(continued from http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=9999&tab=dragon&did=4139875

Bloo awoke groggy and disoriented. The room spun around him and he had time to wonder why he was in a room at all before forcing his eyes shut. Once done, the room ceased spinning quite so hard, but he still felt like he was in a state of motion. Nauseated, he choked but only produced bile, not vomit. He hadn’t eaten before the tournament. He remembered that.

“Bloo...Bloo, come back to me,” a familiar female voice intoned. He flinched. It wasn’t Mac. It’d been too much to hope for, that Mac might return and nurse him back to health.

Despite that, he was interested in who the voice might actually be, but not enough to open his eyes again. Instead, he thought about his friends, all of them perished by DIE’s hands. Coco had put up a brave fight; Wilt had seemed resigned to his fate, and Eduardo had freaked out. Eduardo would’ve been a good gladiator, had he not been petrified of everything. And that was DIE’s sticking point. Coco could’ve been useful too, but she wouldn’t obey orders. As for Wilt...he was disabled and DIE didn’t want any “damaged” imaginary friends in their arenas.

“I know you’re awake,” the voice cajoled and stroked his clammy cheeks. “Bloo, it’s me. Berry. Don’t you remember?”

“Not Mac,” he croaked and tried to curl up on his side. His body refused to move and he discovered himself numb from his chin to his abdomen. If sleep wasn’t already so alluring, he might be curious about that. However, fatigue dragged at him and, if Berry wasn’t Mac, then he wasn’t interested.

“No, not Mac,” she scoffed. “Mac didn’t come for you. I did.”

Nope, he didn’t care. Letting the darkness lull him back into its embrace, he passed out again.

----

Karkat couldn’t believe that Terezi was alive and well. Okay, “well” might be a relative term. She clearly hadn’t had a good meal in years and was probably skipping meals besides. That didn’t matter. (Okay, maybe it did matter, but not right now). He was so excited that he almost crashed the cruiser before they reached their hideout.

From the outside, the apartment complex didn’t look like much. Someone had trashed it like they had Foster’s and there were broken windows everywhere, as well as doors hanging off their hinges, and a drunkard had sprawled on the fire escape stairs to the second floor. Karkat eyed it with distaste and then turned to his companions. They were close enough to keep an eye on Terrence, who still lived at home and was a terror at seventeen. He couldn’t hear Terrence railing at Mac’s lusus, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t. It just meant he was quiet enough that the whole neighborhood couldn’t hear.

“Home sweet home, at least until we find Bloo,” Karkat said and tiptoed around the drunkard. Mac and Terezi did the same. He was tempted to take Terezi’s hand, but he was afraid of losing his balance as he sidestepped all the various obstacles in their path. They arrived at the door, which required strongarming in order to access. This wasn’t due to any effort on their part, but thanks to the rust accumulating on the doorframe.

Personally, he could have left with Terezi and been happy, but he knew his moirail would’ve been miserable having come to Earth for nothing. Their official mission was to see how far Earth had degraded; Bloo was just the secondary component. In his opinion, Bloo was a nuisance, though he knew Mac loved him. And...if Karkat had to admit it, he kind of pitied Bloo right now. Having to fight for your life all the time must suck, even if he could empathize being a mutant.

They all crowded inside and Karkat slammed the door shut. He wasn’t being defiant--it was just the only way the damn thing would close. Nodding, he collapsed onto the dilapidated couch the apartment’s previous owners had left. It had springs and stuffing oozing out, but it was better than nothing. They usually slept on the floor, as it tended to be more comfortable than the couch.

“When was the last time you saw Bloo?” Mac asked Terezi. He could feel his moirail’s urgency. “And does the name ‘Virginia’ mean anything to you?”

Terezi shook her head at the second question and said, gazing at the door like she might still bolt given the right incentive, “I last saw him at the fights.”

Mac collapsed onto the couch too and then jumped back up, having sat on an exposed spring. Cursing, he glowered at the couch as though it’d done it to spite him.

“How was he?” he asked. The anxiety and concern for his imaginary friend shone clearly on his face and Karkat’s stomach wrenched. He couldn’t stand seeing his moirail so miserable. It was part of why he’d agreed to this mission. That and the slim chance that they’d recover Terezi, assuming she was still alive. And she was. And she was here!

“He lived, if that’s what you mean,” she said in a toneless voice. She stared at the floor and hugged herself. Teal tears filled her eyes.

