Chapter 10
Ignoring the imbecilic arguments inside, Vriska had taken shelter outdoors. She wasn't really the outdoorsy type- like a recluse, she took better to a damp, cold, dark place alone. She preferred solitude above all else: just herself and her thoughts. But not even the outdoors, as much as she hated them, could relieve her of Kanaya's words spinning in her head. Rose, more compatible as a romantic partner? Please. Any fuckass could be compatible with Kanaya. Even that dick, Karkat. But Vriska and she were special. Vriska had entrusted the entirety of her soul to Kanaya, and Kanaya to her. Who could possibly be more compatible than she who had grown up by her side, who had loved her for years?
So why Rose?
Did Rose have something she didn't? She must be a pretty good kisser. But Vriska's a damn good kisser herself, everyone knows that. She's practically kissed everyone here at least once, and no ones ever complained. Most people kissed back. What about good looks? Was Rose better looking? No- that's bullshit too. With the elegance of a spider spinning her web, Vriska was dead sexy in anything she wore. She slayed in a skimpy little white gown, killed in her summer pajamas, and absolutely murdered in her casual attire. Yes, though manipulative, Vriska was gorgeous. She had it all- a very attractive way of licking her bottom lip, a killer elegance to her strut, and a deviously sexy pair of eyes. Not to mention a supermodel's figure. Yes, Vriska grinned, I'm so hot it should be illegal. I am 128 pounds of illegal contraband, pure fucking euphoria in the form of one attractive underage girl. So it wasn't looks.
What did Kanaya see in that bookworm? Rose was quiet. She was calm. She made a joke now and then, and granted they were always funny, but she never really got active. In tough situations she never panicked, she never raised her voice and she never went so fast she fucked up. Rose had never fucked up like Vriska- not once. She'd never injured someone so bad they screamed in horror, she'd never lost her mind and nearly choked someone to death, and she'd never gotten into fist fights with the teachers, or anyone, for that matter. Rose had never started a fight. She had never screwed up.
So that's it.
I fuck up too much, thought Vriska.
Fine.
Whatever.
Don't fuck up.
I can do that.
Easy.
Fucking.
Peasy.
"Vriska?" A soft voice behind her. It was welcoming, beckoning, good natured and motherly like Vriska had never felt before. But it was just her name, one word, warming her heart like that. For the first time in a while, a human voice didn't make her stomach churn.
"Hmm?" Vriska turned and saw her- Rose. In the state of mind that she was she would have sprung, attacked her, beat her senseless screaming at the top of her lungs. But something held her back- Rose's smile. It was like the smile of a AT&T employee- or any chipper employee, for that matter. It wasn't weak or weary or forced- it was just a smile. A smile that said, no need to fear, my intentions are good. Vriska didn't smile back.
"Do you have a minute?" She asked, shutting the inn door behind her. Vriska nodded silently. "Good. Will you take a walk with me?"
"Will you stop asking questions and just state your business?" Vriska glared. Rose's smile melted into an expression of surprise, but quickly took home upon her lips again.
"Sure I will." She smiled. "Let's head up this mountain." And Rose led the way, her long pink skirt sweeping at her ankles. Forgetting her promise not to fuck up, Vriska snatched a sharp rock and followed.
"So, Kanaya told me what happened in the car." Rose said, her back turned so that Vriska couldn't see her facial expression. Vriska said nothing as they climbed higher. "And I would like to say that she and I are both sorry that you feel betrayed by our actions. We really are. Our intentions were not foul, we can assure you, but the outcomes that they have caused are, and for that we apologize. We didn't mean to, is what I'm trying to say. Anyway, that is what we would like to say, but I have come to talk of what I would like to say on the matter."
"Oh?"
"Yes." Rose nodded with a small smile. "Do you recall what you said in the car before the long silence that followed?"
"You're not my friend, you're my therapist?" Vriska quoted herself.
"Exactly."
"And what about it?"
"It's not true."
"Excuse me?"
Rose turned to look at Vriska with a grim face. "Kanaya is not, and had never been, your therapist. And please, don't take this the wrong way, but don't you dare ever say that again." Vriska was absolutely taken aback. Rose had never shown herself like this. She was always quiet. Staying out of trouble. Calm. But this was stirring up a hurricane inside of Vriska, and she knew it! She knew it! "The relationship between a patient and his or her therapist," Rose continued. "Is under no circumstances the relationship you share with Kanaya. A therapist does not love his patient like Kanaya loves you. A therapist would not dare embrace their therapist, not even in their hour of need. A therapist serves as a voice of reason to those who need it, as a conscience to those without. A therapist does not love their patient. And Kanaya loves you. To disregard that fact is to disregard the friendship you have with her, which is to disregard one of the strongest bonds you will ever have in your life. To tell her that she is not your friend is to throw away every tender moment you have ever shared. Kanaya has held you, protected you, and yes, has served as a voice of reason, but not solely. Kanaya has loved you like no other, and her love for you is one that cannot be matched by anything I can put out. The bottom line is, she loved you, Vriska. She still does. And I know that inside of you, no matter how hard you have tried to bury it beneath hatred, you love her too. And if my relationship with her is getting in the way of your connection with her, I will happily remove myself from the equation."
"What?" Vriska questioned.
