The boy woke up, tangled in sheets. The lights were dimmed to a soft glow, and there was a beautiful pink moon out. He rubbed the sides of his pounding head, trying to stop the pain, but to no avail. He let out a small grunt, but a loud groan met his ears. However, it wasn't his voice. He turned to his side to see the rising figure of an extremely familiar blue-blooded troll next to him.

"Ohhhhhhhh...jegus, how long have I-oh. Hey, Karkat."

"Yeah, hi, Spiderbitch. Ugh, my head...what the hell happened last night?"

"Hell if I know..." Vriska said, making her way to the window.

Karkat slid out of the bed, walking over to the door. "...Locked."

He turned around to see the Scorpio-signed troll struggling to open the window. "Tch." She said. "Same here..."

KSSHT!

Vriska looked around before giving the boy a 'Did you hear that?' look. Karkat nodded and checked his surroundings, calling off into nowhere. "Hello? Can anyone hear us?"

"Heehee! I can hear you, Karkitty~!"

"...what the fuck?" Karkat looked up, seeing a small, round speaker hanging over his and Vriska's heads.

"Oh, cool, someone IS here!" Vriska breathed a sigh of relief. "Heeeeeeeey, Nepeta! You mind letting us out of here?"

The high-pitched voice of their cat-like friend replied through the speaker. "Oh, sorry, Vriskers, but..."

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

The two looked at each other in confusion as Nepeta continued."You see, Equius and I noticed that my ships aren't sailing as well as I'd hoped. Many of them are...well, sinking."

"Okay...soooooooo?" Vriska asked.

"Well, think about it!" Nepeta replied, adding a small laugh at the end. "If all the ships sank, then that wouldn't be any fun, now would it? So we decided to save the ships. Starting with...you and Karkitty, Aradia and Tavros, and Eridan and- oh, I shouldn't reveal too much! But the point is, you're all in here, with your respective partners. Oh! Also-" She giggled.

"There isno way out."

"...Nepeta, you're insane!" Karkat yelled in horror.

Vriska joined him. "Why would you kidnap us just for your shipping purposes?"

"Oh, well, when you say 'kidnapped' I almost feel bad for efurryone!" She said, a small tinge of regret in her voice that will soon prove to be false. "...almost. Now have fun!"

"...Fuck!" Karkat grunted. "She's gone mad! What do we do?"

Vriska gave him a puzzled look. "You think she had one of Gamzee's pies?"

He shook his head. "Not a chance. She sounded pretty serious, not...whimsical."

She groaned. "Uggggggggh...well, there goes the hope of the effects wearing off."

"...!" A low, rumbling sound came through the wall.

"What was that?" Vriska whispered.

"No clue..." Karkat said, knocking on the wall. "Hey! Who's there?"

As he kept himself busy trying to see if someone was behind that wall, Vriska walked around the room idly. It was around the same size as a college apartment, with a queen-size bed, a window, good-sized closet, and a very nice throw rug on the floor. 'Not too shabby', she thought. A small glint of something inside the closet caught her eye. 'But what's in heeeeeeeere...? Maybe something to break down that wall with...' She opened the door, and out came-

"Oh...oh, GOG!" She shouted, countless buckets falling from within. She slowly backed away, tripping on one of the pails behind her and landing nearly knee-deep in buckets. When she realized her position, she immediately stood up and shielded her eyes from the sight.

"Vriska, what-" Karkat cut himself off, eyeing the mess.

"I didn't see a single thing, I didn't see a single thing..." Vriska repeated the phrase to herself, calming down with every eight syllables. As she muttered the words for the eighth time, she breathed in and out, regaining her cool composure. "Well...looks like Nepeta and Equius visited Eridan's hive."

Karkat reacted with the tiniest of smirks, because hey, you gotta admit, that was actually pretty legit. "Yeah. Let's get back to this wall." He resumed beating his fists on the wall as Vriska began to join him, raising his voice. "Hey! If anyone's there, SPEAK UP!"

"Helloooooooo?"

A voice from behind the wall spoke, their speech muffled, but getting clearer, most likely approaching the wall. "...one's there."

Karkat showed slight relief as he heard the voice. "Hey, listen! If you can hear us, answer!"

"Hey!" Vriska cried. "You, whoever you are! Don't leave us hanging, come ONNNNNNNN!"

Another voice chimed in, also seemingly drawing near. "...ka and Karkat!"

Vriska pounded harder on the wall. Karkat paused for a bit, trying to figure out whose voice it was. "Shit, who could it be..."

"Who's there?"

"Ah!" The second voice spoke again, accented with happiness. "It really is them!"