mistress, but you'll have to forgive me. You wouldn't want any unnecessary bloodshed, would you?" He smiled manipulatively.

"I would." At that, the man faltered, but quickly steeled himself and became more firm. "I cannot let you through."

Eridan stepped forward, sighing. "Look, sir, I know your job is very important to you, as well as your life, and we'd never want to jeopardize it, but you're making this very difficult for us and I can't say what will happen if you don't-" He didn't have a chance to finish his thought before Aradia's fist smashed square into the servant's jaw, sending him crumpling to the floor with a loud crack. Eridan looked at her, slightly frightened and just the slightest bit interested, but he snapped himself out of it and searched the man.

"The key!" Aradia snatched it from Eridan's hands and jammed it into the keyhole, shoving the door open and running inside.

"Gamzee!" She stopped short, clenching her fists. Gamzee was high out of his mind, lying on his bed with his hand dipped in a jar of sopor. She took a deep breath, exhaling her irritation, then walked over and shoved him in the chest. "Snap out of it Makara!"

Gamzee looked at them, letting out a pleased chuckle. "Hey motherfuckers. Don't I all up n' got a birthday party to be gettin ready for or some shit? I don't think I'm gonna go."

"No!" Aradia yelled, desperate to save her friend as quickly as possible. "Gamzee, it was a set up! The gala, the random incidents, everything!" She shook him for emphasis, but it wasn't registering in the drug-addict's mind. She gripped him more tightly, ignoring the irritated sound he made. "Your father is marrying Tavros to Dualscar!"

It nearly seemed like time froze; The atmosphere did at least. Gamzee sobered immediately, praying to any mirthful messiah that would listen that he was dreaming. "What?"

Eridan stepped towards him, looking panicked. "We have to hurry. Tavros is being received soon, and once the oaths are spoken, there's no way to reverse them. Gamzee- I don't know what we can do. We're just a bunch of kids, but we have to try something. Anything. Tavros means a lot to all of us, and I can't bare the thought of returning him with him as my..." The thought hadn't really hit him until the words rolled unwillingly off his tongue. "As my...father."

It sickened him to the core just to utter, let alone actually live out. He swallowed past the growing lump in his throat and clenched his fists. "By the way we knocked out your servant and we're terribly sorry, but there's no time to think. We have to do. We have to do and hope against hope that we'll make it in time."

"Let's go," Gamzee said abruptly, standing in his sleeping clothes with not an ounce of shame. He had more important things to attend to, like saving his recent matesprit from the clutches of a monster. He swallowed, thinking back to when Darkleer would tell them both stories so very similar to this. They never had happy endings.

When the music started playing, Tavros choked on a sob but steeled himself, clenching his fists around the bouquet in his hands. He closed his eyes, his jaw quivering as he tried to resist bursting into tears. If he cried, the audience would think it was from happiness and he refused to give them the satisfaction of believing this is what he wanted. Even if they realized it was non-consensual, they probably wouldn't have cared anyway. And if they cared there was still nothing they could do about it.

He flinched when a hand touched his back, but it was just a servant, asking him who would be delivering him. "No one," he whispered, and the empathy was there but Tavros only grew angry that any other servant wasn't in his place. Why had it been him? He was small and weak and a brown-blood at that. There was nothing special about him. He set his jaw and tried to be as distant from the situation as possible. "I'm ready."

As soon as he stepped out of the tent, the audience in the pews beside the aisle rose. He noted the colors of their formal ceremony outfits- Violet, cobalt, magenta, perriwinkle, cerulean, and more. He let his head down, the hood of his robe shielding his face from the doting onlookers. He didn't want to see Dualscar. Not until he was forced to.

The walk down was agonizing, terrifying, and all he wanted to do was throw the damned purple bouquet and run as fast as his legs would take him. He felt as if he'd aged 30 sweeps in a matter of seconds. He caught the eye of an old woman, who smiled smugly, as if she were proud of a brown-blood marrying so far above his class. It made him sick to think these people thought he should be happy.

He heard condescending laughter to his right, and someone mutter "shit blood" which only caused those in ear-shot to laugh harder. Tavros tensed, the shame he felt intensifying.

When he arrived at the alter, which had been set up outside in favor of the beautiful weather they'd been having recently, he kept his eyes trained at the floor. After a moment, the music stopped and the priest smiled, wide and toothy like he was sharing a secret with the rest of the attendees. Tavros was the only one not included in what it could be.

The priest muttered something Tavros didn't care to pay attention to, and he nearly shrank back when Dualscar's hands approached him. His gray fingers pushed the hood back, revealing Tavros' face which overwhelmed him. He breathed in deeply, trying to calm himself, but the tears came quicker than he could suppress them. Dualscar's smile widened; he was amused. "Don't cry love," he chuckled, wiping Tavros' tears with his thumb. "You look so lovely."

"They said it would be here. Why isn't anyone here?" Eridan yelled, kicking over the priest's podium with an enraged yell. Aradia stood stiffly beside him, a firm look on her face.

"They knew we'd try to interfere," she supplied. She glanced at Gamzee, gauging his expression but it was too hard to read.

"Fuck!" Eridan yelled again, thrashing anything he could get his hands on. "I fucking- Fuck!" He punched the wall, yelled again, then collapsed into a sitting position, covering his head with his arms. "We were so close."

"We weren't close," Gamzee said. His friends looked at him, confused. "What would we would have motherfucking done once we got there, huh? You think just because a couplea kids wanna protect their friend they're gonna fuckin stop it?"

Eridan furrowed his brows. "Well...Maybe if we-"

"No. There was nothing we could do anyway. It was motherfucking pointless."

Aradia looked concerned, glancing at her seadweller friend before moving closer to Gamzee. "Gamzee we could have-"

"NO WE MOTHERFUCKING COULDN'T!" Gamzee screamed, startling the two of them into quietude. He was trembling with rage, but holding back. His fists clenched so hard, his nails drew blood from his palm. "We couldn't do anything. We're fucking grubs. Our parents think we're motherfucking jokes. This isn't any big fucking political move, it's a game to them. They're fucking laughing right in our faces, dangling how fucking powerless we are right in front of us."

Aradia swallowed, looking down. Aradia nor Eridan spoke. They knew Gamzee was right and felt even more powerless for it. "We have to do something."

"There's nothing we can do," Gamzee replied succinctly.

Eridan exhaled hard, standing. "Well we can't just give up!" he snapped, throwing his arms out. "Gamzee if there's one thing you've never done in your fucking life it's give up! If you give up now then you can damn well expect the rest of your life to be as shitty as this moment right now!"

Gamzee looked up at Eridan, clenching his mouth shut. He looked down, thinking hard. After a moment he looked up, a determined look in his eyes. "I have an idea. Tavros and Dualscar won't be officially married until the end of the third day of the ceremony. We have to do anything we fucking can to make sure he's far away before day three."

Aradia straightened up, nodding in agreement. "If they don't give their vows by the end of third meal then the marriage is void. I think I know who will help."