My Child

Vision of Execution

~Equius POV~

Psiioniic found a cave a few yards from the road not too long ago. That's where we are now. Signless is sitting by the fire, helping Dolorosa cook. I look over to the mouth of the cave. The sun will be up in a few hours, but the trees close to the entrance will provide enough cover to protect us from the harm it would usually inflict.

I've moved away from the group and parked myself behind a stalagmite. I just want to be alone for a little while. My head is tilted back, resting against the cool rock, eyes shut.

"Equius?" Signless says.

I wince slightly and rub my temples. My head is pounding. The problem with migraines is that they don't go away easily. Not even with sleep, of which I managed to get about a half an hour.

"Headache?" he asks, much quieter this time, as he starts playing with my hair.

I mumble, "Migraine," as I lean on him.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault."

"It kind of is." I look up at him, confused. "I should've at least heard him coming. He wasn't exactly quiet."

I can't help but laugh a little at that. "No, he wasn't."

"Signless. Equius," Dolorosa calls. "Dinner's ready."

"Come on," he says, helping me up.

~Signless POV~ (time skip)

Pain.

It feels like my wrists are on fire.

I open my eyes and look up. The shackles binding my wrists over my head are heated to the point of glowing.

It hurts.

I can feel the cuts, bruises, and whiplashes all over my body.

I'm bleeding.

EVERYTHING HURTS!

I look forward and to the right. Three people are there on their knees, hands bound behind their backs.

Dolorosa and Disciple have tears in their eyes.

Psii is pissed. I can see the sparks jumping from the corners of his eyes and between his horns from here.

I try to go to him. To calm him down before he lashes out.

The burning shackles touch unmarred flesh, ripping a scream from my lungs.

I sit up way too fast when I wake, gasping for breath. My head collides with something hard almost immediately. Holding my head, I look around and spot Psiioniic. He's also holding his head and hissing a string of curses that would make a seadweller blush.

"I'm so sorry," I say, trying to make sure he's alright. "Are you okay?" He looks up at me, forcing a smile.

"You, my love, have a very hard head. Do you know that?" he laughs, his smile becoming more genuine by the second. I try to smile back, but I can't even fake it. Instead, opting to stare at my hands in my lap. "What's wrong?"

I shake my head, "Nothing."

"I don't believe you," he whispers before scooping me up and carrying me away from the rest of the group.

Once again shaking my head, I ask, "What are you doing?"

He sits by the wall of the cave with me in his lap. "Something's bothering you. I want to help."

"I don't think you can help," I whisper, resting my head on his shoulder.

He doesn't say anything. He doesn't push for me to talk about it. He just holds me until I feel I'm ready to talk.

"My vision changed." He stays quiet even when I look up at him. I know I look scared. "My new vision scares me, Psii."

Wiping away red tears, he says, "Maybe it was just a bad dream."

"I really don't think you get it," I'm shaking my head for the third time this afternoon, almost evening. "I don't dream. When I sleep, it's either a vision or nothing at all. It's been like that my entire life."

Something in Psiioniic's mind clicks as a look of recognition rises in his eyes. "You've had this dream before, haven't you?"

"Yeah, ever since I was little. It was never this clear though."

"Would it be too much for me to ask what it was you saw?"

"My execution," is all I can force myself to say as more tears escape. My voice is so quiet and shaky that I can barely believe that it's mine.

"No," Equius says as he turns visible beside me and Psiioniic. "It's not an execution. It's just murder, and I refuse to just let you die." There's a look of determination in his eyes that I've never seen before.

Before I can say anything, Nepeta squeaks and comes running over. She has her husktop out and looks extremely distressed. "Equi-hiss, my husktop is dying! Do you have fur charger? Please tell my you have fur charger. Please." Her eyes light up when he hands her a glowing green cube. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THA-"

Equius covers her mouth for a moment while shushing her. "We're not trying to wake them up," he says quietly, nodding towards where Disciple and Dolorosa are still sound asleep. "Did you figure it out?"

Perking up a bit, she turns her husktop so we can all see the screen. On her screen, there's a strange map with cracks that are rapidly changing colors. It looks like a broken space map, with several circles that I can only assume are planets. There's also a bright red dot that is moving all over the map, disappearing from one area and reappearing in another.

"Yes," she whisper-yells, turning to Equius.

"Alternia should be on the map by now" he mumbles, holding a cut on his arm. That wasn't there earlier. Did he cut his arm when he was knocked down earlier? Or did it happen after that? It had to have happened recently, the cut is still bleeding.

She points to a very small purple spot. "Right there. He just broke that section of Void a few minutes ago." She just now notices his bleeding arm. "I take it you already figured that out though. How's your arm?"

"I think the bleeding is slowing down," he says, moving his hand to look at the cut.

~Equius POV~

Signless' eyes go wide when he sees the cut on my arm, immediately applying pressure.

"How did this happen?" he's starting to worry, checking me over for any other injuries.

"An Heir controls and becomes their aspect," I shrug. "It'll be gone in less than an hour. They're always gone quickly, not even a scar."

The shock in his eyes tells me that I said too much. "This has happened before?"

I immediately shut my mouth, saying nothing more on the subject. Nepeta speaks up instead, "It's been going on fur a few days meow." Signless' shock mixes with disappointment. "E-fury time Lord English breaks another piece of the Void, Equius gets a new cut somewhere and it's gone a few hours later."

"It hurts, but him throwing his tantrum and breaking everything has made it easier to track the meteor our team is on. Time is relative in the Void. It'll be close, but I think I can get all four of you off Alternia before you get killed."

~Author's Note~

It's Signless' turn to have a nightmare. Please don't cull me. I don't have much going on this week, so I don't expect to run into any delays with the next chapter.

I also wanted to ask if any of y'all would be interested in a very mature one-shot about what Darkleer had promised GHB a couple of chapters ago? I'm going to write it eventually anyways. I just thought I'd get your input.

Until next time, my Diamonds.