My Child

Nepeta

~Equius POV~

"You sure you don't want a lift down, kid?" Psiioniic asks again. He's used his psionics to levitate everyone else down to the floor of the small canyon.

I glare at him as I tie my hair back. "I enjoy climbing and STOP calling me 'kid'," I say. "It's annoying and, frankly, demeaning."

That last part I mumble under my breath as I make my way to the edge of the canyon wall. We're on the shorter side of the canyon. I look over the edge to gauge the distance, about sixty to sixty-five yards. I can scale far higher in only a few hours. This shouldn't take long. I hop over the edge and start my descent.

~Signless POV~

Psiioniic lands a little way away from me and walks over. "That kid of yours is stubborn as hell," he says before kissing me on the cheek.

"I just hope he doesn't fall." I can't bring myself to look away. "You'll catch him if he falls, right?"

I feel warm arms around my waist before he says, "Of course. I'm not gonna let him get hurt."

"Promise?"

He turns me around and kisses me quickly. "I promise I won't let him fall. Besides, he seems to be a natural. Look."

I turn back around and see that Equius is already a quarter the way down the wall. I know he's a fast climber, I just didn't know how fast. Trees are one thing, this is impressive. There are some places he's already past that look like he shouldn't have had any holds.

~Equius POV~

I'm a quarter of the way down this cliff face. I'm making good progress. At least, I was. I find my next foot hold. I find my next hand holds. I move to repeat the task and the rock under my current foot hold crumbles. I lose my grip just long enough to free fall a few feet. Before I get too far away from the inwardly slanted wall, I try to grab a hold. Instead of holding onto the rock, I just manage to scrape my hands. Next thing I know, I'm floating.

~Signless POV~

Psiioniic uses his power to carefully float Equius to the ground. I don't waist any time pulling my slightly dazed ward into my arms. He's safely on the ground now.

"Are you okay?" I ask before noticing his hands.

He nods and holds out his hands, scraped palms up, "A few scrapes, but I'm fine."

Before I can say or do anything, there's a bright red light. Suddenly, there's two girls a few yards away. One girl is wearing a monochromatic red outfit and has matching wings. The other is wearing a dark green coat, a blue hat in the shape of a meowbeast, has a blue tail, and is bleeding olive green blood.

Equius is running over to them in seconds, shouting, "Aradia! Nepeta!"

~Equius POV~

"Equius," Aradia says as she tries to hold Nepeta up. "I'm so sorry. I thought I could protect her. She's hurt pretty bad and I'm afraid to take her to Kanaya." I take my Moirail from her immediately when I reach them. "She went after Gamzee and didn't do too well. She got one good scratch across his face in, though."

That catches my attention more than the blood pouring from Nepeta's wounds. My eyes go wide. "Does she know what he did?"

Aradia looks apologetic. "She was in the vent." She cups my cheek, wiping away tears. "She saw everything." Something beeps on her wrist. "I'm sorry, Equius. I have to go. I'm not allowed to stay here for long. I just figured she'd be safer with you than on a meteor with a psychopathic clown and a hungry Rainbow Drinker."

I don't get the chance to say anything before she kisses me and flies into a nearby time portal. I don't have time to cry or question what just happened. Nepeta's hurt and starting to wake up. I need to take care of her. I hold her close as I run back to camp.

She's fully awake, and crying quietly onto my shoulder from the pain, by the time I reach the rest of my group. I sit down, beside Disciple, with Nepeta in my lap and retrieve a clean cloth from my captadeck. I'm trying to calm her as I dab blood from a particularly nasty gash on her forehead.

"Who's your friend?" Psiioniic asks. He's the only one who I expected to not recognize her.

"Her name's Nepeta Leijon. She's my Moirail and Disciple's Descendant," I reply, refusing to take my eyes off my work.

Signless comes and sits beside me. I hand him a clean rag and he sets to work cleaning a gash on her arm.

"Karkitty?" Nepeta asks quietly. I've never heard her so quiet.

"Close," I say. "That's Signless. He's Karkat's Ancestor and my Guardian." I smile up at him. "He has a more positive attitude than Vantas."

She pouts. "Karkitty can be mice. He's just stressed and fur-y tired most of the time."

Signless chuckles at that. "Did she just say 'mice'?"

"I like cat puns," she defends, trying to sit up straight, before wincing and cuddling close to me.

~Signless POV~

Nepeta hasn't left Equius's side in the few hours since she arrived. They even sat shoulder to shoulder during dinner. Usually he tries his best to sit away from the rest of us when he eats. Nepeta has been the only exception to this, she even had her tail wrapped around his waist. She brings out a side of him that I haven't seen before. Now they're off by the canyon wall talking.

"Spying?" Psiioniic asks, sitting next to me.

I rest my head on his shoulder, "Maybe."

Disciple comes over and sits on the other side of me, writing in her journal. "They're cute together." She looks up from her writing and sees the questioning looks on our faces. "She's my Descendant. I'm allowed to say that." More weird looks. "I don't need to pair them! They're ALREADY paired. I mean, seriously! Look at them. The pink aura around them is so strong, which means that the Moirallegiance between them is a strong one. I'm allowed to say that they're cute together."

~Author's Note~

Another chapter complete! I really hope you guys like this one. I felt a bit weird writing about Equius without his partner-in-crime. Sorry about the POV jumping. Thank you all SO much for sticking with me and reading my story. Stay tuned for more in the next chapter my Diamonds!