“How bad was it?” Karkat asked and, for a minute, she seemed unwilling to speak. She swallowed hard and the odd thing was that he felt the tightness in his throat too, like he was mirroring her. He didn’t understand it.

“He almost died,” she rasped and dissolved into sobs. She turned away from them and tried to master herself. Mac politely ignored her crying and Karkat, feeling awkward, placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. She spun around and flung herself at his chest. Again, he had to steady himself before they both keeled over. How did she do that? She looked like she weighed so little and yet, she had the power to knock him over.

“Ssh,” Karkat whispered. “You’re in a ******* safe place. No one’s going to hurt you here.”

Terezi raised her head and glared at him defiantly. “I’m worried about Bloo, not me. He almost got torn in half by an Extreme-o-Saur and barely escaped alive. The last I saw of him, they were dragging him off the field.”

Mac blanched. He crashed to the floor and stayed there, a haunted look in his eyes. Karkat, who had stood to grab Terezi, tried to comfort both his moirail and Terezi. “Shoosh, pap. We’ll find him.”

“He’s alive,” Mac said. “That’s all I know.”

Karkat knew it was because of the creator-imaginary link that he knew that much. When he was younger, he’d envied Mac and Bloo their relationship, not because of who Bloo was, but because Mac had created an imaginary friend with ease. Only humans could do that. Trolls couldn’t, no matter how hard they tried.

“He was bleeding pretty bad the last time I saw him,” Terezi said in the same hollow tone.

It fell on him to be the cheerful one. How did that **** come about? Had anyone told him prior to this mission that he’d be the ************* cheerleader, he would’ve stared at them blankly. It wasn’t possible. Yet here it was. Mac and Terezi needed their spirits buoyed, ironically about the same thing. He had a hard time believing Bloo was capable of moirallegiance; Terezi had said they were friends, not moirails. She clearly had a pale crush on him.

“We’ll find him,” he said gruffly. He didn’t swear it, because he was leery of offering such a strong promise in light of the lack of evidence leading to Bloo.

“But will we find him alive?” Mac said listlessly.

“We’ll ******* find him alive! You were the one convinced he was all right!” Karkat said, trying to hold onto his temper.

“That was before I found out he’d nearly been eviscerated earlier,” he pointed out. He swallowed hard. “You’re right. I have to be more positive.”

“We’ll positively find him,” Terezi said and stared ahead of them at the peeling wallpaper. “Dead or alive.”

Karkat shook his head. They needed to plan. First, he wanted to celebrate having found Terezi. And, maybe, find some food for her. Just looking at her made his stomach ache and his pusher clench. Then they’d see whether the name “Virginia” meant anything to anyone.

In the meanwhile, however, they needed to strategize. With Terezi there, he might have additional intel that they could bring back to their superiors. They didn’t lead the Alliance yet, though they had risen remarkably through the ranks considering their age. Then again, as Karkat was considered “Lord Sufferer”, perhaps it wasn’t remarkable. After all, those stupid priests worshipped him and the Grey Lady usually wanted to keep him close by. It’d been a struggle to allow him to go on this mission in the first place, let alone spend any length of time on Earth.

They needed to figure out who they could ask about Virginia. Terezi didn't know and he doubted that her master would have known either. Master. Karkat loathed the title too. As if someone dared to possess someone who ought to have her own life, her own dreams, her own decisions. He brushed his fingers across her cheek.

“What can you tell us about Earth after the Usurper invaded?” Mac asked. His heart wasn’t in it, though. He wanted to research Bloo’s location; Karkat could feel the urgency in his link with Mac, as well as see it in his eyes.

“The highbloods took over, DIE started using imaginary friends for sport, and everything sucked,” she said succinctly. “There isn’t much to tell.”

“We’re wasting our time here,” he said and, when Karkat shot him a cool look, added, “No offense. But we don’t know how long ago Virginia and that pink haired girl took Bloo. We don’t know where he is now. And the longer we wait, the colder the trail is going to get.”

“But who’s going to be awake during the day to talk to us?” Karkat pointed out. “Everyone’s diurnal now.”

Mac scowled, contemplating this. Karkat hated to break it to him, but the trail was going to grow cold for a while. They could risk talking to Savorc, assuming he’d tell them anything, but Karkat didn’t want to go near him. Terezi had several bruises that looked to be recent and Karkat had no doubt Savorc had dealt them. He was the usual brutal, violent highblood and if he found out that Karkat was a mutant, the Usurper would be on him in a second.