"You heard me." Rose said seriously. "If need be, say the word and I am gone. I will terminate my relationship with Kanaya."
"Why?" Vriska asked, unbelieving.
"Because your connection is like something I have never seen." Rose said. "I have seen a lot, and nothing even compares with your relationship. There is a strong love there. A strong, tough love that is too beautiful to be destroyed. And if I am to be the weapon with which it shall be demolished, I do not want that. So I will go on your signal."
Vriska paused. This could be what she needs- to get Rose out of the way without any bloodshed. But who's to say? Who can say that Kanaya would forgive Vriska for ending her relationship with Rose to be with her? What if Kanaya doesn't really care for Vriska? If she doesn't then Kanaya will just go slithering back to Rose to kiss her some more and blow Vriska off. This won't work, no matter how much Rose really cares. She needs to be gone. For good.
Without warning Vriska pounced, snatching Rose by the hair and covering her screaming mouth as she dragged her up to a big rock wall, her sharp rock in hand. Rose chomped down hard on her finger and Vriska let go to curse. Rose glared knives at Vriska. "Let go of me!" She roared, "what are you doing?!"
"I appreciate your concern." Vriska said shakily, raising the rock. "But I can't have you around at all. It's just not going to work. I'll try and make this as quick as possible. Game over, Rose...goodnight." She raised the rock high in the air as she forced Rose to look up.
"This isn't what you want!" Rose screamed, stopping her. "Kill me, and Kanaya will never forgive you. Kill me, and everything you've ever had with her is gone. Kill me, and it's game over for YOU."
"Liar." Vriska mumbled.
"I speak only the truth." Rose hissed through gritted teeth. "Please, Vriska...if you let me go, I'll never come near her again. She's yours. I promise." She was begging now. Begging for her life. "Please, just let me live. I don't want to die yet. I haven't seen enough. I haven't worked so hard all my life to die at fifteen, please, please don't kill me!" Vriska didn't want this. She didn't want to be the one playing god, with the blood on her hands. To hear a victim begging for her life set her knees quaking and her hands clammy. But she couldn't let her go now. She was too far in.
"I don't trust you." Vriska said.
"Please, I promise!" Rose sobbed. She was crying. Crying for her life.
"I'll let you live." Vriska caved. Rose let out an enormous sob. "But to be sure you never look at her again...I'm going to have to do this to you." In an instant Vriska had her pinned by the neck with her foot. Rose wheezed and gasped for air. Vriska raised her rock high in the air, aiming just above Rose's wide, teary eye. Vriska stuffed her shirt in Rose's mouth her her to bite on as she threw the rock down with all her might.
With a muffled scream and a sickening splurch Rose's eye filled with blood and horrible agony. Down came another blow, this one digging out her ruined eyeball. Rose screamed and screamed, shutting her eye tight to no avail.
"Almost done." Vriska told her, raising her bloody rock to begin work on the other eye.
"No!" Rose spit out the shirt, suddenly shoving Vriska's foot off of her and bolting for her life. Vriska chased after her, hot on her tail, swinging her rock like crazy. I can't let her get back to the inn, Vriska thought. If she does I'm ruined. Blind in one eye. I'm dead. They'll kill me, I can't die. I can't die yet. But Rose had already made it, hurling herself down the mountain at top speed, running as fast as she could to the Inn. A scream lodged in her throat she threw open the door and called Kanaya's name.
Everyone screamed. Miss Marcie fainted. Half of Rose's face was covered in blood, the other half white with terror. Her eye socket was a bloody pit spurting red liquid. Rose was crying as she begged for help. "Help me!" She screamed. "Help me! She's coming!"
"Who?" Kanaya cried, rushing to her side.
"Vriska." She spat with a tone of hatred. "She did this to me. Help me, please, don't let her touch me!" But Vriska was already in the doorway, out of breath. She looked around at the horrified faces and Miss Marcie's body on the floor. Rose tucked herself into Kanaya's arms. Of all the faces of terror and hatred staring back at her, Kanaya's was the worst. She looked at Vriska was hatred, rage and fury like she had never seen before. Kanaya was a whirlwind of dangerous emotions just begging to explode in her face.
And then came her voice.
"Get out." She said so quietly Vriska could barely hear.
"W-What?" Vriska trembled.
"Get OUT!" She screamed, stomping towards Vriska. "Get out, get out, GET OUT! Get out of here! Don't you ever come back! Don't care what we had before, I never want to see you again! Get away from me! Get away from all of us! GET OUT!" She roared like a hurricane, screaming so loud and so strong it brought tears to Vriska's blue eyes. Everyone in that room quivered. No one said a word as tears fell from Vriska's face and she fled. Out into the woods, never to return again. Kanaya stared at where her body once stood for a few seconds until she collapsed, crying into herself. No one said a word. Kanaya whirled back to look at them. "Don't look at me!" She screamed. But they kept looking. "Have you no respect? Get out! All of you, get out! Leave!" Rose fainted on the floor. Glares shot Kanaya's way as Equius moved to pick her up. "N-no...I didn't mean..."
"You made this mess." Karkat said softer than anyone had ever heard his voice. "You. Fucking. Fix it." And Kanaya was off, tears streaming down her face, out into the oncoming night.