“Someone has to be up,” he persisted. He scrubbed his face with his hands. “What if DIE captured him?”

“We can’t go storm DIE HQ,” he replied. “Mac, you’re supposed to be the ******* sense maker here.”

“I just can’t help but feel something terrible’s happened to him,” he confessed. “He’s alive, I know that, but he’s not conscious.”

“How can you tell?” Terezi asked, cocking her head at them. “The creator-imaginary link?”

“Bloo told you about that? What else did he tell you?” It was out of idle curiosity, as well as a desire to know what Bloo had said about him while he was gone.

“Not much.” Her face fell. “He doesn’t like talking about what happened before. Or about himself.”

Mac and Karkat exchanged incredulous looks. Bloo, not want to talk about himself? What sort of parallel universe had they fallen into? Was this really Earth or was it a comic book version of alternate Earth? What the **** was going on?

“That’s...different,” Mac said, frowning. “Wait, you mean before the Usurper came or before he ended up with you? Is there a difference?”

She nodded. “He hasn’t been here more than a few years. He used to belong to someone else before my master bought him. Something happened to his friends, but all he’ll say is that they died horribly.”

Coco, Wilt, and Eduardo. Mac seemed to be taking the news hard; he’d blanched and was biting his lower lip. Karkat offered him a sympathetic smile and sent him encouragement through their link. While Karkat hadn’t cared much for either of those three, he knew that Mac considered them his friends via Bloo.

None of this was helping them find Bloo, though. Personally, Karkat would rather lie low for a few hours, get some food for ‘rezi, and then start out on this fool’s quest. He wasn’t sure Mac was going to like that idea.
----

We don't say, go out and be brave. We say, be careful, stay safe. In any given instance, if that don't work, it sinks in like stilettos in soft dirt...

Bloo awoke with a pounding headache. He curled into a ball, but that hurt too. In agony, he wished himself dead or otherwise disposed of. The only thing of note was that, for the first time in years, he could feel Mac in his mind. Perhaps if he were more awake and alert, he would have been suspicious or disdainful.

But Bloo was too beaten down and miserable to put up his barriers. He reached for Mac's mental touch and felt the barest of brushings back. His heart leaped. Mac? Where was his creator? Had he returned to him? Was that why he was here?

He flung himself with abandon at Mac's presence. Tears, unbidden, rose to the surface and he blubbered, yearning for Mac so painfully that it surpassed the physical anguish he was in. He needed his creator. Everything he'd endured, all the pain and misery he'd struggled through, and Mac was here to rescue him. Finally.

Sudden rapping near him made him turn his head. He was in a hospital bed but restrained with flexible restraints that permitted him to move, but not to leave the cot. A woman with cruel eyes and Berry's face glowered at him. His heart hammered triple time. Who was she? What was she doing here?

And where was Mac?

"You're finally awake," the woman remarked coldly. She had red curls that were hardened, as though she'd used gel to fix her stiff hair into shape. Her eyes shared the same color as Berry, an odd neon pink, and her nose wrinkled at Bloo's condition. Bloo glanced down and found himself covered in bandages.

"Who're you?" he slurred, still under the influence of whatever they'd knocked him out with.

"My name is Virginia Arcos. I am the leader of DIE and, as you have probably divined, Berry's creator. Berry insisted I save your life and that it would pay dividends. By doing so, I have undoubtedly instigated a war with the highbloods for stealing you away from a nero. So, tell me. What is so important about you that it merits kidnapping you and starting a war?"

How was he supposed to answer that? He could barely think straight. Everything ached and all he really wanted to do was follow Mac's mental signature until he located his creator.

"Answer me!" she hissed, snapping her fingers in front of his face. "What is so important about you?"

"I don't know!" he cried.

Her eyes narrowed. "At least you're honest. Berry pleaded with me and so, here you are. You will make yourself useful or I will destroy you. Is that clear, Blooregard?"

Bloo swallowed hard, glanced up and down at his current predicament, and said, "I don't know what you expect me to do from here. I'm kinda tied up at the moment."

"You'll heal," Virginia said coldly. "And when you do, I'll come see you again."

(Continued in http://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=9999&tab=dragon&did=2083001)